Definitions and Mathematicians

Any mathematician will freely admit to our obsession with definitions. As an example of this, observe the result of asking any mathematician "Are you okay?" A normal individual would reply "Yes" or "No". Not so with a mathematician; you can fully expect a mathematician to reply, "How do you define 'okay'?" This is the main point I wanted to make; a mathematician will resist attempting any problem until he understands every word contained in the problem itself.
I should forewarn anyone reading this who might be either taking or planning to take any math courses at the university level and has the need to visit a professor during office hours: Please DO NOT ask for assistance with solving a problem without first understanding all relevant definitions. If you do this, you will at the very least annoy your professor, who will usually be unrestrained in expressing his annoyance at you. I should clarify: There is nothing wrong with being confused at definitions in material recently learned, and a math professor will have no problems if you say, "I am confused on problem 9. FIRST OFF, I AM CONFUSED BY THE DEFINITION OF...". In expressing your confusion while simultaneously admitting that you are unclear regarding one or more definitions, you are at least acknowledging that your confusion regarding definition(s) is obstructing your progress. If, however, you simply ask for help on a problem and- when the professor queries you regarding one of the definitions in the problem itself you reply that you do not know - then your professor will almost certainly become annoyed.
How does this notion apply in real world situations? We have seen several examples of this in terms of current events. For instance, what is the definition of an economic "depression" as compared to a "recession"? The lack of a clear quantitative definition raises the following question: Was the recent (and possibly still ongoing) economic crisis a recession or a depression? The term "Great
Recession" seems like an absurd attempt at sidestepping this issue.

MBA program overview

Having completed all but one course of the MBA program, I am now in a position to offer a better perspective concerning this program. Certainly the MBA can be considered a very useful professional degree, providing students with a wealth of knowledge applicable to the corporate world, particularly to intelligent and self-driven individuals aspiring to eventually rise to management and/or positions affecting the strategic direction of organization(s). Required courses include a combination of subjects involving a large amount of reading and synthesis- particularly in strategic planning, human behavior in organizations, operations management, leadership, information technology- as well as quantitatively based subjects including finance and accounting. The finance classes involve the most intense and advanced mathematical content. Mathematicians opting to complete the MBA program will likely derive the most enjoyment from these classes. Unsurprisingly, I opted for the finance emphasis in this program; as such, I completed classes in corporate valuation, investment and portfolio analysis, in addition to the required basic finance class. The strategic management class was also quite interesting, as it involved a business simulation game in which the class was broken down into 10 competing companies in the same industry. Over a 10-week period, we competed to optimize our own company's value and market share; each week, we made decisions regarding pricing, marketing, production, etc., with performance in the subsequent "year" dependent on the decisions made and entered into the simulation by each team. It was a fascinating illustration of game theory in practice.