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Homework and In-class Assignments
- Due on Wednesday August 31 (assigned August 24): Please write (or, preferably, type) a paragraph or two about yourself. What is your major? What is your mathematical background? Why are you taking this class? What are you hoping to get out of this class?
How do you intend to ensure a successful experience in this class?
Visit the web site for this class (http://sylow.slu.edu, click on "Fall 2022 Classes" in the green box on the left) - tell me something about it that you like, and something that could be improved.
Write anything else you wish.
Where is New Zealand?
Also: send an email to your family, telling them when your tests and final exam are in this class, advising them NOT to book travel that conflicts with these events. Pay particular attention to the date of the test before Thanksgiving, and to the date of the Final Exam. - Section 1.1
- Read Section 1.1 before class on August 24.
- Work on the stories not discussed in class (omit Stories 7-9). You will takes turns presenting your solutions and ideas.
- Section 1.4
- Read Section 1.4 before class on August 29.
- Work on these stories: 1-3, 5-12. Number 15 is a semester challenge problem.
- Due on Wednesday August 31 (assigned August 29): Write a solution for your favorite Mindscape from Section 1.4, and also explain why you chose this Mindscape.
- Section 2.1
- Read Section 2.1 before class on August 31
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm August 31
- With reading: do one Mindscape from each of the following ranges: 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, then do 21, 22, 24, 25. Add the following to 21: (b) OTTFFSSEN... and (c) JFMAMJ...
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm August 31
- Due on Friday September 2 (assigned August 31): One of 1-5 and one of 11-15.
- Section 2.2
- Read Section 2.2 and do calculations, play Fibonacci Nim before class on September 2
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 2
- Mindscapes: 7, 8, 26, 6, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 45, 47, 49
- Due on Wednesday September 7 (assigned September 2): One of 7, 8, 26 and one of 41, 43, 44
- Section 2.3
- Read Section 2.3 and do one Mindscape from each of the following ranges: 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25 before class on September 7
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 7
- Mindscapes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, 19, 20, 26-28, 31, 35, 36, 45
- Due on Friday September 9 (assigned September 7): Write a complete and careful proof that there is an infinite number of primes.
- Due on Monday September 12 (assigned September 9): A short paper of at least 300 words on one of the unanswered questions about prime numbers (the twin prime conjecture or the Goldbach conjecture). Discuss the question's history, describe what progress has been made on the question, and include any interested related information. Take note of the following requirements:
- Include a list of references at the end of your paper. You may not use Wikipedia as a reference. If you start by looking at Wikipedia, trace the information provided there back to original sources.
- If you include any quotes from your sources, make sure that you give attributions to the sources of the quotes and that you make clear exactly what is quoted.
- Be careful not to plagiarize from any source - do not copy anything without attribution. Write the majority of the paper in your own words!
- Your paper will be graded on content (amount of information), mathematical accuracy, use of correct grammar and spelling, and on overall quality.
- Section 2.4
- Read Section 2.4 and do Mindscapes 1-5 before class on September 12
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 12
- Mindscapes: 6, 10, 13, 17, 19, 20-22, 26, 29, 32, 33, 39, 40
- Due on Wednesday September 14 (assigned September 12): Turn in Mindscapes 1 and 21
- Section 2.5
- Read Section 2.5 before class on September 14
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 14
- Mindscapes: 7, 8, 11, 13, 15-17, 19, 22
- Due on Monday September 19 (assigned September 16): one of 23, 25 or 26
- Section 2.6
- Read Section 2.6 before class on September 19
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 19
- Mindscapes: 1, 3, 4, 7, 6, 9, 11, 22, 26, 37, 40
- Due on Friday September 23 (assigned September 19): Turn in Mindscape 2 and a proof that the square root of three is irrational
- Section 3.1
- Read Section 3.1 before class on September 23
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 23
- Mindscapes: 1-20
- No work due from this section. Make sure you can solve the "Hilbert Hotel" problems that you work(ed) on in class.
