2.4
Quality3.9
Difficulty26%
Would Retake103
Reviews26%
Would Retake
103
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
17
4
8
3
20
2
19
1
39
What Students Say
“His lectures aren't bad, but I learned more from going to the sections”
MATH19B - 3.0 rating“One of the best math professors I've had at UCSC”
MATH100 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
36%
Textbook Required
10%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.48 avg changeRatings by Course
NUMTHEORY110
5.0
(1)MATH110
5.0
(1)MATH115
4.5
(2)MATH124
4.0
(4)MATH103A
4.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
MATH21MATH100
5.0
MATH11B
4.4
MATH19B
4.3
MATH124
4.3
NUMTHEORY110
4.0
Reviews (103)
He really tries, but has trouble sometimes.
he was a terrible teacher, he does try but he is not very clear and gets confused very easily. i pretty much had to teach myself the material
he has a pretty bad japanese accent. so legrange multipliers sounds like lerrange murtiplriers. anyways just do find on the midterms and watch out for his killer final. the final i just had had one of the functions for a legrange problem as f(xyz):xyz and i was like wtf for the longest time.
His explanations make the problems seem harder than they really are. He also has a very amusing laugh!
Great teacher, hard to pass, Final was very challenging but very fairly graded. Hard Teacher does not equal bad teacher.
These two classes coincide, so take them at the same time. He assumes you're taking both, and mentions things about one class in the other. HARD subject. BAD book. His teaching helped slightly. He's somewhat amusing to watch. I saw him bump into a wall and say excuse me to it. He curves like crazy, so just do your best.
I often had no idea what the hell was happening in class. The TA got me through this class alive. Tamanoi doesn't answer questions clearly. He is the typical research oriented professor. If you can get out of his class, do. Some people like his idiosyncracies and while they are entertaining cometimes they don't help you learn.
The WORST professor I've had at Santa Cruz yet. If you take a class with him, be prepared to teach yourself the material. I can't believe he's a teacher here. So sad. Being able to speak english well, and fully understand and answer student's questions should be a must for teaching college, don't ya think? ARGH, so frustrating!
He was really difficult to understand and couldn't speak English very well. Good luck reading what he wrote on the board, I couldn't see a THING! On tests, he expected us to describe in written English what we were doing. I thought that was dumb but it saved me in the end. Also, ask for help during exams, he'll pretty much give you the answer.
He has a bad Japanese accent. His classes are in effort, okay, but it's pretty much a teach-yourself kind of class unless this class is just review to you. He isn't helpful in his answers in that he sometimes laughs it aside or makes a witty "joke".
AVOID HIM. Got a 5 Calc AB, and I prob won't pass this class. Doesn't speak english well at all... minor detail! Extremely poor communicator. Bad at answering questions. Only really does examples, which he mumbles through. Everyone sits through class completely lost wondering what he's doing. Can't teach. TA was worse. Teach yourself from the book
Tamanoi is the worst prof I've had so far. I can't understand a word he's saying, and his handwriting is hardly readable. Basically, I had to learn everything from the book and from tutoring. TAs were not helpful either, and all had hard-to-understand accents. Exams are 75% of the grade, and they're pretty harsh; I think I'm failing this class.
Made simple concepts complicated, couldn't understand anything he said. Going to lecture made me more confused about concepts - learn from the book or friends in his classes
Read comments below, they are all true. He uses a schaum's outline book which has insuficient examples of many of the problems. FACT: It is impossible to learn all concepts using the examples on the book w/o getting outside help. I DARE anyone to prove me wrong bcuz Ive taken the class and know how it works. If ur using schaums, good luck! Needed!
Very hard to listen to what he is saying. He basically explains from the book. I had no idea what was going on half the class and I still passed. The worst part of the class is NO CALCULATORS of any kind. This really slows down your productivity. There was also an trig question on his test even though it was an calculus class. Try to Avoid!!!
It's true you have to teach yourself from the book, but it's pretty basic stuff. His texts are almost EXACTLY what he gives you on the practice tests. Schaums Outline is annoying because many of the answers are wrong, but it's possible to ace the class by using the book and going to section once a week (which you have to do for quizzes anyway)
couldn't understand a thing he said or read a thing he wrote on the board
Luckily I had taken a similar class in high school, the pace of his lecture is very fast and tends to lose people and he moves in an unorderly fashion on the chalk board
Cant determine what he is saying most of the time. He teaches out of the book. Many people failed because of the brief explaination of the Taylor series.
