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04 May 2005, 15:12
Kudos
Bookmarks
I am NOT a math person.
I believe my logical reasoning skills are o.k.; I'm just a bit math-challenged. I did very well on the LSAT taken for law school years ago; it was almost exclusively logic problems, like those little IQ tests you take: "If Biddles are like Baddles and Wuddles are like Cuddles but Noodles and Poodles are like Baddles but not Woodles, then are Cuddles like Baddles but not like Poodles?" (Sounds like Suess)
My sum total math/quant background is 3 courses in econ, two basic college algebra courses and one physics course. These were all taken decades ago. My wife, however, was a class short of ABD in mathematics, has her M.S. in it, and a B.A. with a major in Math and a minor in physics, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna, etc.--very smart. She has taught stats and probability at a major university. Why am I bringing her up except as a means of showing off vicariously? because when I showed her some sample GMAT quant questions, she knew some of them easily, but others she looked at, scratched her head, and said, "I've never seen that before, I don't know what they're getting at."
So knowing how my wife's analytical skills are light years beyond mine, I'm losing my mind a bit here. Is it necessary to understand Partial Differential Equations and Abstract Algebra before you can understand the GMAT quant? Does one really need to have at least Calc under their belt or they'll get crushed? Or is it just a matter of mastering some basic stats and probability principles that my wife may have overlooked? She only taught one course in it, she took only one stats course in grad (she focused on pure rather than applied math) and she never took a stats class in UG.
Please help. Either burst my bubble or comfort me, but don't leave me hanging!
Thanks all!
I believe my logical reasoning skills are o.k.; I'm just a bit math-challenged. I did very well on the LSAT taken for law school years ago; it was almost exclusively logic problems, like those little IQ tests you take: "If Biddles are like Baddles and Wuddles are like Cuddles but Noodles and Poodles are like Baddles but not Woodles, then are Cuddles like Baddles but not like Poodles?" (Sounds like Suess)
My sum total math/quant background is 3 courses in econ, two basic college algebra courses and one physics course. These were all taken decades ago. My wife, however, was a class short of ABD in mathematics, has her M.S. in it, and a B.A. with a major in Math and a minor in physics, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna, etc.--very smart. She has taught stats and probability at a major university. Why am I bringing her up except as a means of showing off vicariously? because when I showed her some sample GMAT quant questions, she knew some of them easily, but others she looked at, scratched her head, and said, "I've never seen that before, I don't know what they're getting at."
So knowing how my wife's analytical skills are light years beyond mine, I'm losing my mind a bit here. Is it necessary to understand Partial Differential Equations and Abstract Algebra before you can understand the GMAT quant? Does one really need to have at least Calc under their belt or they'll get crushed? Or is it just a matter of mastering some basic stats and probability principles that my wife may have overlooked? She only taught one course in it, she took only one stats course in grad (she focused on pure rather than applied math) and she never took a stats class in UG.
Please help. Either burst my bubble or comfort me, but don't leave me hanging!
Thanks all!
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04 May 2005, 21:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
LittleFuss,
One man's food is another man's poison. What you like, I might not, and vice versa.
Maths is quite like that. However, the GMAC thinks that anyone who needs to be an MBA needs to be good in "some type of maths", and there you are - stuck with Maths in GMAT.
I am not very good at Maths myself, though I've had an engineering background - replete with transforms, partial differential equations, multiple integration, bessel functions and the likes. None of them make or break you - they're just out of scope
Let me answer some specifics that you asked
Absolutely not. In fact, leave alone partial differential equations, they don't even require you to calculate a maxima or a minima by differentiating !!
If you don't trust me, spend the next couple of days reading the posts here and you'd know the kind of questions posted here (and I assume, that they'd be very representative of the actual GMAT questions).
Most likely she overlooked. But its also possible that she never focussed on the trivial applications. If you're a fighter aircraft pilot, it doesn't automatically make you able to ride a bicycle
I'd say if you can calculate easily that how much you would pay if you're buying a pound of broccoli and half pound of tomatoes, when broccoli costs thrice as much as tomatoes, and tomatoes cost 99c/lb, you'd do well in Maths!!.
[Try it - honestly its not at all as complex as it sounds - if all all it sounds complex]
Welcome to the club and hope this helps
One man's food is another man's poison. What you like, I might not, and vice versa.
Maths is quite like that. However, the GMAC thinks that anyone who needs to be an MBA needs to be good in "some type of maths", and there you are - stuck with Maths in GMAT.
I am not very good at Maths myself, though I've had an engineering background - replete with transforms, partial differential equations, multiple integration, bessel functions and the likes. None of them make or break you - they're just out of scope
Let me answer some specifics that you asked
littlefauss
Absolutely not. In fact, leave alone partial differential equations, they don't even require you to calculate a maxima or a minima by differentiating !!
If you don't trust me, spend the next couple of days reading the posts here and you'd know the kind of questions posted here (and I assume, that they'd be very representative of the actual GMAT questions).
littlefauss
Most likely she overlooked. But its also possible that she never focussed on the trivial applications. If you're a fighter aircraft pilot, it doesn't automatically make you able to ride a bicycle
littlefauss
I'd say if you can calculate easily that how much you would pay if you're buying a pound of broccoli and half pound of tomatoes, when broccoli costs thrice as much as tomatoes, and tomatoes cost 99c/lb, you'd do well in Maths!!.
[Try it - honestly its not at all as complex as it sounds - if all all it sounds complex]
Welcome to the club and hope this helps
05 May 2005, 07:22
Kudos
Bookmarks
kapslock
Thanks for the advice, makes me feel much better and hopeful.
If that's all it is at bottom is the broccoli and tomatoes, and various permutations and complications thereof, then I'll be very comfortable with the Math/Quant, and would likely do better on it than my wife! We have a running joke between us: she the math whiz, me the math challenged, and yet, whenever we go out for groceries, she always asks me to compute the total bill or how much the individual units cost when the whole box costs X. I can almost always do this quickly in my head, something for which she has no aptitude. Or if someone gives me a series of grades they received, I can compute their G.P.A. as quickly as they can tell me the grades. And yet, put an abstract mathematical concept in front of me--that is, real mathemetics as opposed to silly arithmetic games--and I stumble and fall, smart as a box of rocks. It's why I never pursued math in college, yet why, strangely, I was able to ace the LSAT, which is supposed to test higher reasoning but really just tests your ability to master those silly little logic games. If the GMAT quant is nothing more than a math-oriented version of that, then that's outstanding, I've got a chance.
Thanks!
Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Quantitative Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
