MAT 115: Mathematics for Liberal Arts

• Syllabus
• Assignments
• Classroom Agreement

• Materials for individual days/chapters/ideas:

  "Chapter 1: Fun and Games" Day 01: Welcome! Day 02: Fun and Games.... Day 03: End of the birthday problem Day 04: Fun and Games (and natural numbers?) Day 05: Fun and Games (and natural numbers!) "Chapter 2: Numbers" Day 06: Prime numbers Day 07: Primes and Counting Day 08: Fraudini and the Egyptians Day 09: The Egyptians Day 10: Egyptian Division Day 11: Egyptian Division (unit fractions) Day 12: Intro to Bases Day 13: More Bases Day 14: Exam 1 (test and key) Day 15: More Bases Day 16: More Bases

  "Chapter 3: Fibonacci numbers" Day 17: Fibonacci Numbers Day 18: Fibonacci Spirals Day 19: Golden Rectangles Day 20: More Rectangles "Chapter 4: Platonic Solids" Day 21: Platonic Solids Day 22: More Platonic Solids Day 23: More Platonic Solids Day 24: Review Day 25: Exam 2 (test and key) "Chapter 5: Graphs, Links, Knots" Day 26: Links Day 27: Graphs Day 28: Graphs Day 29: Knots Day 30: Knots Day 31: Knots Day 32: Knots

  "Chapter 6: Mobius Bands" Day 33: Mobius bands Day 34: Mobius bands "Chapter 7: Fractals" Day 35: Fractals Day 36: Fractals Day 37: Fractals Day 38: Exam 3 (test and key) "Chapter 8: Infinity" Day 39: Infinity Day 40: Infinity Day 41: Infinity Day 42: Infinity "Wrapping up" Day 43: Q&A Day 44: Logos/Summary

• Lessons for life:
  1. Just do it. Jump in. Make mistakes and fail, but never give up.
  2. Keep an open mind.
  3. Understand simple things deeply.
  4. Break a difficult problem into easier ones.
  5. Look for patterns and similarities.
  6. Explore the consequences of new ideas. Generalize.
  7. Examine issues from several points of view.
     Don't be a turkey -- be a dog!
• Links:
  • Fractal generation
  • Mobius molecules
  • Norsemathology wiki
  • Platonic Solids (and the Platonic solids in 2-D (paper template))
  • Tom Lehrer sings math music (here are the lyrics - local copy).
  • An on-line game, another form of Nim. There are four rows, of 6/5/4/3 pearls. One chooses any number of pearls from a single row, and the last one to take a pearl is the loser.
  • A previous visitor, Ivars Peterson, produced a piece in Science News about how Sunflowers twist in Fibonacci spirals! Check it out....
  • Imhotep: Doctor, Architect, High Priest, Scribe and Vizier to King Djoser of Egypt
  • Leonardo da Vinci's Polyhedra
  • Paper Folding - Models of the Platonic Solids
  • Graph paper (double-sided)

Notes:

• Feel free to email me with your questions.
• The Departmental Syllabus for all Mathematics courses is a part of the syllabus for this course, and is available upon demand.
• Taking tests in my classes
• Suggestions for the NKU Math/CS student
• Free tutoring for any NKU student is available from the the learning assistance center, BEP 230: call 5475 before problems arise!
• Women in Transition (WIT) supports non-traditional female students, juggling school, work, and family. Call the Women's Center at 572-6497 for more information.