Commerce Accounting/Finance Majors>>>>> 2 unit Maths vs General Maths (1 Viewer)

[Chronost]

Not sure if this is in the right section, but it seems to be at least semi-relevant, anyways....

I have had my goals set to do Accounting/Finance since the start of year 10, nothing has burned out yet, the problem I'm facing though is that I'm having trouble getting even decent marks in 2 unit Maths and considering going down to General as it would be easier for me to improve my marks on. Now I've read most threads on Commerce and even similar threads asking whether someone needs 2 units for Finance etc... and now I'm making this thread as well expect I would like to know the reasons for needing 2 unit maths for Finance in University. I understand that 2 unit maths incorporates harder equations and thinking which is relevant to finance type formulas etc... BUT if I go down to general maths and I go forward with a finance major will it be harder? What real benefits is there in doing 2 unit for finance. I never had problems doing Consumer Arthmetics when I was in 5.3 maths and always got 100% but because I was lazy and doing crap in Trig I moved down to 5.2 in year 10 and got relatively fine marks afterwards (85% average), Is it just me thinking too hard that 2 unit Maths is something I can't handle? And should I stay?

I'm also doing Accounting in Tafe(for HSC) I'm so far tied in first place with a few people, I also don't mind the journals,ledgers etc...so Accounting isn't so much a problem
P.S I got 40% in my half yearlies despite decent amount of study(although most of what is studied wasn't in the test and the average was around 55%, 100 ranked school)

 

[uniquee]

year 10 consumer is much more different to the prelim and year 12 consumer, consumer isn't a big topic in 2u.. only in series and sequences, and then it's actually quite mind boggling.

 

[fortune_cookie]

I have been told by a Finance tutor that you don't really need any hard maths for Finance. You may need some calculus if you do a course on Options , but other than that it just requires you to solve very basic linear equations, understand compound interest, understand very basic probability and then every now and then you make need to use logs

e.g. They could ask you to solve something like 1.065^n = 50 .

It is only until you hit actuarial studies or financial mathematics where the hard maths comes into play, and financial mathematics is taught out of the school of mathematics, not the school of finance.


Also, accounting has NOTHING to do with mathematics. If you know year 8 maths, you can do accounting. It just requires really basic consumer arithmetic

e.g. if you sell an item for $20 instead of $25, what is the percentage discount? If you can do that, you can do accounting calculations.

 

[Chronost]

I have been told by a Finance tutor that you don't really need any hard maths for Finance. You may need some calculus if you do a course on Options , but other than that it just requires you to solve very basic linear equations, understand compound interest, understand very basic probability and then every now and then you make need to use logs

e.g. They could ask you to solve something like 1.065^n = 50 .

It is only until you hit actuarial studies or financial mathematics where the hard maths comes into play, and financial mathematics is taught out of the school of mathematics, not the school of business.


Also, accounting has NOTHING to do with mathematics. If you know year 8 maths, you can do accounting. It just requires really basic consumer arithmetic

e.g. if you sell an item for $20 instead of $25, what is the percentage discount? If you can do that, you can do accounting calculations.

Yeah I'm quite fine with accounting maths haha, just worried about Finance,thanks for the feedback. Do you reckon I should stay in 2 unit or go to General and slide with much higher marks(I did the term 1 General maths test to try out, and yeah...way easy, but of course I know general starts to get harder in year 12).

 

[Shadowdude]

Do 2 unit. Finance goes through mathematical concepts and you might as well not be like the 95% of my Finance lecture who sits there going "wtf" at the whiteboard when the lecturer does some summation and mathematical stuff.

Prepare yourself now.


It's not just being -good- at maths, it's about being used to it so when someone starts doing maths on a board - you'll understand what's going on. It's intuitive.

Though I will say Finance is more based on applications and theory, with a bit of maths chucked in.

 

[EpikHigh]

Do 2 unit. Finance goes through mathematical concepts and you might as well not be like the 95% of my Finance lecture who sits there going "wtf" at the whiteboard when the lecturer does some summation and mathematical stuff.

Prepare yourself now.


It's not just being -good- at maths, it's about being used to it so when someone starts doing maths on a board - you'll understand what's going on. It's intuitive.

Though I will say Finance is more based on applications and theory, with a bit of maths chucked in.

What I thought. I was gonna post but wasn't sure because I met some friends friend in a library and he does commerce and he had massive book for commerce and I saw sigma notations in the equations and stuff.

 

[Shadowdude]

Yeah, I mean it's fine if you have the mathematical background - it's just that a few people don't.

Don't let yourself be one of those people!

Give yourself every advantage!

etc. etc. etc.

