Math 105 (Surprises at Infinity) Syllabus, Fall 2008

The following is a tentative syllabus for the course. This page will be kept current, so watch for changes.

Syllabus for Math 105
(Last modified 30 October 2008)
Date 
Topics
Homework Due
Fri 29 August Introductions  
     
Mon 1 September Paradoxes

Reading: Maor pp. 2-5, Handout on Paradoxes.

Just for fun: The play Words, Words, Words by David Ives. It's only about 10 minutes long; you can find the script in the library in the collection All in the Timing. And related, this short mp3 by Bob Newhart.

Wed 3 September Limits Reading: Dunham pp. 84-99, 106-112. (Read these in the context of yesterday's Maor reading.)
Fri 5 September Series Reading: Maor pp. 17-20, 25-28
   

 

Mon 8 September Geometric Series Reading: Maor pp. 29-33
Wed 10 September Alternating Series and the Harmonic Series

Reading: Maor pp. 34-39; Dunham pp. 184-206

Fri 12 September Practice with Series Reading: Maor pp. 40-48, 236-237; Burger & Starbird Handout (Section 2.6)
     
Mon 15 September

Power Outage Holiday

 
Wed 17 September Irrational Numbers Problem Set #1; Reading: Burger & Starbird Handout (Section 2.7)
Fri 19 September More on Irrational Numbers Reading: Maor pp. 10-13
     
Mon 22 September Calculus Problem Set #2
Wed 24 September Well-Orderings/ Ordinal Numbers Reading: Ordinal Number Handout, pp. 1-8
Fri 26 September Ordinal Arithmetic

Problem Set #3; Reading: Ordinal Number Handout, pp. 9-12.

     
Mon 29 September Counting

Reading: Maor pp. 54-60, Dunham pp. 245-258

Wed 1 October Infinite Counting

Problem Set #4

Reading: The Jorge Luis Borges story The Book of Sand. For those who want a little more of a challenge, The Book of Sand is also presented as a puzzle where the pages are out of order and you have to find clues in the story itself to discover what order the pages go in. (There are only 8 pages, so it's not as daunting as it sounds.) If you want to try the puzzle, don't read the in-order version (the first link) before you do!

Fri 3 October Countable Sets

Problem Set #5

     
Mon 6 October More on Countable Sets

Paper #1: Limits

Wed 8 October Uncountable Sets Reading: Dunham pp. 259-266
     
Mon 13 October Counting in Space Reading: Burger & Starbird Handout (Section 3.5)

Wed 15 October

Power Sets Problem Set #6; Reading: Maor pp. 61-66
Fri 17 October Infinite Infinities Reading: Dunham pp. 274-283
     

Mon 20 October

Cardinal Numbers

Problem Set #7; Reading: Handout on Cardinal Numbers

Wed 22 October Abstraction and Deductive Reasoning Reading: Morris Kline Handout (Chapters I and III)
Fri 24 October Models of Non-Euclidean Geometry Problem Set #8; Reading: Morris Kline Handout (Chapter XXVI)
     
Mon 27 October The Poincare Disc Reading: Maor pp. 118-134
Wed 29 October Midterm Exam Covers material through 20 October (plus Problem Set #8)
Fri 31 October The Art of M.C. Escher Reading: Maor pp. 139-148, 164-178
     
Mon 3 November 1, 2, 3, ... Reading: Handout (Axioms for Arithmetic), plus another story by Jorge Luis Borges: Funes the Memorious.
Wed 5 November Mathematical Induction Reading: Handout (Induction Examples)
Fri 7 November Induction Practice Reading: Dunham pp. 68-75, 81-83; Maor pp. 235-236
     
Mon 10 November Infinity and the Prime Numbers Reading: Handout (Infinitude of Primes)
Wed 12 November Formal Set Theory and The Continuum Hypothesis Reading: Handout (The Continuum Hypothesis); Problem Set #9a
Fri 14 November Incompleteness Readings in this order: (1) First Incompleteness Theorem handout, Sections 1-3; (2) Second Incompleteness Theorem handout; (3) This very short piece by George Boolos
     
Mon 17 November A Proof of Incompleteness Reading: First Incompleteness Theorem handout, Section 4.
Wed 19 November The Halting Problem Reading: Halting Problem handout
Fri 21 November Complex Numbers/Flying with Fractals Problem Set #9b
     
Mon 1 December Iteration/Devil's Staircase  
Wed 3 December The Koch Snowflake Reading: Maor pp. 68-82
Fri 5 December The Mandelbrot Set Problem Set #10
     
Mon 8 December Mandelbrot Experiments Extra Credit: Watch video on reserve in the Multimedia Room
Wed 10 December Mandelbrot Experiments Continued Paper #2: TBA
Fri 12 December Completing Infinity Problem Set #11