Tamanoi is a great teacher for this class. Possibly the best math class I've taken at UCSC. I also had Tamanoi for Math 24 which was not great. But Tamanoi cared, was enthusiastic and an all around excellent professor.
I thought this class was going to kill me.I had Tamanoi for 21,which he made really easy, but this class was hard without a TA. He held sections as his office hours and really tried to help, and in the end, every single person in the class got an A. I got an A+ because I "tired real hard" but the class wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be
Good professor. I was surprised to see so many people dislike him. I thought he gave a good overview of the theory and generalizations while at the same time covering a fair amount of specific examples. He's also good at answering questions when they need to be answered. Go to office hours and work problems with him and he is extremely helpful.
Had Tamamoi for Fall 2010 quarter Math 110 intro to number theory. Great Professor. I see alot of bad comments but mostlikely because they didnt do any work. I learned alot. Worked hard. Hw is not too difficult but be prepared to do lots of it. Exams are fair. Highly Reccomend. ps... his accent isnt that bad. His notes and writing are nice.
Absolutely horrible lecturer. You might as well try to learn from a file cabinet rather than listen to him. His method of teaching is appalling... He makes the simplest concepts seem difficult. I probably learned more from his TA than I did in those agonizing hours I wasted in lecture.
Try to avoid. Professor does not coordinate with TA's and often loses assignments - even tests! Assigns a crazy amount of HW. Tests are very difficult and often simply too long to finish. I spent every night in the library working and studying and still am barely passing the class. Skipped a chapter because he assumed we could teach ourselves.Avoid
Difficult to understand, makes the simplest concepts difficult, sucks at answering student questions. I am doing well and will probably get an A in the class simply because I skipped lectures and just went to TA sections. PRAY you get Wyatt Howard! Avoid this teacher if possible.
Prof Tamanoi is very smart but it's hard to understand him at times. His handwriting is tough to read as well, as his k's and R's look similar sometimes. He writes in pseudo-cursive. Exams aren't too bad given homework is done correctly.
Had him for Math 21 and 100. He wasn't that great for 21, but for 100 he was great. He explained all concepts clearly and gave us a lot of examples. His midterms were challenging, but he curves at the end. I would recommend reading the book before his lectures and attending his or his TAs office hours.
I dnt undrstnd why the reviews here are so low! I took Diff Eqns with him in the summer. His accent is not tough to understand and hes xtremly nice! Hes at the point where the material is easy for him, so he may rush sum stuff, but the homework is AMPLE 4 preparation. Got a 95 and 89 on midtrm and final be4 curve :) Studied by mainly doing just HW
He's a funny guy. Not hard if you just do all the homework and study the homework. Basically all his test questions are out of the book! Math 24 just takes A LOT of studying, but it's not that hard. He's a decent teacher but I also learned a lot from practice.
TA was not very helpful and had poor communication skills. HW was graded extremely hard by the TA. Tamanoi is a nice guy but his lectures are pretty useless as he just goes over proofs and theory with very little time spent on actual examples (which is what is on the exams). Just study the HW problems to do well in the course. WAY TOO MUCH HW
Covers a lot of material, with a Q&A lecture style to get you thinking about the subject. LOTS of HW, and lectures do not provide enough information to do all HW, so this class requires a lot of time outside of lecture to do well. Understand and review ALL HW AND his written notes to do well on tests. Test averages are low but he curves a lot.
One of the best math professors I've had at UCSC. He has very clear lectures and really tries to answers any and all questions you may have. I felt that all his exams were fair, even a little bit easy, and he curves. I really enjoyed this course.
Great teacher, you could go to class take notes and be able to do the homework without looking at the text. Tests are like the homework would recommend doing and understanding how to do them all also review notes and example problems. Do expect a lot of homework though.
Death by homework. It does help you prepare for the midterm and final. There aren't any trick problems; but they're still hard. Just be prepared to do homework.
Graph theory is really interesting. The lectures were dry at some points but gave the subject justice and were mostly very clear.
I always found his lectures clear. He went a bit fast toward the end of the quarter. I think some people were overwhelmed by that, but the TA helped. There was a lot of homework. His tests were hard, but I think there was a curve. I found the material of the class very interesting. Math 100 was probably my favorite math class I've taken so far.
Graph theory is pretty boring (except a few topics), but Tamanoi is a very good lecturer. He had students give ideas on how to prove the theorems which was very helpful. The homework was fairly tedious, but this seemed like the nature of graph theory. The tests and grading were reasonable. Would recommend, especially for a class that isn't 115.
