MAT 115: Mathematics for Liberal Arts

• Syllabus
• Assignments
• Office Hours (by zoom): 1-2 M, 12:30-1:30 T, 11-12 R. I am also available by appointment, if those hours won't work -- just email me.

• Daily Agendas:

  "Chapter 1": Number games Day 01 (1/11): Welcome! Fun and Games... Day 02 (1/14): Pascal and Fraudini Day 03 (1/21): Primitive counting; binary card trick Day 04 (1/25): Babylonians Day 05 (1/28): Primes Day 06 (2/1): Mayans Day 07 (2/4): Fraudini Nim Day 08 (2/8): Fibonacci Numbers Day 09 (2/11): Secrets of Fibonacci Nim Day 10 (2/18): Exam Review and Exam 1

  "Chapter 3": Bands, Links, Knots, Fractals Day 19 (3/22): Bands, Links, and Knots (Intro) Day 20 (3/25): Review for Exam 2 and Exam 2 Day 21 (3/29): More knots and tricolorability Day 22 (4/5): Distinguishing knots (part I) Day 23 (4/8): Distinguishing knots (part II) Day 24 (4/12): Fractals (part I) Day 25 (4/15): Fractals (part II) Day 26 (4/19): Fractals (part $\infty$) Day 27 (4/22): Infinity (The Hilbert Hotel) Day 28 (4/26): The end of Infinity

  "Chapter 2": Egyptians, Symmetry, Graphs, Solids Day 11 (2/22): Fibonacci and Golden Spirals Day 12 (2/25): Pascal Facebooks and Egyption Math Day 13 (3/1): Egyption Division Day 14 (3/4): Egyption Division Review; Symmetry Day 15 (3/8): Platonic solids Day 16 (3/11): More Graphs Day 17 (3/15): Planar Graphs and Apps Day 18 (3/18): Planar Graphs and Mobius bands

  Day 29 (4/29): Just the end! Review....

• Lessons for life:
  1. Keep an open mind.
  2. Just do it. Jump in. Make mistakes and fail, but never give up.
  3. Often when we've done it once, we do it again. Follow up one good deed with another!
  4. Understand simple things deeply.
  5. Break a difficult problem into easier ones.
  6. Look for patterns and similarities.
  7. Explore the consequences of new ideas. Generalize.
  8. Examine issues from several points of view.
     Don't be a turkey -- be a dog! (this one may require a little explanation....)
• Links:
  • Scanning a file from OneDrive to Canvas as a pdf.
  • L-System Fractals
  • Vi Hart
    • Vi Hart draws fractals
    • Vi Hart draws Fibonacci spirals
    • Vi Hart teaches us how to finger-dance in binary (here's the direct link to the video).
    • More fantastic math videos from Vi Hart
  • The Khan Academy discusses the Monty Hall Problem
  • Advanced Monty Hall
  • Generalization of Monty Hall
  • Keith Devlin pours cold water on a lot of the Fibonacci/Golden Ratio mania (while giving a great introduction to Fibonacci himself).
  • Patterns in Nature
  • A good reference on Mayan mathematics, and a short one Mayan Math
  • Plato discussing the Platonic solids (search for "cube" to find the discussion)
  • Nice website with examples of Cantor, Koch, and other fractals
  • Anna Ting just died.... Inhabiting Geometry
  • Fractal generation
  • Fractal quilts (and the fractal sums that took me to them!).
  • New Twist on Old Chemistry: Chemists have synthesized the first stable molecule twisted into the shape of the famous one-sided Mobius strip, proving a prediction made nearly 40 years ago.
  • Norsemathology wiki
  • Platonic Solids (and the Platonic solids in 2-D (paper template))
  • Tom Lehrer sings math music (here are the lyrics).
  • 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.
  • Sunflowers and Fibonacci: An interesting group participation project for the Manchester Science Festival: growing sunflowers!
  • 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. Additional information concerning Secondary Education Students is available on the Departmental Syllabus.
• 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.