Daniela De Silva

Prof. Cruz is hard-working, kind and entertaining. However I quickly learned that what she teaches in class is only a snapshot of what we need to know for the HW. read the textbook and pirate the answer key.

Amazing Calculus teacher. You can tell that Prof De Silva really wants you to do well. I waited to take Calc IV with an actual prof (rather than a grad student) and it was so worth it. She asks every class if anything is confusing and is always willing to host and help via office hours. Prof De Silva is the best prof ever and I would def try taking calc (or any math class) with her if possible. I understand why she has a golden nugget and she TRUELY deserves it. 10/10 golden teacher.

Yes, all the previous reviews for Daniela below says she's amazing and so will this one. Daniela is not just a great math professor but she's also a very sweet person if you have the chance to get to know her. I must admit, I never planned on taking Calc 2 (especially with the horror stories I've heard from my friends) but this course turned out not to be half as bad as I thought and I'll even say ended up really enjoying the class. First of all, Daniela is very good at her job, she's a great lecturer who is able to convey the materials in a way that everyone can understand. Although she has a bit of an accent, I don't think it was a problem for anyone. She will always start the lecture saying "any questions?" and she'll stop periodically to take any questions or clarify anything that you don't understand. I like that she did a lot of examples during lecture however I also wished that she had done a little more on the theory and proof behind the theorems we learn because otherwise it just becomes a matter of memorizing the formula and not understanding the logic behind what they are and why they work/why we use them etc. Also as a WARNING TO EVERYONE: the way that she lectures and does problems on the board makes it seems like math is very easy and this is true when you're just writing down whatever she's writing, BUT, don't not be fooled into this false sense of security beca…

To those who have not yet gotten the memo: De Silva is one of the nicest and best math teachers you will have. Sometimes you have to see it to believe it. This semester was marred by the fact that De Silva was going through a brutal (her words) pregnancy, so she was always tired and sometimes would miss classes and/or office hours. Her dedication to the class despite this was truly extraordinary. The class covers chapters 8-11 in Baby Rudin, including Fourier Analysis, Multivariable functions, Differential forms and Measure/Lebesgue theory. Strengths: The strengths of the class include Prof. De Silva's own incredibly approachable and kind personality; her dedication to the class and her students; the tests, which are very manageable (see below); and the curve, which is very generous (I got around 5 points below average on each test, got a little above 50% on the problem sets and still got a B+). But the first point is really key. To give just a few examples: I had three midterms on one day so I asked De Silva if I could do hers on another day, and she agreed and even gave me the same test as the others; she almost always agreed to extensions for homework. Weaknesses: The one primary weakness may have to do more with the pregnancy than anything else, but the lectures themselves consisted pretty much exclusively of statements of theorems and their proofs, with little in terms of…

This is the best possible way to learn Analysis I, especially for less intense math people, for the following reasons: 1) De Silva is a fantastic lecturer. She always makes sure to make the material accessible to people who digest things more slowly, and moves at a very reasonable pace. 2) She is also unbelievably nice, accessible, the kind of professor you just adore. Go to her office hours (which she'll always be happy to arrange), you'll understand. She's also very laid-back about assignments: at one point she allowed me to re-submit HW after she had explained the problems, the solutions had been posted, and weeks after the due date. She'll always respond quickly, and usually positively, to emails and requests. 3) Put quite simply, I can hardly believe there is a more manageable way of learning Analysis. The exams are easy to do reasonably well on, even if you don't know the material all that well (see below), the HW is more than manageable, and all in all the workload is not particularly heavy. (SEE THE NOTE BELOW ABOUT HW) To summarize: this is the perfect way to learn Analysis, and there is little doubt in my mind that other classes by De Silva would be similarly excellent. The one tragedy is that I hear she isn't teaching Analysis next year. TAKE THIS PROFESSOR IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!!!

This is with no doubt one of the best instructors I have ever had and definitely the best for math. Professor De Silva is the best caffeine energizer you could get on a M W 8:40 class. She teaches with passion and clarity, and I always said that she can make my 10 year old brother understand multivariable math. Coming to this class, I was deterred by the 3d aspect, but Professor De Silva somehow made us all easily approach it and think naturally about math in 3d. She teaches you to truly understand math (no cheat sheet for exams), and she genuinely cares that her students will succeed - she won’t trick you, she will give you the best lecture notes and exercises for her exams, and she will do her best for you to succeed. Definitely a gem, and I wouldn’t hesitate to take her class.

Homework due every week at 11:59 wednesday. 2 midterms (though one was cancelled this sem due to personal issues w the prof), and 1 final.

AMAZING!!! I mean, Calc II was no walk in the park, but Professor De Silva helped explain everything and tried to make things very clear. She was even willing to help me out on a question on the final I was confused about. She was very pregnant when I took the course (this was back in Fall '08), and when she told us that she shouldn't be coming to class anymore and decided to hand the reins over to her husband temporarily, she gave birth that Saturday! Then, she returned to administer the final! How awesome was that? And she really cares about her students, answering questions in her awesome accent and trying to make things clear. If you can take this class with anyone, De Silva is the one.

Seriously, do anything you can to take this professor. The previous reviews for her analysis class have said this, and I feel obliged to repeat it. This applies to any class she is teaching. She does a great job teaching the material. The second half of Rudin is even more dense than the first, and she does a great job picking out what is important. There were a few times this semester when she covered material differently than it was covered in Rudin, in which case she made lecture notes available online. De Silva seems like she’s constantly looking out for questions during lecture, and she’s also very helpful during office hours. She’s also a wonderful person who really seemed to want us all to understand the material. The exams are very fair and there are no surprises. She tells everyone exactly what to expect and posts a review sheet with all the important terms and theorems.

Professor De Silva is by far the BEST math professor I have had during my time at Columbia. She is an excellent lecturer and very good at both understanding and answering students' questions (both of which are often a weak point of math professors in my experience). The subject matter is definitely challenging, and having a good professor can be the difference between being totally lost and understanding exactly what is going on in the course, especially considering the textbook for the course (Rudin) is a bit intimidating, especially at first. Overall, Professor De Silva made a very challenging two semesters quite enjoyable. If you have an opportunity to take a class with her, you definitely should.