Mason is one of my favorite professors in the math department. He rarely teaches undergrad courses, but he designed this course for the data theory major. There's a big focus on creating your own math models. This is much different than other lower div math--grading is on your process/assumptions and not necessarily getting the "right" answer. Mason has corny jokes and shirts and showed us his extensive collection of plushies which was awesome. Live lectures and discussions were clear and recorded, although his handwriting is hard to read (which he openly admits several times lol). He posts his notes from class as well. Both Mason and our TA (Gyu Eun is the best!!!) were very flexible about due dates--we had a 1 week grace period to turn in assignments and more if you just talked to them about your situation. They were especially accommodating at the end of the quarter with all the protests which was really nice. We had 2-3 weeks for a group project on one of the MCM problems with a 20 page write up but it wasn't too bad if you split up the work. Some of the HW problems (esp. the project ones) can be tricky and take a few hours but OH and disc are really helpful. Def recommend taking with Mason if you can!!

We had one 24-hour take-home midterm and a final project. In my opinion, the midterm was relatively easy since it was similar to the homework. I mostly used the textbook instead of the lectures for homework, since lectures can be slightly unhelpful. However, Mason is incredibly passionate about the topic and loves cracking jokes during class which kept us engaged. Grace, the TA, is very helpful and nice and is always willing to help with homework. The final group project was very fun since we got to pick our own topic and apply what we learned in class, and also it's pretty useful when applying to jobs. We worked on the project for about 5 weeks (I think) and had meetings with MP to go over our progress and get suggestions. Even though it's been almost a year since I took this class, I still think about the project and how cool it was! I also liked the concept of a group project because normal math courses tend to be very antisocial, and the group project really helped alleviate that.

Most stressful class of my ucla career, more stressful than Eggert tbh. The lectures are super dense and the assignments/exam are very difficult. Don't get me wrong, Mason's a nice guy, but he uses different terms and definitions from the book and his explanations just aren't that helpful.
Also, this class is mostly linear algebra and probability theory, if you're hoping to learn about graph theory or neural networks, this ain't it.
However, the curve is pretty good tho.

Dr. Porter is absolutely fantastic, and our TA Grace is no less awesome! The lectures feel more like seminars and truly Dr. Porter just wants us to learn without worries about grades. The midterm is 24h online but this is the first time I have a test that is doable in 1 hour as promised. The final is a fun group project and we learn a lot from one another. Homework is hard but Grace helps us tremendously with her notes, discussions, and generous office hours. Overall, the class exceeds way beyond my expectations, as it is one of the few classes that I don't feel stressful at all!!!