- Section 3.2
- Read Section 3.2 before class on September 26
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 26
- Mindscapes: 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 34, 35
- Due on Friday September 30 (assigned September 26): Turn in Mindscape 20 and one of Mindscapes 41, 43 or 44
- Section 3.3
- Read Section 3.3 before class on September 30
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm September 30
- Mindscapes: 6, 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, 19, 20, 22
- After class on September 30, read Section 3.4 up to the end of the questions on Page 174 (less than one page)
- Due on Monday October 3 (assigned September 30): Turn in Mindscape 4 and a 300 word reflection on infinity (a prompt: what are the most interesting or surprising discoveries of this chapter about infinity?)
- Section 4.1
- Read Section 4.1 before class on October 3
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 3
- Mindscapes: 2, 6-8, 10-13, 15, 16, 20-22
- Due on Wednesday October 5 (assigned October 3): a solution to Mindscape 2 and one of Mindscapes 13, 15, 20 or 21
- Due on Wednesday October 5 (assigned October 3): a carefully explained proof of the Pythagorean theorem
- Section 4.2
- Read Section 4.2 before class on October 5
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 5
- Mindscapes: 7-11, 14-16, 19, 21, 22
- Due on Friday October 7 (assigned October 5): solutions to Mindscapes 3, 10 and 15 (for Mindscape 10, including triangulations, coloring of the vertices, counts of the colors, and conclusions about where to place video cameras).
- Section 4.3
- Read Section 4.3 before class on October 7
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 7
- Mindscapes: 6, 7, 8, 13, 16, 20, 22
- Due on Monday October 10 (assigned October 7): Turn in one of Mindscapes 23, 25 or 26
- Section 4.4
- Read Section 4.4 before class on October 10
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 10
- Mindscapes: 6, 8, 9-12, 15, 16, 18, 21
- Due on Wednesday October 12 (assigned October 10): Solutions to Mindscapes 5, 8, 10 and 11. For Mindscape 5, include sketches of the super-super-tiles. The first figure has a rhombus-shaped small tile, and the super-tile shown has 9 such small tiles. In the the second figure each small tile is a triangle, and the super-tile shown contains 12 such small tiles. A super-super-tile consists of six super-tiles in this case.
- Section 4.5
- Read Section 4.5 before class on October 12
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 12
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 9, 11, 14-17, 21
- Due on Friday October 14 (assigned October 12): Solutions to Mindscapes 3 and 17
- Section 4.7
- Read Section 4.7 before class on October 14
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 14
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6-8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22
- For Friday October 14 (assigned October 12), read at least the first 30 pages (the first 12 sections) of "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" by Edwin A. Abbott');
- For Monday October 17 (assigned October 14), read "... And He Built a Crooked House --" by Robert A. Heinlein (make sure you click through all three web pages to read the whole story!).
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Write at least a page on each of the readings on other dimensions:
- describe life in Flatland (the inhabitants, their customs, episodes in their history), due Monday October 17 (assigned October 14); and
- summarize the plot of the short story "-- And He Built a Crooked House ---" by Robert A. Heinlein; make connections with our study of the fourth dimension, due Wednesday October 19 (assigned October 17).
- For Wednesday October 26 (assigned October 17) (you will give brief presentations that day): Creative project on the fourth dimension is due. This can be any creative work. You must also turn in a 300-word essay explaining your work, how it relates to the fourth dimension, and why you chose to create your particular project.
- Section 5.1
- Read Section 5.1 before class on October 24
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 24
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6, 7, 9, 10-12, 14, 24, 26-28, 31, 38, 39
- Due on Monday October 31 (assigned October 24): Solutions to Mindscapes 4, 26 and 27
- Section 5.2
- Read Section 5.2 before class on October 31
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm October 31
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6-8, 14, 24, 26-28, 39
- Link to Wind and Mr. Ug, a video story set on a Möbius band
- Due Wednesday November 2 (assigned October 31): one of 41, 43, 44; and the answers to the questions in the following activity:
- (This activity is borrowed and adapted from the Math 1240 Wiki)
- Take one of the crosses and tape together two opposite "arms" into an untwisted loop. Then tape the other two arms in another untwisted loop (if you taped the first loop on one side of the strip crossing, bend the other loop to the other side). The result will look like a twisted figure eight. Cut one loop down its middle (that is, cut along the length of the loop). What do you get after cutting one of the loops? Now cut the other loop down its middle. What do you get after cutting the second loop?
