Freshman Mathematics Seminar

Math 150 - Fall 2005

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This fall, Freshman Mathematics Seminar meets Wednesdays 3:00-3:45 in Higgins 108

All Freshman mathematics majors are required to take the course, both Fall and Spring semesters.

In the fall, the course is Pass/Fail, and a student passes the course by attending at least 12 of the 14 class meetings and participating in class activities.

In the spring, the course is not Pass/Fail and there are additional requirements.

In the fall, the Freshman Seminar has several objectives:

  1. to introduce students to the Mathematics Department, its faculty and its programs.
  2. to demonstrate to students how varied mathematics can be, and how the courses they take fit together to form a larger body of study and knowledge
  3. to prepare students to communicate mathematics and mathematically
  4. to introduce students to the culture of mathematics, its standards, its paradigms, its traditions, its goals, and some of its great personalities.

Though Dr. Sandifer is the "Instructor of Record" (he takes attendance and decides who passes the course), most classes will feature a guest lecturer, usually from within the Department, who will talk about one of their own special interests.  The schedule below will grow as the semester proceeds.

There is a book for this course:

The Joy of Mathematics: Discovering Mathematics All Around You, by Theoni Pappas, available at the University Bookstore

 

 

Semester Calendar

 

Week

M

T

W

Th

F

 

 

August

  

1

 

1

8/31 - Edward Sandifer

Course organization

History - Famous mathematicians exercise

Photos

 

 

September

  

2

 

2

9/7 - Edward Sandifer

Some things that all mathematicians know

3

 

3

9/14 - Amanda Lubell - Moebius, Klein, and friends

4

 

4

9/21 - Charles Rocca - Tessellation stuff

5

 

5

9/28 - Lydia Novozholova - Paradoxes in probability and statistics

 

 

October

  

6

 

6

10/5 - Ronald Kutz - either 1) Voting Theory, or 2) Folding polygons

7

 

7

10/12 - Dr. Xiaodi Wang - Wavelets

8

 

8

10/19 - Dr. Amanda Lubell - Higher dimensions?

9

 

9

10/26 - Dr. Sam Lightwood - Tiling and discrete dynamics - The Lightwood-Thue transformation

 

 

November

  

10

 

10

11/2 - Dr. Charles Rocca - Games

11

 

11

11/9 - Josephine Hamer - The Mathematics Department and the Mathematics Major - a user's guide

12

12

11/16 - Dr. David Burns - Non Euclidean Gepmetry 

13

11/23 - Thanksgiving break

14

13

11/30 - Dr. Barry Mittag - Math He Likes

 

 

December

  

15

14

12/7 Dr. Ed Sandifer.  Wrap up.

Dr. Sam Lightwood - Next Semester

Exams

 

 

   

 

 

  Clinic Opens !!

MATH CLINIC HOURS FOR FALL 2005

 Monday                9:30 am – 9 pm

Tuesday               9 am – 8:30 pm 

Wednesday         9 am – 8:30 pm

Thursday             9 am – 8 pm 

Friday                  9 am – 3 pm

Saturday              9 am – 12 pm

 

Be there!  Take a friend!

 

calendar updated November 13, 2005

 

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The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

 - Jonas Salk