MATH 4220

This was the best class I've taken in the math department so far. Foldes is a very clear lecturer who loves questions nearly to a fault- class was stopped multiple times because we weren't asking enough questions. Wonderful. He wanted nothing more than to help his students figure out what on earth was going on, and understandably so, because to be frank PDEs is some nonsense.
Lectures were done chalk-and-chalkboard, without necessarily referencing any textbook. There was an option for a textbook, but it was not directly used often, and one could do well in the class without using it at all as long as they attended lecture. And you should attend lecture, because it's a good fun time.
Homeworks were given on an odd schedule, and it was always a little shaky on when they would be due, or when they would be given out, but they were entirely manageable. Whenever anybody went to Foldes's office hours, he would walk us all the way to the end of the problem and make sure we understood what he was looking for and how to get there. Furthermore he would schedule meetings with us at any point he could.
There was one midterm exam and the final exam. Each was a take-home exam with questions written nearly identically to homeworks, and they were hard, fair, and entirely reasonable. The principle of "when in doubt, go ask him" held strongly and I would recommend that if you have any question, no matter how dumb, or slightly unrelated, you go ask him. He's gonna help.
The majority of students taking this class were physics students, and he targeted examples and explanations to that, which I found quite helpful. Applications and motivations were given in the physics flavor. He understands that the math is kind of conceptually gibberish at times- "literally, who cares?", he would say- but he got me there and I learned a lot. #tCFFall23