MATH 2315

About Sherman: I didn’t like the guy to start off the semester - I was honestly a bit scared by him and the class content in general, but he grew on me. He’s a good professor, a good lecturer, and he’s very helpful in office hours. He will lecture as if you are a grad student, even though most of the class is just first years, but that’s because this class is meant to be taught like that. He's also very understanding and will give you extensions if needed.

About the class: My class started with 39 people and dropped to 14 people by the drop deadline. Do the readings, do the homework, work with peers outside of class, attend ALL office hours. Having study groups and going to literally all office hours (prof and TA) are the only two reasons I was somewhat sane in this class. It’s definitely doable to pass the class without going to study groups or all the office hours, but you would need to have a lot of prerequisite knowledge.

We had weekly homeworks, given on Friday and due the next Thursday. Then we had a two-part midterm and a two-part final (both had a take-home and in-class portion). It’s not necessarily like 90-100 is an A, 80-90 is a B, etc etc. You’ll get at least a B if you are putting in obvious effort and showing some sort of growth (which is also why I think going to office hours is super duper important). The work will take u a looong time so have fun

If you do choose to take this class, you’re probably coming in with minimal/no knowledge of proofs. Maybe you haven’t even done calc 3 yet. I did calc 3 already but had no experience with proofs. I wish I had done some learning of proofs and linear algebra over the summer to make it easier for myself during this course

Is this class worth it? Honestly, idk. But yeah, I’m passing, and I will be taking 3315 so I can get the credit for everything. Did I learn a lot? Yeah, but that can also be learned in the other required classes for the math major. Do I recommend this class? Not really, but if you are in love with math and want to be in academia in the future then yeah maybe take this class.

The other reviews here are 100% accurate! Go to office hours and study groups (cant emphasize this enough), ask questions, ask for extensions, get to know sherman, textbook sucks (just use youtube videos, khan academy, and random online stuff), participate in class. Also self-study some linear algebra, set theory, and basic proof structures over the summer. See reviews under Prof. Koberda for resources.

If you take this class and its successor (3315) and come out alive, then congrats, you probably want to be a math major! HOWEVER, you absolutely do not need to take these classes (2315/3315) if you want to be a math major. There is no shame in taking 'regular' calc 3 (MATH 2310) and 'regular' linear algebra (MATH 3351) and 'regular' ODE (MATH 3250). Your mental health comes first. Not taking this class won't 'slow you down' with the math major and you won't be 'behind'. Think about the workload of your entire schedule + extracurriculars. If you take this class, I suggest you make this your ONLY hard class. I made the mistake of taking another hard class alongside this + too many EC's. Let yourself have time for the things you enjoy. Don't let this silly class get in the way of life!

Having said all this, don't shy away from trying out this class for the first week or so. Even if you aren't officially enrolled, Sherman is *ALL FOR* students 'testing out' classes in the first few weeks. Show up, get the syllabus, test out the first week of homework, and see if it's for you. You might think you won't succeed, but if you are reading this and considering this class, you absolutely can do it. You can make it out with a minimum A- and you can learn a lot. You can work hard, and you are capable of success. Just manage your time well.

Do I regret taking this class? Slightly. I think that I would've retained more and done better overall if I took regular linear and ODE. I don't think the fast pace of 2315/3315 was meant for me. Am I capable of great difficulty and stress now thanks to this class? 100%. Should you take this class? If you care a lot about math, then consider it.

TLDR: Sherman's good, go to office hours/study groups, study over the summer, don't take other hard classes with this

This class is extremely rewarding and you will learn a TON of math, but it can be frustrating and very time-consuming. If you want to succeed, you have to go to office hours and collaborate with others in class.

The first few weeks cover foundations concepts very quickly (sets, functions, equivalence relations, etc.), then some proof-based linear algebra and multivariable calculus (with some other topics thrown in depending on what Sherman wants us to see, like permutations, means, and a rigorous multilinear map determinant definition). The content is really interesting and if you are interested in a math major, this course will definitely convince you. That being said, the textbook (Williamson Trotter) is not great: it has some interesting exercises but the exposition is a mix of unclear, redundant, and vague.

***If you are a CS or Engineering student who was "good at math" in high school and wants a challenge, this is maybe not the course for you (unless you love proofs). The vast majority of people in this category dropped within the first two weeks.

Sherman is great too! Wonderful first math professor to have at UVA, he really cares about you succeeding and prioritizes people building intuition on the material. Overall I highly recommend 2315 and its sequel course, it will certainly get you to appreciate math and learn a lot of it.

TLDR: Steep learning curve at first + very large workload but extremely interesting and valuable

Only take this class if you are genuinely interested in the theoretical side of math. This class is very challenging, if not almost impossible at times, and will push you to your limit. But over the course of this class and its successor (3315) I’ve learned so much about the subject material and more, and the effort I put into the class was definitely worth it.

Most of the learning is done on your own from a 50 year old textbook that’s mostly fine but is sometimes poorly worded and tends to overcomplicate many of the concepts. The lectures give bigger picture overviews of the readings, plus whatever extra topics Sherman feels like teaching. Sherman has high expectations but is an incredible professor and is especially good at breaking down complicated concepts into understandable bits and tying things back to physical intuition.

The class is very fast paced, and we go beyond Multi+Linear into some set theory and real analysis. The course aims to give a deeper understanding of the theory behind the material and shows how connected these fields are under the hood, but sometimes the extra content can be a little frustrating when you’ve already spent 10 hours on the homework and have to prove something wildly unrelated to what you’ve been learning about. Each homework consists of mostly book problems and 1-3 challenge problems (usually proofs) that range from slightly difficult to straight-up unfair. Group work is not only allowed but heavily encouraged, and office hours will probably become a part of your weekly schedule. Overall, this class will be an extremely valuable experience if you enjoy math for the sake of it and convinced me to major in math, but is definitely not for everyone.