Course:MATH220/Archive/2010-2011/921
| Faculty of Science Department of Mathematics | |
|---|---|
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| Course Archive 2010-2011 MATH 220 / 921 Mathematical Proof | |
| Instructor: | Simon Rose |
| Office: | AA122 |
| Class schedule: | Tue Thu<br\>10:00 am - 12:00 pm |
| Classroom: | LSK 460 |
| Office hours: | MWF 10am--11am |
| Course pages | |
Math 220 Introduction to Proof
What is a mathematical proof?
The goal of this course is to help answer this question in two ways; first, by teaching you to recognize what is a mathematical statement, and how to read a proof of one, and secondly, to teach you how to produce proofs yourself.
Schedule
This course meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am--12 noon, beginning on May 10th through to July 28th.
Topics that will be covered will range through logic, set theory, number theory and divisibility, induction, sequences of numbers, and infinite series.
Textbook, etc.
The official textbook for the course is Mathematical Proofs (2nd Edition) by Chartrand.
We will also be using clickers during this class. Please ensure that you have one.
Homework
The goal of this course is for you to learn how to write correct, concise, and clear proofs. An important part of being able to produce a good proof is to be able to identify a good proof. To that end, the rough format of the assignments will be as follows (with the possible exception of the first few weeks).
- Each week you will have one or two theorems to study and prove.
- These will be due in class on Thursdays, where they will go through a form of peer review: you will each have a chance to read one anothers proofs, and to provide commentary on style and correctness.
- Once that is finished, you will resubmit your edited proof to the grader.
- They will offer further feedback to ensure that the proof is both correct (from a logical standpoint) and clear (from a stylistic one), and you will be allowed one further chance to resubmit your proof to deal with the suggested changes.
The goal of this is to provide as much feedback as possible to help you learn how to prove mathematical statements, and to help teach you how to properly communicate mathematically.
There will also be other simpler questions week by week.
Exams
There will be two in-class midterm exams, on Tuesday June 7th, and Tuesday July 5th.
The final exam will be at 10am--1pm in SWNG 222 on Thursday, July 28th.
Solutions to the first midterm: File:Solutions1.pdf
Solutions to the second midterm: File:Mid2solns.pdf
Practice problems for the final exam are here: File:Problemsjul22.pdf
A list of convergence criteria: File:Conv.pdf
Grading Scheme
The final exam will be worth 40% of your grade.
Each midterm will be worth 20%.
The assignments will be worth collectively 20% of your grade.
20 + 20 + 20 + 40 = 100
Expectations
My expectations of you
The following are a list of expectations that I will have of you as students in this class.
- I expect that you attend and participate in (the right) class.
- I expect that you hand in timely, neat, and legible assignments. Do not hand in your first draft.
- I expect that if you are confused about something in class, that you contact me, or that you speak with your classmates.
- I expect that there is no laptop or cellphone use (including texting) in class.
- I expect that you try (no cry).
- I expect that you come to class prepared. If there is any assigned reading, I expect that it has been read, and not just skimmed over.
- I expect that you are familiar with the minimal prerequisites.
- I expect that you understand all of the work that you submit.
Your expectations of me
- You may expect that I will respond to your emails within 24 hours (excepting weekends).
- You may expect that I am available to provide help, advice, and support.
- You may expect that your homework is handed back within a week.
Wiki
Regular course updates will be posted on this wiki. As will be made clear in the class, you may also be expected to contribute to this wiki. Information for how to do that can be found here.