 

[Chronost]

Do 2 unit. Finance goes through mathematical concepts and you might as well not be like the 95% of my Finance lecture who sits there going "wtf" at the whiteboard when the lecturer does some summation and mathematical stuff.

Prepare yourself now.


It's not just being -good- at maths, it's about being used to it so when someone starts doing maths on a board - you'll understand what's going on. It's intuitive.

Though I will say Finance is more based on applications and theory, with a bit of maths chucked in.

Alright I'll guess I stay for another term and see how I end up in the upcoming test, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Chronost]

What I thought. I was gonna post but wasn't sure because I met some friends friend in a library and he does commerce and he had massive book for commerce and I saw sigma notations in the equations and stuff.

I know you! Oh wait.....

 

[EpikHigh]

Hahah Just keep 2U until end of Year 11

 

[seremify007]

Keep 2u. Even in first year for the core subjects for Commerce you'll need to have a decent understanding because a lot of the notation and concepts (particularly around sequence and series) will be mind boggling particularly if you haven't been exposed to them before. Whilst 2u isn't a prerequisite for Commerce, understanding it even to a partial degree will help you considerably later on. It's been a while since I did it but I remember we had to understand the concepts of integration at some point as well in first year.

As for finance, also note that there are both quant and qualitative finance subjects. If you aren't strong in maths then go down the qualitative route and do all the more waffly but less mathematical subjects.

ps. Tafe accounting is more along the lines of understanding book keeping entries and journals. This'll get you through Accounting 1A and maybe some of 1B, but for the most part, accounting at uni (and at post grad/professional level) is about the concepts and rules behind those journals and the journals become assumed knowledge.

 

[Chronost]

Keep 2u. Even in first year for the core subjects for Commerce you'll need to have a decent understanding because a lot of the notation and concepts (particularly around sequence and series) will be mind boggling particularly if you haven't been exposed to them before. Whilst 2u isn't a prerequisite for Commerce, understanding it even to a partial degree will help you considerably later on. It's been a while since I did it but I remember we had to understand the concepts of integration at some point as well in first year.

As for finance, also note that there are both quant and qualitative finance subjects. If you aren't strong in maths then go down the qualitative route and do all the more waffly but less mathematical subjects.

ps. Tafe accounting is more along the lines of understanding book keeping entries and journals. This'll get you through Accounting 1A and maybe some of 1B, but for the most part, accounting at uni (and at post grad/professional level) is about the concepts and rules behind those journals and the journals become assumed knowledge.

Repped!!! Thanks, that was just about all the information I needed, guess I'll definitely keep 2 unit until end of HSC, even If I don't do as well I need to.

 

[seremify007]

Or at least learn the concepts- IMO being forced to study it for HSC is a great way to ensure you put some decent effort into learning.

 

[niloony]

I'm in my last year of an acct/finance degree.

Almost everyone i know in the course did 3 unit but with my 2 unit knowledge I wasn't any worse off really. For my options course this semester I had to go back over simultaneous equations for a few minutes and that was about it. If you don't pick the hardest undergrad finance courses you will be 100% fine with general maths. But I would pick 2 unit just because you'll be studying maths more. The 3 unit people do better in the more mathy subjects purely because they have gotten used to using maths in a variety of forms and therefore can understand and adapt algebra a bit faster and more elegantly. The same logic applies from general -> 2 unit.

Accounting is about remembering words (bloody journal entries) not equations.

 

[seremify007]

I'm in my last year of an acct/finance degree.

Almost everyone i know in the course did 3 unit but with my 2 unit knowledge I wasn't any worse off really. For my options course this semester I had to go back over simultaneous equations for a few minutes and that was about it. If you don't pick the hardest undergrad finance courses you will be 100% fine with general maths. But I would pick 2 unit just because you'll be studying maths more. The 3 unit people do better in the more mathy subjects purely because they have gotten used to using maths in a variety of forms and therefore can understand and adapt algebra a bit faster and elegantly.

Accounting is about remembering words (bloody journal entries) not equations.

^ He speaks the truth.

 

[Chronost]

I'm in my last year of an acct/finance degree.

Almost everyone i know in the course did 3 unit but with my 2 unit knowledge I wasn't any worse off really. For my options course this semester I had to go back over simultaneous equations for a few minutes and that was about it. If you don't pick the hardest undergrad finance courses you will be 100% fine with general maths. But I would pick 2 unit just because you'll be studying maths more. The 3 unit people do better in the more mathy subjects purely because they have gotten used to using maths in a variety of forms and therefore can understand and adapt algebra a bit faster and more elegantly. The same logic applies from general -> 2 unit.

Accounting is about remembering words (bloody journal entries) not equations.

Acknowledged. Thanks for the useful info!