Reading Assignments

(main course page)

Assignments:

1. For Friday September 7 lecture: Answer the following Introduction questions in a blog entry.
   
   • What is your year in school and major?
   • Which calculus-or-above math courses have you taken? (Use names or BYU course numbers.)
   • Why did you choose EMC2? (Be specific.)
   • Tell me about the math professor or teacher you have had who was the most and/or least effective. What did s/he do that worked so well/poorly?
   • Write something interesting or unique about yourself.
   • If you are unable to come to my scheduled office hours, what times would work for you?
2. For Friday September 7 lecture: Read and blog about Sections 1 and 2.
3. For Monday September 10 lecture: Read and blog about Section 3. The computer demonstration from class on Friday can be found here if you are interested.
4. For Wednesday September 12 lecture: Read and blog about Section 4.
5. For Friday September 14 lecture: Read and blog about Section 5.
6. For Monday September 17 lecture: Read and blog about Section 6.
7. For Wednesday September 19 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7. You may make up a missed blog entry by attending and blogging about Robert Schneider's Focus on Math talk at 4:30 PM on Thursday September 20 in 1170 TMCB.
8. For Friday September 21 lecture: Read and blog about Section 8.
9. For Monday September 24 lecture: Read and blog about Section 9. You may be interested in Tyler Jarvis's BYU devotional talk from 2013.
10. For Wednesday September 26 lecture: Read and blog about Section 10. Additionally, write responses to some or all of the following questions.
• How long have you spent on the homework assignments? Did lecture and the reading prepare you for them?
• What has contributed most to your learning in this class thus far?
• What do you think would help you learn more effectively or make the class better for you? (This can be feedback for me, or goals for yourself.)
11. For Friday September 28 lecture: Read and blog about Section 11. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 1 (pages 1-7 and the Takeaway on pages 21-22) of the book Make It Stick.
12. For Monday October 1 lecture: Read and blog about Section 12.
13. For Wednesday October 3 lecture: As you study for the exam (here is a study guide and a practice exam and its solutions from another instructor in a past semester), write responses to the following questions.
• Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
• What kinds of questions do you expect to see on the exam?
• What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out.
Thinking about the answers to these questions can help guide your study. Remember also that the mathematics department's learning outcomes for Math 290 state that students

should know all relevant definitions, correct statements of the major theorems (including their hypotheses and limitations), and examples and non-examples of the various concepts. The students should be able to demonstrate their mastery by solving non-trivial problems related to these concepts, and by proving simple (but non-trivial) theorems about the…concepts, related to, but not identical to, statements proven by the text or instructor.

14. For Friday October 5 lecture: Read and blog about Section 13. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 2 of Make It Stick (pages 23-30 and the Takeaway on pages 43-45).
15. For Monday October 8 lecture: Read and blog about Section 14.
16. For Wednesday October 10 lecture: Read and blog about Section 15. You may make up a missed blog entry by attending and blogging about Heather Russell's Focus on Math talk at 4:30 PM on Thursday October 11 in 1170 TMCB.
17. For Friday October 12 lecture: Read and blog about Section 16. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 3 of Make It Stick (pages 46-53 and the Takeaway on pages 63-66).
18. For Monday October 15 lecture: Read and blog about Section 17.
19. For Wednesday October 17 lecture: Read and blog about Section 18.
20. For Friday October 19 lecture: Read and blog about Section 19. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 4 of Make It Stick (pages 67-76 and the Takeaway on pages 100-101).
21. For Monday October 22 lecture: Read and blog about Section 20.
22. For Wednesday October 24 lecture: Read and blog about Section 21.
23. For Friday October 26 lecture: Read and blog about Section 22. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 5 of Make It Stick (pages 102-120).
24. For Monday October 29 lecture: Read and blog about Section 23.
25. For Wednesday October 31 lecture: Read and blog about the advice on mathematical writing found here.
26. For Friday November 2 lecture: As you study for the exam (here is a study guide and practice exam and solutions and another practice exam and solutions), write responses to the following questions. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 6 of Make It Stick (pages 131-146 and the Takeaway on pages 158-161).
• Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
• What kinds of questions do you expect to see on the exam?
• What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out.
27. For Monday November 5 lecture: Read and blog about Section 24.
28. For Wednesday November 7 lecture: Read and blog about Section 25.
29. For Friday November 9 lecture: Read and blog about Section 26. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 7 of Make It Stick (pages 162-179 and the Takeaway on page 199).
30. For Monday November 12 lecture: Read and blog about Section 27.
31. For Wednesday November 14 lecture: Read and blog about Section 28.
32. For Friday November 16 lecture: Read and blog about Section 29. You may be interested in the ideas in Chapter 8 of Make It Stick (pages 200-225).
33. For Monday November 19 lecture: Read and blog about Section 30. You may be interested in Jim Cannon's thoughts on mathematics and faith.
34. For Tuesday November 20 lecture: Read and blog about Section 31.
35. For Monday November 26 lecture: Read and blog about Section 32.
36. For Wednesday November 28 lecture: Read and blog about Section 33.
37. For Friday November 30 lecture: Read and blog about Section 34.
38. For Monday December 3 lecture: Read and blog about Section 35.
39. For Wednesday December 5 lecture: Read and blog about Section 36. You may make up a missed blog entry by attending and blogging about Amanda Francis's Focus on Math talk at 4:30 PM on Thursday December 6 in 1170 TMCB.
40. For Friday December 7 lecture: As you study for the exam (note that there is a study guide available here, and here is a practice exam and solutions and another practice exam and solutions, although these practice exams do not cover sections 33-36), write responses to the following questions.
    • Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
    • What kinds of questions do you expect to see on the exam?
    • What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out.
41. For Monday December 10 lecture: Read and blog about one of the following: Jim Cannon's thoughts on mathematics and faith; Tyler Jarvis's BYU devotional talk from 2013; Francis Su's MAA Retiring Presidential Address on Mathematics for Human Flourishing.
42. For Wednesday December 12 lecture: Complete your student ratings for this course. As you study for the final exam, write responses to the following questions.
    • Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
    • What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out.
    • What have you learned in this course? How might these things be useful to you in the future?

