| Day | Date | Activity | Assignment |
| Mon | 8/25 | Welcome | Read the chapter "Welcome" (pages xi-xiv) and
Section 1.1;
Attempt stories #1, 3, 5, 7, 9 from Section 1.1. You may read Section 1.2 (hints), but do not read 1.3 (solutions)! |
| Wed | 8/27 | Fun and Games | Read Section 1.4, and have a look at problems #2, 5, 8, 9,
14 for discussion. Part of this assignment will be handed in:
Pick two of those problems to write up and hand in. Your solutions should be typed up -- you can use this template (and, by the way, you can draw any diagrams by hand, but text should be typed). By the way: your work will be graded for presentation (including spelling, grammar, etc.), as well as for mathematical content. I suggest that you describe one problem that you managed to solve, as well as one that you couldn't. For the one you solved, show me how; for the one you couldn't solve, what did you learn? What is it that stops you from solving it? Due: Friday, 9/5/2008 |
| Fri | 8/29 | Fun and Games | For Monday, Read 2.1, and discover how one might estimate how many hairs are on a human body. |
| Mon | 9/1 | Labor Day | no class |
| Wed | 9/3 | Estimation | Assignment (hand this in Friday, 9/12) : Estimate the following:
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| Fri | 9/5 | Estimation | |
| Mon | 9/8 | Estimation | For Wednesday, the beginning of our "Number systems" unit, read this short description of bases, including "Base Eight" (here's a local copy). |
| Wed | 9/10 | Number Systems | For Friday, read section 2.2 of our text (Numerical Patterns in Nature -- "Fibonacci numbers"). |
| Fri | 9/12 | Number Systems | Your problems, due Monday, 9/22 (revised date!):
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| Mon | 9/15 | Number Systems | |
| Wed | 9/17 | Number Systems | For Friday: read section 2.3: Prime Cuts of Numbers |
| Fri | 9/19 | Number Systems | For Monday: read section 3.1: Beyond Numbers |
| Mon | 9/22 | Infinity | Part of your homework for the infinity unit: Mindscapes pp. 141-143, II.10; III.16, 18, 20. Please type up your solutions. The Infinity unit problems will be due Friday, 10/3. |
| Wed | 9/24 | Infinity | Here's another part of your infinity homework: For Monday, read 3.2 (Comparing the Infinite). Mindscapes pp. 156-161, #2, 6, 7, 13 (due Friday, 10/3) |
| Fri | 9/26 | Exam 1 | |
| Mon | 9/29 | Infinity | For Wednesday, read section 3.4: a stratosphere of infinities. |
| Wed | 10/1 | Dimension | For Friday, read section 4.7: The Fourth Dimension |
| Fri | 10/3 | Dimension | For next Friday, 10/10: Section 4.7: #5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12; and do a really good job with #19 |
| Mon | 10/6 | Dimension | |
| Wed | 10/8 | Geometry | |
| Fri | 10/10 | Geometry | (Part of your assignment due 10/17): Section 4.3, pp. 244-: #2, 3, #13 (use a 4x1 rectangle as your starting rectangle, and repeat at least four times), 14, 15 |
| Mon | 10/13 | Geometry | Part 2 (of 2) of your assignment for this Friday: Section 4.5, pp. 284-: #4, 5, 15 |
| Wed | 10/15 | Geometry (Platonic Solids) | Please read Section 7.6 for Friday. |
| Fri | 10/17 | Lying with Statistics | Section 7.6: Mindscapes #5, 6, 9, 23, 26 (type up #22) Due Monday, 10/27 |
| Mon | 10/20 | Fall Break | no class |
| Wed | 10/22 | Lying with Statistics | read section 7.5: Collecting Data Rather than Dust (for Friday) |
| Fri | 10/24 | Elections | pp. 581-: #1, 3, 4, 8, 12. These will be attached to your exam, coming up 11/3, and constitute 10% of the exam. |
| Mon | 10/27 | Elections | For next time: read 8.4: Peril at the Polls |
| Wed | 10/29 | Elections | |
| Fri | 10/31 | Elections | |
| Mon | 11/3 | Exam 2 | |
| Wed | 11/5 | Dynamics (with Jim Cushing) | Please read section 6.5, Predetermined Chaos, for Friday. |
| Fri | 11/7 | Dynamics | pp. 498-499, #22-25; due 11/14. |
| Mon | 11/10 | Dynamics | |
| Wed | 11/12 | Lying with Graphs | Problem #30, p. 608; and then adapt the exercise by replacing the word "statistics" with the word "graphics". Due Wed., 11/19. |
| Fri | 11/14 | Lying with Graphs | |
| Mon | 11/17 | Fractals and Trees | Section 6.3, pp. 450-, #4, 5, 13, 20, 21, 24, 25, 32; Due Monday, 11/24 |
| Wed | 11/19 | Fractals and Trees | |
| Fri | 11/21 | Fractals and Trees | |
| Mon | 11/24 | Financial Math | Homework: pp. 678-681, #1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12; Type up #20. Due Monday, 12/8 (note change in due date). |
| Wed | 11/26 | Thanksgiving | no class |
| Fri | 11/28 | Thanksgiving | no class |
| Mon | 12/1 | Financial Math | |
| Wed | 12/3 | Financial Math | |
| Fri | 12/5 | Summary | |
| Mon | 12/8 | Show-n-Tell | |
| Wed | 12/10 | Show-n-Tell | |
| Fri | 12/12 | Show-n-Tell | Your show-n-tell papers are due (two pages, but make them perfect pages!) |
| Mon | 12/15 | Final Exam | 10:10-12:10 |