Professor Sergei Pilyugin Reviews
Class Ratings
Professor Rating
Prof: Sergei Pilyugin / Fall 2022
Mar 2, 2023
Absolutely essential for math majors and still quite useful and insightful for stats/CS/physics/other math heavy majors. The proofs assignments can be moderately difficult or very hard - depends on the person and the assignment. Be prepared to work up to 10 hours per week on these. Also don't feel bad if you spend a few hours and get nowhere - that's part of the learning process :) Exams were relatively reasonable. Just study the book chapters and make sure you understand all the proofs done in class and you'll be good
Gives you samples of a variety of fields of mathematics (combinatorics, real analysis, algebra, set theory) in addition to learning proof writing techniques. If you ever have to write another proof, take this class
Absolutely awesome. A bit of a quick writer so don't be shy to ask questions if you don't understand a proof. Go to office hours!! He's helpful and available. Relatively forgiving grader on the exams and will help you with the proof assignments via email or in person.
If you are not a math major or have not been exposed to many proofs before, I highly recommend you look into proof writing before the class. A few suggestions would be to look up the proof of the binomial theorem (make sure you know induction first), proof of the ordinary generating function for the Fibonacci sequence, and Cantor's diagonal argument (familiarize yourself with some basic set theory prior and figure out what a bijection is).