If for whatever reason you are uncomfortable doing a certain assignment on your blog (for instance, if you'd rather not have your answers to specific questions out there on the Internet), you may send me that particular assignment by email.

Instructions:

• Set up a blog for this class and do the first two assignments by 11:59 PM on September 6.
• Complete each reading assignment (listed above) before lecture.
• Write a blog entry for each reading assignment.
  
  The title of the blog entry should be
  (Section Number), due on (Date)
  so, for example, your first blog entry will be titled
  Introduction, due on September 7
  and the second entry will be titled
  Sections 1 and 2, due on September 7.
  
  A blog entry should have two parts:
  1.  (Difficult)  Answer the question "Did you carefully read the entire assignment, and what was the most difficult part of the material for you?"  Note that "nothing" is not an acceptable answer. If nothing challenges you, then you should think about the material at a deeper level and generate some honest questions.
  2.  (Reflective)  Write something reflective about the reading. This could be the answer to the question "What was the most interesting part of the material?" or "How does this material connect to something else you have learned in mathematics?" or "How is this material useful/relevant to your intellectual or career interests?"
• The blog posting is due by 11:59 PM on the day before lecture (for example, you should post about the reading for Wednesday’s lecture before midnight Tuesday night).
• Blog posts will be graded according to the following scheme:
  0 points:  No blog submission on time.
  1 point:  Submission of both parts (Difficult and Reflective) on time, but first part (Difficult) is irrelevant or does not sufficiently show that all reading has been done.
  2 points:  Submission of both parts (Difficult and Reflective) on time, demonstrating that you have done all of the reading and thought about it.
• You may make up a missed blog entry by attending a mathematics department colloquium, Focus On Math, or Careers In Math talk and writing about it on your blog. Answer the same two questions about the talk that you would normally answer for a reading assignment.

Setting up a blog:

Note:  these instructions should only be followed once.  Once you’ve created a blog, just add new posts to it for each reading assignment.

• Open your browser to www.blogger.com.
• Log in with a Google account, and click on "Create new blog". If you already have a blog, please create a new one for this class; I’ll be dumping all entries into a feed reader, and would like to see only entries related to the course.
• Follow the instructions.  Make sure you note your account details (username, password, url).
• The default settings are correct, so you don’t have to change anything, although you may if you wish.  Please leave comments and full blog feeds enabled.
• For your first blog post, please answer the Introduction questions above (Assignment 1).
• Once you have made your first blog post, send me an email with the URL for the main page of your blog, which should look like “nameofblog.blogspot.com”.  Include your full name in the email message, especially if your name does not appear on your blog.