MATHEMATICS 398: Fall 08
TBA
Instructor: Peter Borwein
Tues - Thur: 1-2:30 in K9509
The who, what when and why of modern mathematics.
This is a wide-ranging seminar course.
It is suitable for students with acceptable mathematics qualifications
who are interested in the how and why of modern mathematics and who
wish to explore the issues of this course. It assumes some reasonable
sophistication with mathematics but no particular explicit prerequisites.
The course will focus on topics and issues related to doing and
discovering mathematics within the context of specific pieces of mathematics. It is a course in the "how, who, why and what"
of mathematics.
The intent is to highlight some of the big ideas and major unsolved problems in
mathematics within an historical context.
The initial presentations, by the instructor, will be on the Riemann hypothesis (see the
link below).
Specific assignments will depend on the background and interests of
students enrolled in the course. There will be in class
presentations.
Each student will be expected
to complete a project related to his or her own interests, as negotiated
with the instructor.
Grading Scheme? 100% based on individual assignments and presentations
(including a major presentation.)
Materials
--- Riemann Hypothesis
--- Millenium Prizes
--- Thoughts
--- Other People's Thoughts
--- Pi Day
--- Pi
--- Timeline
--- Some Presentations
Interesting Links
- Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles
- The Canadian Mathematical Society
- MathSciNet
General Readings
The Millennium Problems
by Keith Devlin
Proofs from THE BOOK
by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field
by Jacques Hadamard
Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning
by G. Polya
Littlewood's Miscellany
by Bela Bollobas (Editor)
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
by Janna Levin