Thanks everyone......this is all useful information for me.
I made the mistake of getting my undergrad degree from the College of
Arts and Sciences (at Pitt, Bill!) and I didn't take any of the
math/statistics/ research methods courses that, of course, I need now
that I've found something I love to learn about (neuroscience).
If anyone has any reading recommendations (about
neuroscience/neuropsychology/..even a good calculus text) please post
them!
Thanks
Bill Skaggs wrote:
>> Piaget's 2nd cousin <mr at mollusk.com> writes:
>> > Can someone tell me how much math background is necessary for the study
> > of neuroscience and/or neuropsychology (whatever you happen to know
> > about) on a MS/PhD level?
> >
> > What kinds of math are used most frequently?
> >
> > I have a decent scientific background, but one that is stonger in
> > theory/history than it is in applied physics.
> >
> > Thanks.
>> In terms of what is *necessary*, basic algebra and a smattering of
> statistics will get you by, and that's all that a lot of
> neuroscientists know. In terms of what is *useful*, differential
> equations, linear algebra, and probability theory certainly come in
> handy, and in my opinion are really essential if you want to study the
> nervous system from a computational point of view. (By "a
> computational point of view" I don't mean running computer
> simulations, I mean trying to understand the nervous system as a
> device that performs computations.) For neurophysiologists, who deal
> with time-varying electrical signals, Fourier analysis is also an
> essential tool. At a more advanced level, dynamical systems theory
> comes in very handy, and to a degree information theory and analysis
> of algorithms.
>> -- Bill
>> (PS, I was a math major as an undergraduate and also studied it in
> graduate school before switching to neuroscience.)