Mathematics not only demands straight thinking, it grants the student the satisfaction of knowing when he [or she] is thinking straight.
- D. Jackson
Mathematics is not a spectator sport.
- Anonymous
I hear, I forget.
I see, I remember.
I do, I understand.
- Chinese Proverb
An education is not received. It is achieved.Quizzes There will be seven 50-minute timed quizzes - they are all listed on the tentative schedule. The lowest of your seven quiz scores will be dropped. The comprehensive final exam will be given on Wednesday, December 14 at Noon. The final exam cannot be given at any other time and also be aware that I will allow you to work longer on the final exam than just the two-hour scheduled block of time. In other words, plan your travel arrangements accordingly. As a study aid, I have posted copies of old quizzes on the course web site. These are offered with no guarantees, since techniques, approaches, emphases and even notation will change slightly or radically from semester to semester. In other words, they are not officially part of this semester's course. In particular I do not advocate working old exams as a primary, or exclusive, technique for learning the material in this course. Use at your own risk, they have not been reviewed for inconsistencies with this semester's course. Writing This course has been designated as part of the University's Writing in the Major requirement. Thus, there will be an emphasis on the quality of the mathematical exposition in your written work, and there will be two assignments that will be primarily graded on the basis of the exposition. These assignments will not be accepted late. Reading Questions Each section of the textbook contains reading questions at the end. Once you have read the section prior to our in-class discussion, submit your responses to the reading questions via electronic mail as follows. Do not send your responses to my regular email address (beezer@ups.edu), but instead use the address I will announce in class. Your responses are due at 9 PM of the day prior to the day we discuss the section in class, and will not be accepted late. Use a subject that is exactly like"XXX-RQ," where XXX is the acronym for the section. So for example, your first response will be titled: WILA-RQ. In the first line of your response, please put your real name, then answer the questions in order. If a question asks for a computation, you can just give the answer, no need to show your work in the email. If the question is a yes/no answer, or asks "Why?" then give an explanation. Do your best with mathematical notation, but do not fret if it is a bit sloppy or weird, I can usually decipher any reasonable attempt. Please send only straight text - no attachments, no Word files, no graphics, no HTML if you can help it. Please pay careful attention to these procedures and deadlines. Grades Grades will be based on the following breakdown: Quizzes - 60%; Reading Questions - 5%, Writing - 15%; Final - 20%. Attendance and improvement will be considered for borderline grades. Scores will be posted on the Internet at http://buzzard.ups.edu/courses.html. A reminder about withdrawals - a Withdrawal Passing grade (W) can only be given during the third or fourth weeks of the semester, after that time (barring unusual circumstances), the appropriate grade is a Withdrawal Failing (WF), even if your work has been of passing quality. See the attached schedule for the last day to drop with an automatic `W' and please read Academic Handbook at http://www.ups.edu/x4727.xml#withdrawal about these often misunderstood grades. Attendance Daily attendance is required, expected, and overall a pretty good idea. Purpose This course is much different from most any mathematics course you have had recently, in particular it is much different than calculus courses. We will begin with a simple idea - a linear function - and build up an impressive, beautiful, abstract theory. We will begin computationally, but soon shift to concentrating on theorems and their proofs. By the end of the course you will be at ease reading and understanding complicated proofs. You will also be very good at writing routine proofs and will have begun the process of learning how to create complicated proofs yourself. You will see this material applied in subsequent courses in mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics, economics and other disciplines (though we will not have much time for applications this semester). You will gain a "mathematical maturity" that will be helpful as you pursue upper-division coursework and in any logical, rational, or argumentative activity you might engage in throughout your lifetime. It is not easy material, but your attention and hard work will be amply repaid with an in-depth knowledge of some very interesting and fundamental ideas, in addition to beginning to learn to think like a mathematician.
- Anonymous
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