I had a horrible experience with Tamanoi, he is really hard to understand, his hand writing is below average, and he makes a concept that could be learned by a simple formula into rocket science. Every lecture I went to I got frustrated with his teaching and just took out my laptop and watched tutorials on YouTube on how to do it. Avoid at all cost
His lectures can be very frustrating and confusing. Instead of giving us a simple formula and giving us a brief explaination on how the formula works, he goes into an explaination that is confusing. I got through the class mostly due to the ACE program and from taking AP Calc AB and BC in high school.
Lectures very confusing, Jumps around to different steps of problems and talks very quietly
The class itself wasn't difficult at all. I got almost like a 98% on the midterm, and the quizzes in section were pretty easy. The problem with this class was the final. I had like a 99% in the class, and I bombed the final. The final was extremely difficult and my grade TANKED. His lectures aren't bad, but I learned more from going to the sections
Tamanoi covers a lot in his lectures, to the point where he will introduce a new concept in the last five minutes of class. Although there's a lot covered, the board often gets messy and was hard for me to follow. He assigns a lot of homework and taught two new chapters the week before finals, which was difficult for me to keep up with.
Tamanoi is clearly a very knowledgeable professor, but is not a skilled lecturer. My biggest complaint about his class, however, was the lack of organization. He often added hw problems the day before the due date and taught two chapters of material the week before finals. The TA was the real reason I was able to pass this course.
Examples he explained in the class are way easier than the homework and test problems. He uses Webassign for homework assignment which is fine and Gradescope for test submission which sucks because you have to upload your work separately for each problem with no late submission if you ran out of time for any reason.
It is obvious that Professor Tamanoi knows the material. Unfortunately, he isn't the best at conveying this material to students. His exam expectations were often unclear, as was the wording in the exams. I felt that for an online calculus class during a pandemic, we had too many exams (two every week, plus weekly quizzes, plus the final).
I made a mistake on my previous rating in regard to exams. I meant to say that there is one exam held every two weeks, in addition to weekly quizzes and the final at the end of the quarter.
Tamanoi is not a bad professor for a UC instructor. Getting into a UC has the expectation to be responsible students. His Canvas files are very organized, exams and quizzes BARELY reflect the homework and lectures, grades are up in the air 90% of the quarter, does not clearly explain what will be on the exams/quizzes. make study groups to survive
if you want to pass his class, you're gonna have to want to learn it. asking questions and forming study groups is the best way to do well in his class. he talks quietly and you need to pay very good attention. simple
Unfortunately the switch to online for this class was horribly done, and this professor was very bad at explaining things.
He has biweekly exams, homework, weekly quizzes, and a final that all account to your grade. It's important to use other resources outside of class because his lectures can become confusing. He liked to "trick" us on the exams, so beware of more complex concepts not taught in class. Regrading grading, there was a big curve at the end of the class.
I took math24 last summer. The professor explained the material really clearly. Everything was well organized. Lectures were recorded and uploaded with captions, really considerate. His notes were really neat. Really good professor. And you can really learn things.
Took him remote during COVID. Very strict about his internet policy (if your internet drops during an exam he won't care). Exams are LONG, I think to try and curb cheating but barely anyone could get them done on time. On exam 3, barely anyone finished. Same with the final as well. Would not recommend taking him remotely, not very caring.
He explains things well and gives a lot of examples which was great. There was a LOT of homework, weekly quizzes, and bi-weekly exams as well as a cumulative final. Very time consuming class but I learned a lot. TAs grade all the assignments/tests
Very confusing lecturer who is bad at understanding and answering students questions. The examples he gives in class are much simpler than those on the homework and tests. Homework is also graded on correctness not completion and no late work is allowed. Test problems are basically the same as homework ones, so if you understand those you're fine.
Quizzes are taken in person at your section but mid-way through, ppl just stopped showing up and just took it online at home on canvas. The subjects might be tough but you can ask the prof at his OH and he will explain it thoroughly. The Midterm/Final is very similar to the hw and also the lecture before the exams, he goes over wat will be in it.
Lectures get confusing very quickly. His handwriting can be barely legible at times. The exams are big parts of your grade, which barely any students pass anyway. TAs are what carry this class on their backs. Be ready for A LOT of homework as there is an assignment every two days, which progressively takes a lot more time further into the quarter.
Probably the worst professor I've had in a while. His lectures make no sense, I had to completely rely on YouTube to get through this course. During the lecture, he is more theory-based, which is useless since we just need to know how to do the problems, not the history of math terms. Makes us memorize every single formula for midterm and final.
