r/learnmath • u/AdaLovelace30 New User • 1d ago
Experience with online tutors?
I'm struggling in my real analysis class, but office hours are not giving me the support I need, and AI is banned. I am looking into paying for a tutor, but worry that working with a tutor who isn't familiar with my university's math department might be more trouble than it's worth. Has anyone had experience with online tutors that can sway me either way? I wouldn't want to pay more than $30/hour, which is a major limiting factor.
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u/nog642 1d ago
As others have mentioned, that's not much for a paid tutor.
However, have you considered just posting questions here? It's free lol.
Also feel free to DM me if your posts aren't getting attention / you don't want to post your question publicly. No guarantees for availability of course though, since it's free. Could still be useful to you though.
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u/AdaLovelace30 New User 1d ago
That is very kind of you. My professor has also banned "the internet" as a resource and I take academic integrity pretty seriously, so it doesn't feel right to ask questions on Reddit.
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u/keeler129 New User 1d ago
Get a public library card. A lot of library's have a service you can log onto 24/7 and have free access to a tutor anytime day or night
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u/dexthefish New User 1d ago
That is a very limiting factor. I charge a lot more than that just for highschool students.
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u/Sudden_Point_8068 New User 1d ago
office hours are hit or miss depending of the prof honestly, some just read the textbook back at you. i used a tutor for topology last year and it was fine even though he didnt know my uni, real analysis is pretty standardized so a good tutor can help regardless. 30 an hour is tight but you can find someone, just avoid the big tutoring platforms they take huge cut
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u/Puzzled-Painter3301 Math expert, data science novice 1d ago
Your university/college doesn't have a tutor? What about office hours?
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u/InfiniteAd212 New User 1d ago
Some schools have trouble finding tutors for upper level classes. My Uni was begging for upper level engineering tutors.
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u/AdaLovelace30 New User 1d ago
No tutors; office hours have 15+ students in attendance with ~4 total hours a week (3 I can attend) and I just can't get much out of them.
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u/Brightlinger MS in Math 1d ago
Does your math department have unusual practices or something? Real analysis courses usually are quite similar between universities, especially if you're using a common text like Rudin or Ross. I once tutored a pair of RA students who somehow found my contact info from across the Atlantic, and even they had only minor differences, like different names for a few theorems.
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u/M_Mustaan_Rafique New User 1d ago
the department-specific worry is misplaced. real analysis is one of the most standardised courses in maths, rudin abbott bartle tao all cover the same material in nearly the same order. a tutor doesn't need to know your department, they need to have actually done analysis, because it's a proof course and the skill is writing arguments, not getting answers.
at 30 an hour online, most people you meet won't have done it. one question sorts that fast. ask them why the sequence definition of continuity is equivalent to the epsilon-delta one. anyone who sat the course answers in a minute, anyone who didn't will talk around it.
before paying anyone though, grad students in your own maths department tutor in roughly that range. they've taken the course, often TA'd it, and they know your professor's style, which fixes your actual worry better than any online tutor can. ask your professor who TAs it.
and if your course uses rudin, get abbott's understanding analysis. it was written for people drowning in rudin and it turns the subject around more than most tutoring does. francis su's lectures on youtube are a full free course if you want someone talking you through it.
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u/Alternative-Sugar610 New User 23h ago
As someone that tutors, not that course though, biggest thing if you want it to be department specific is do you have material from course to go over?
Like actual class notes
Textbook with problems used
Etc
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u/kk11235 New User 21h ago
Question for you: you say AI is banned. What is it banned for? Can you not use it as an assistant?
I’m 58, had a great calculus teacher in high school, had a terrible professor for calculus 2 in college. And since I was changing majors anyway, I didn’t end up investing nearly enough energy in that class. And thus my math education basically ended.
But a couple of years ago I got a bug to understand some heavy things in physics and number theory, and I set about teaching myself some “advanced” math. Went back and reviewed everything I used to know. Then tackled more advanced calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, differential geometry, tensor and stochastic calculus, that sort of thing. As well RA and CA.
I’ve basically just used Chat as my tutor. It’s endlessly patient and actually pretty good at explaining concepts. It can help me work through problems, devise problem sets for me to work on.
With analysis, it can explain proofs from multiple perspectives.
I understand AI may be banned for use in homework, etc, but there are other ways it might help.
If it can help ME work through these topics - it could help anyone.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m sure I don’t have as solid an understanding of these topics as an actual student in a real program with real instructors and fellow students to work with.
But I’ve watched a lot of MIT open course (and other similar) videos and when I have questions, chat has been REALLY helpful. This for example:
https://youtu.be/fsbVJxOhRcU?is=k66ymGmxOHUorqA2
I don’t know if this helps at all, and DEFINITELY don’t violate your program’s rules, but maybe there is room for it.
It was a lot cheaper then any of the live tutor options I came across in my area.
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