University students’ preferences for application problems and pure mathematics questions

The paper presents results of two case studies with undergraduate students majoring in applied mathematics and engineering. The first case study deals with students’ preferences for and difficulties with application problems and pure mathematics questions in their courses. The students were majoring in applied mathematics and taking a second-year course on ordinary differential equations. The second case study deals with students’ preferences for application problems and pure mathematics questions. The students were majoring in engineering and taking first- and second-year engineering mathematics courses. Students’ responses are presented and discussed in the paper.