Worst class I took in forever. Learned absolutely nothing, had to rely on youtube for everything. He doesn't allow calculators or cheat sheets on his exams. Wouldn't recommend this class at all.
worst class and professor I have taken so far. 60% of your grade is determined on 2 exams. for the final, he said even if you have the correct answer if you did not write in words what you did then it will not receive full credit. the midterm class average was a 54% and lectures do not help at all. do not take his class!
Though the Professor is a good teacher and tries his best, he seems to ignore how the students feel and what they think about the class. His lectures are hard to understand, especially worse since he writes in cursive. The midterm average was an F, and that does not seem to put a message in his head. No Cheatsheets. Quizzes barely affect your grade
Do not take this class! the worst class I have ever taken. Literally your grade is determined by the midterm(25%) and final(35%). Both were so difficult especially the final. No cheatsheet allowed when there is so many stuff to remember. Some questions on the final were far from what we've learned in class. THE WORST PROFESSOR!!!!
Lectures were hard to understand, made trivial concepts much more harder then needed, 3 homework assignments a week, the final and midterm average were both around 50 percent, AVOID AT ALL COSTS
Steer clear!!!
Terrible lecturer, lots of inconsistency on material, testing, and procedure.
Do not take!!! Extremely difficult to understand lectures. Final and midterm averages were very low. Excessive amount of homework.
Despite the Professor's competence, he ignores students' emotional and cognitive needs, with difficult lectures worsened by cursive writing. Midterm avg. is F, yet he remains impervious, no cheatsheets allowed, quizzes barely impact grade. Deficient empathy and poor teaching methods exacerbate the unfavorable experience.
The Professor doesn't care about students' feelings or opinions. Lectures are hard to understand, worse with cursive writing. Midterm grades were failing, but it doesn't affect his teaching. No cheatsheets allowed and quizzes barely count towards the final grade.
Possibly one of the worst classes I've ever taken. The class average for the midterm was failing yet instead of blaming his teaching he blames it on poor attendance. Huge amount of homework and quizzes barely affect grades. Do not take him.
Professor Tamanoi is not a malicious or ill-intending professor. However, his class is structured in such a way that is very out of touch for the curriculum, and the students that are in his class. In his final, I am in the upper 25% quartile of scores after studying >50 hours, and still failed. I passed this course, miserably. AVOID THIS CLASS.
You deserve better.
Gave a lot of homework and didn't explain concepts well. Practice problems done in class are nothing like the homework. Averages for exams were low and instead of curving each test waited until final grades were due to curve the grades, so for the whole quarter it looked like you'd fail the class.
I had a really tough time with this class and the weight for the exams was also big. If you skip class then you will be behind and I recommend starting on hw asap too because it's based on correctness. The lectures were also a little hard to understand, but I wouldn't say he was terrible because he curved the exams. Thank god for that!
I will therapy after taking this class. The midterm was one of the hardest exams I have taken in my life. Will post update after final.
The professor expects you to be mathematically at the same level as him. The manner he demands you to comprehend his subject will make you feel as though you are not doing enough. He will go off in class and teach as quickly as he can, and his writing will just make the material tougher than it already is. I wish he understood us.
This class was insane. On the final exam, we were given a question in which we had to make a calculation in 3 dimensions. The entire exam felt like a set of challenge problems. I would avoid this guy at all costs.
Tamanoi is amazing, just as long as you are a math person. He went at a quick pace, and if you struggle with that I also wouldn't take him. He also does ramble in class, but I loved most of the stuff he talked about.
If you take this class be prepared to teach yourself almost all of the material. Lecture is hard to follow and no equation sheets are allowed on exams. There is a LOT of assigned HW even on the weekends. I only got an adequate grade because of a curve. Students should NOT have to rely on a curve. Do not take this professor if you need this class.
Not a great teacher and gave really tough exams. The curve was really generous though, so I wouldn't expect to get a terrible grade in this class if you do around average on exams at least.
Unintelligible yet mandatory lectures, 8-10 hours of homework per week, no extensions, required purchase of $100+ online textbook via WebAssign, exams that don't reflect other coursework, no calculators or cheatsheets allowed, scores are curved but grades are not put in until end of quarter, class averaged a 36% on the midterm, PLEASE STAY AWAY
For the love of god do not take this man unless you have to he will make calculus needlessly hard. The homework is hard and routinely made me more confused about things I knew how to do and his tests are super difficult and I feel like I can say with confidence, that people only pass because of the curve. His office hrs made me feel worse.
worst teacher ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .
Goes through material very slowly and thoroughly in lectures, all lectures are very useful imo. TA sessions are also useful. Midterms were easy if you knew what you were doing.
