This course took me by surprise. The final exam is worth 45% of your grade, meaning that if you burn out some time before the end of the semester and don't study, you'll get destroyed and will risk failing the class. The overall difficulty of the material isn't too bad, and Lin isn't a bad teacher by any means, but that final killed me. Please don't be fooled by the lack of homework and easy quizzes because if you don't study in conjunction you will get eaten alive towards the end.

Prof. Ma's lectures are very thorough. He tries to make sure the class understands the subject even though it is rigorous. He is also approachable if you need extra help. The homework and quizzes are very similar to the exams, which are also open note.

Prof Ma is a great dude and is a great prof. His lectures are very informative and he is very straight forward and blunt about what he is gonna teach you and is always available for help. A very reasonable amount of homework and exams weren't too bad. Its a tough topic to really understand but he does a great job explaining it.