MTH 414/MTS 516, History of Mathematics, 4 credits—Winter 2008
Syllabus—Reading assignments—Quizzes—Projects—Final exam—Recommended exercises—Material covered—Academic honesty—Study habits
- Detailed syllabus for the course.
- Place and Time: Tue, Thu at 3:30–5:17 PM in SEB 384.
- Office hours: Wed 1:00–2:00 PM, or by appointment (SEB 347).
During office hours I let everyone who showed up into my office and discuss questions in a round-robin manner. If you need to see me outside regular office hours, ask or e-mail me to set up an appointment.
- Textbook: A History of Mathematics: An Introduction, Second Edition, by Victor J. Katz (Addison Wesley Longman, 1998) ISBN: 0-321-01618-1. I expect you to have a copy of these textbooks.
- Reading Assignments: There will be regular reading assignments from the textbook and other sources (given as handouts).
- Quizzes: There will be about 8 quizzes on the reading material and the material discussed in class. These will be announced in advance. They will be worth 30% of your final grade. There will be no make-up quizzes, but the worst quiz will be dropped. If you miss a quiz with good reason, I may transfer its weight to the final exam. Results will be available on Moodle.
- Projects: There will be two projects/reports on the outside reading. These will be worth 30% of your final grade.
- Final Exam:
The Final Exam is comprehensive, and will be given on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 3:30–6:30 PM. This will be a closed-book exam worth 40% of your final grade; notes and textbooks will not be allowed. Final grades will be available on Moodle.
- Material covered:
- Week 15: (Apr 14–18)
Notes from Apr 17
- Week 14: (Apr 7–11)
Notes from Apr 8
Quiz #8
Notes from Apr 10
- Week 13: (Mar 31–Apr 4)
Truth and Mathematics via Gödel, Part II
Quiz #7
Notes from Apr 1
Computer Science and Mathematics
Notes from Apr 3
- Week 12: (Mar 24–28)
Notes from Mar 25
Truth and Mathematics via Gödel, Part I
Notes from Mar 27
- Week 11: (Mar 17–21)
Classical Geometry, Attacks on the Parallel Postulate
Notes from Mar 18
Non-Euclidean geometry
Quiz #6
Notes from Mar 20
- Week 10: (Mar 10–14)
Development of trigonometry, Medieval times
Quiz #5
Notes from Mar 11
Classical Geometry, Euclid
Notes from Mar 13
- Week 9: (Mar 3–7)
Development of trigonometry, Hipparchus and Ptolemy
Notes from Mar 6
- Week 8: (Feb 25–29)
Winter Break
- Week 7: (Feb 18–22)
Quiz #4 Notes from Feb 19
Definition of complex numbers Notes from Feb 21
- Week 6: (Feb 11–15)
Notes from Feb 12
Definition of reals Notes from Feb 14
- Week 5: (Feb 4–8)
Polynomial equations through Medieval Islam, Notes from Feb 05
Solving equations, new methods and notations Quiz #3
- Week 4: (Jan 28–Feb 1)
Quadratic equations Quiz #2, Notes from Jan 29,
Intro to LaTeX text file, eps file for LaTeX, Intro to LaTeX pdf file, Notes from Jan 31
- Week 3: (Jan 21–25)
Numbers of Late Greeks and beyond, Notes from Jan 22
Linear equations in ancient times Notes from Jan 24
- Week 2: (Jan 14–18)
Early Greek number theory, Notes from Jan 15
Quiz #1, Notes from Jan 17
- Week 1: (Jan 7–11)
Innate number capacity, Counting in Ancient times, Notes from Jan 10
- Academic honesty:
Cheating is a serious academic crime. Oakland University policy requires that all suspected instances of cheating be reported to the Academic Conduct Committee for adjudication. Anyone found guilty of cheating in this course will receive a course grade of 0.0 in addition to any penalty assigned by the Academic Conduct Committee. Working with others on an assignment or project does not constitute cheating (unless explicitly forbidden); handing in an assignment or project that has essentially been copied from someone else, from a solutions manual, or the internet does.
- Study habits:
I can only guide and help you by providing the framework for the course: you are responsible to learn the material. Most of this learning must take place outside the classroom. This will usually take two to three hours outside of class for each hour in class, but may take longer in some cases. Our aim is to be able to apply the material to new situations, hence the focus is on understanding rather than memorizing. How can you achieve that?
- Read the textbook: this must be done carefully and slowly. You may need to re-read and analyze sentences, since the text is very dense, unlike a novel. You should have pencil and paper ready to work with while reading to draw pictures and fill in omitted steps. Understand and learn the definitions and the important theorems. Whenever possible, read the relevant sections before we discuss them.
- Ask questions: in class, during office hours or an appointment. If you have difficulties, get it clarified as soon as possible. If you make a mistake, rework the problem with the idea that you will not make similar mistakes later.
- Do the homework assignments: after you get feedback on any assignments, clarify any questions, and resubmit incorrect solutions when allowed.
- Review the material regularly: It will take time and practice to digest and really understand the new concepts and theorems.
- Study with others: if you can, discuss solutions to problems with your classmates, e.g. in study groups.
Syllabus—Reading assignments—Quizzes—Projects—Final exam—Recommended exercises—Material covered—Academic honesty—Study habits
Last update on Apr 21, 2008.