Anil Nerode - Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Professor: Anil Nerode

Department: Mathematics

College: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He is a legend in the Math world, but he is old and lacks clarity during his lectures. However, discussion sections are helpful, and as long as you hand in all of your homework assignments, you should do well. Also, there were two in-class exams and no prelims nor finals. Get to know him though; he is a very interesting man.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof Nerode is an excellent person, and always ready to help. His lectures can be slightly unclear at times but if you study the material, its almost fine and the Prof is always there to spend time with you to help you understand. Willing to help out beyond his class. Homeworks are sometimes long and hard, but fairly graded and exams are quite easy

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH4130
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nerode is a really nice guy. His lectures are pretty pointless since he mostly reads from his notes that are online anyway. However, those notes (which he wrote) are pretty good. Tests are pretty easy. Homeworks are a bit harder and kind of long but not terrible.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH4130
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. Nerode is kind, approachable, understanding, and overall just a great man! The fact that he's still teaching at the age of 81 explains why his lectures can at times be a bit difficult to follow. But he was very understanding when it came to prelim conflicts so he has my utmost respect. Would definitely take any other class with him!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Took linear algebra with Prof. Nerode in Spring 2013. Professor Nerode is a very kindhearted and caring man. He's a great person, but unfortunately not mumbles to himself in lecture, but that's totally understandable since he is 81. Problem sets were mostly all proof-based (great for math majors) while prelims only had computation-based questions.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Nerode is an amazing mathematician but it's just very hard to understand him because he lectures on such a high level. He is getting older and he can be very impatient and incompetent at times. The class was hell, the assignments were very tedious and people at the support center even said he is odd, to say the least.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He has decided to no longer use a textbook so he has his long printed lectures that he just reads in class so there is no point in going to lecture. Homework is difficult and for me, going to TAs office hours were a must- his were useless. He is a nice grader though. I got a 33% on the first exam and I still got an A in the course.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

No textbook for course. No need to attend lectures. Homework is hard but workable. Extremely easy exams.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's nice in grading and test. Useless lectures.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Greatest professor ever! His tests are just like the sample tests. The first quintile on a prelim was 118...out of 120. Take any of his classes.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH4130
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I think he's better at teaching history of mathematics/logic than analysis. Classes are usually unclear and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference if you go or not since reading the book by yourself gives pretty much the same result. Plus you won't have to decipher his handwriting if you just read the book.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH4130
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I know this guy is brilliant, but he can't teach for his life. Very unclear, rambles and cannot answer questions. The class isn't so hard, though.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures were absolutely useless the entire semester. Learned jack. Doesn't seem to work his own problems for exams so doesn't know exactly how doable (or not) his own exam is.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MAT221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. Nerode is a really nice guy. Unfortunately, he doesn't even understand his notes. All he does is read them off and get himself confused. Class is 100% useless and the homework is really hard to do with no teacher. ALWAYS go to SECTION. Tests are so easy.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The class was pretty easy but I still felt like I learned something.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The class is ridiculously easy in that you hardly have to do anything to do well on the tests. Even so, his lectures are useless and I could not understand a single thing he tried to explain. It doesn't help that it is also impossible to read his handwriting on the board.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATHINPERSPEC
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I took a "math in perspective" class with him and one other student. I didn't get a whole lot out of the class content wise, but he told fascinating and funny stories and anecdotes about the history of math and his associations with other famous mathematicians.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The most kind and compassionate professor on this campus! You will all do well in his class because he doesnt care about grades as much as he cares about teaching you how to logic, reason, and think.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's a brilliant man, I wish I could understand all he tried to teach us. I think that was the biggest problem - teaching on a level that most undergraduate students could understand. Fascinating and intelligent.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures consisted of him reading to us off overheads (which usually had errors). Never looked up during lectures and mumbled a lot. Nice person, but lectures were useless. Only 25% of the class came to the lectures.