- Take the second cross. Again tape opposite ends into loops. This time make one a plain loop and one a Möbius band. What do you think you will end up with after cutting both loops? Cut the loops to find out. Report the result.
- Using the third cross, again tape opposite ends together to make two loops, this time twisting both loops into Möbius bands. What do you think you will end up with after cutting both loops? Cut the loops to find out. Report the result. In each case, make sure to report how many pieces you get and how many twists each piece has. Check carefully!
Cut six strips of paper, each wide enough that you can cut them in half lengthways. Using these strips, make three identical figures in the shape of a cross by taping two of the strips of paper at right angles at the middle of each strip. Make sure you tape the strips to each other on both sides and at both edges (you'll need four pieces of tape).
- Section 5.3
- Read Section 5.3 before class on November 2
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 2
- Mindscapes: 6, 10, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 26-28, 35, 36, 38
- Due Friday November 4 (assigned November 2): Mindscapes 4, 16 and 20
- Section 5.4
- Read Section 5.4 before class on November 4
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 4
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6-12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23
- Due Wednesday November 9 (assigned November 7): Mindscapes 4, 16, 20 and Mindscape 24
- Section 6.1
- Read Section 6.1 before class on November 9
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 9
- Mindscapes: 1-7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 19, 30
- Due Friday November 11 (assigned November 9): Mindscapes 1, 14 and 19
- Section 6.2
- Read Section 6.2 before class on November 11
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 11
- Mindscapes: 2, 7-9, 12-15, 19, 20, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35-37, 39, 40, 47
- Due Monday November 14 (assigned November 11): Mindscapes 2, 12 and 32
- Section 6.3
- Read Section 6.3 before class on November 14
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 14
- Mindscapes: 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 26, 29
- Due Monday November 21 (assigned November 14): Mindscapes 1, 13 and 19
- Section 7.1
- Read Section 7.1 before class on November 21
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 21
- Mindscapes: 1-6, 9
- Due Monday November 28 (assigned November 21): Mindscape 9 (give at least three examples)
- Section 7.2
- Read Section 7.2 before class on November 28
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 28
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 32, 33, 37
- Due Wednesday November 30 (assigned November 28): Mindscape 13 and one of Mindscapes 41, 43, or 44
- Section 7.3
- Read Section 7.3 before class on November 30
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm November 30
- Mindscapes: 1-7, 10-12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21
- Due Friday December 2 (assigned November 30): Mindscapes 2, 16 and 17
- Section 7.4
- Read Section 7.4 before class on December 2
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm December 2
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6, 8, 10, 12-15, 20-23, 26-30, 36, 38, 40
- Due Monday December 5 (assigned December 2): Mindscape 36 and one of Mindscapes 41, 43 or 44
- Section 7.5
- Read Section 7.5 before class on December 5
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm December 5
- Mindscapes: 1-5, 6, 7, 12-15, 21, 22, 24, 30-32, 38, 39
- Due Wednesday December 7 (assigned December 5): (a) Turn in Mindscape 3 and (b) find a favorite Conway's Game of Life starting pattern online (cite the source), and also create your own starting pattern. Turn in these patterns and write about why you chose them.
- Section 7.6
- Read Section 7.6 before class on December 7; note that Mindscape 4 is due on December 7
- Do WeBWorK Reading questions before 12 pm December 7
- Mindscapes: 1-18, 22-24, 26-31
- Due Wednesday December 7 (assigned December 5): Mindscape 4
- For Friday December 9 (assigned December 2) (you will give brief presentations that day): Creative project on fractals and/or chaos is due. This can be any creative work. You must also turn in a 300-word essay explaining your work, how it relates to fractals and/or chaos, and why you chose to create your particular project.