Good lectures and notes, TAs are great, just an absurd amount of work and midterms plus the 200 points final. Feels outdated.
Probably one of the worst professors you will ever have in your lifetime
I'm over a year sober and I almost relapsed by taking this class. Worst professor I could have possibly gotten. Avoid at all costs!
I enjoyed Professor Tamanoi's MATH 21 class. Although it was quite challenging, his lecture notes, coupled with the homework problems ( which there were a lot of ) helped with my understanding of the course material. While the midterms and final were challenging, they are easy if you understand the material thoroughly, and attend lectures :)
Excellent professor, though a bit stubborn. Clear, fantastic lectures.
Tamanoi was a great professor--he would try to answer questions students had during lectures. Some things to mind: He uses a free textbook and bases his lectures on it, and he writes in pseudo cursive in his notes.
Those monkeys who rated this professor badly have a skill issue. There's no reason for people to fail this class because he's an amazing professor that thoroughly explains things to his students and is very understanding of uncertain circumstances. Amazing professor I would 100% take another class with this GOD SEND of a professor. W handwriting
It's obvious that Professor Tamanoi knows the content but he's not good at explaining it. He can very easily confuse you which makes the homework and quizzes very hard. The textbook is a great resource and teaches the content much better than Professor Tamanoi. Also very hard to read handwriting.
Will need a few days to process today's midterm. Many of us didn't finish and I barely had enough time to check answers. Brain = fried. Have to respect his passion for math, though. He'll enthusiastically explain who invented some theorem but will only have time for 3 examples in class, max. Will also finish a long explanation with "simple, right?"
He assigns a few hours of homework every two days. Get ready to work hard. He also teaches really quickly and doesn't do a lot of examples.
He is an extremely gifted and intelligent professor, unfortunately he teaches as though we are on the same level as him. The homework is INTENSE, there is about 2-3 assignments a week, each around 10-20 questions, of which have several parts in them. Go to section, attend the lecture and be ready to teach yourself a couple of things.
This professor is pretty tough. His lectures are hard to follow and he doesn't provide many examples. The class averages on his midterms were around 50% each time. Be prepared to watch a lot of the ochem tutors videos. If you do a little above average on any test you can still get a good grade. There is a lot of hw so stay on top of it. Good luck..
If there is anything you can do to not take this class, do it. I got a A in MATH 11A and I worked so hard just to be constantly slapped in the face by this course. If there is no other option, take advantage of webassign, the textbook, and your TA. Those were the only things that kept me from failing. Good luck :)
Jesus Christ, do not, I repeat, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS under any circumstances. This professor has the worst tests possible and is more concerned about teaching the history of calculus than actual calculus. His tests are so hard, and the final had a class average of 40%. The curve was insane, though, and I barely made it out with a B+.
tamanoi isn't as terrible as people make him seem. while yes, it's a very difficult class, he's very thorough and slow when teaching concepts + the homework he assigns helps a lot! the TA's are amazing too! but bc of the difficulty, class avg was about 52%, but he curves like crazy
Lectures are difficult to understand between the heavy accent and cursive writing. Assignments are tedious and hard to get through while not helping learn the material at all. The exams were way harder than assignments and almost everyone was underprepared for them. Also, no study guides and no calculators.
Challenging course, but Unstuck study helped a lot with prep. Professor's handwriting can be tough, but the free textbook is solid. Attend lectures, do the homework, and you'll do well.
Taking 103A (complex analysis) with Tamanoi right now. I don't understand the hate! I actually loved his class, and he explains very thoroughly. Sometimes he gets a bit lost in tangents, but he gives good and insightful lectures. Whenever I get confused by the textbook's proofs, his lectures almost always clears it up!
He is one of the few professors who I can definitely say the way they behave was truely distinct from how I felt about their assignment. Despite what some think, these two can often correlate not just that people are angry at the homework; and he was very understanding in considering a schedule when multiple students discussed it
Lectures were a bit long but he is very enthusiastic and engaged with the material. Homework was definitely tedious but helped prepare for exams. Overall I would say that he is not easy and demanding of his students, but getting a good grade is not that hard with proper effort. Was a great teacher and very passionate.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
36%
Textbook Required
10%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.48 avg changeRatings by Course
NUMTHEORY110
5.0
(1)MATH110
5.0
(1)MATH115
4.5
(2)MATH124
4.0
(4)MATH103A
4.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
MATH21MATH100
5.0
MATH11B
4.4
MATH19B
4.3
MATH124
4.3
NUMTHEORY110
4.0