INSTRUCTOR: CHRIS GOLÉ

OFFICE: BURTON 316

TELEPHONE: (585) 3875

EMAIL & WWW : cgole@math.smith.edu & www.math.smith.edu/~cgole

OFFICE HOURS: TBA

CLASS MEETING: Thursday 3-5, or occasionally Tuesday 3-5

TEXT: (Suggested) Mathematics and its History, by Stillwell (Springer), available at Grécourt Bookshop.

ABOUT THE CLASS: Attending seminars about subjects they know little about are a common experience in the life of professional mathematicians. These seminars give us perspective and allow cross-fertilization. The class will be centered on plenary survey talks about various subjects, given by students, faculty and visiting speakers. One aim of the class is to provide an opportunity to widen the scope of your knowledge, as well as bring about connections between parts of mathematics you may not have been aware of. Another aim is to foster a mathematical community at Smith College.

PREREQUISITES: MTH 211 and 212, and two additional classes at the 200 level

ORGANIZATION OF THE CLASS: Each class meeting will be split in two parts: the first one, from 3-3:50, will consist of the plenary talk open to all students and faculty. The second one, from 4:05-4:50, will be for students in the class only. It will be devoted to discussions about the talk that just took place as well as the one from the previous week. Also during that second part, students registered in the class will give smaller (~20 min) "private" talks to class members only. Between the two parts, we will have the department tea (open to all, but also an integral part of the class!) during which discussions about the talk will be encouraged. Occasionally, we might switch Part I and Part II around, especially when visitors come.
 

3:00-3:50	Plenary Talk	Open to all
3:50-4:05	Tea	Open to all
4:05-4:50	Discussion time, private talks	Class only

 VIRTUAL FORUM: We now have a web bulletin board/discussion room called Virtual Math Forum. I will post in it the program of the talks as it develops. The main function of theVirtual Forum however, is to foster your communication about mathematical matters with other students. The Virtual Forum will also be open to students outside of the class, who will be encouraged to come to the talks and participate to the (virtual) discussions. You can get credit for your oral participation (see below) if you use the forum, even if you just start a discussion with a question on the lecture. Sometimes good questions are better than bad answers!
Spring special: get 5% of your grade by posting your first mathematical message on the forum.

YOUR PARTICIPATION: You will be free to choose your own mode of participation, from the menu below. I will require, however, that at least one part of your participation be oral(talk or discussion). At some point in the class, you and I should agree on a menu that is best for you. Of course, you are encouraged to participate at more than 100%!
 

Item	% of grade base
Give a plenary talk	Up to 80%
Give a private talk	Up to 50%
Participate in discussions	Up to 25%
Write a report about a talk	Up to 40%
Hand in Solutions to Exercises	Up to 5% each

Plenary and Private Talks:Feel free to come to me for (or with!) suggestions for subjects of talks. Students who have done a summer internship, are in the stride program or are doing an honors thesis have natural subjects to talk about. The suggested text for the class is a wonderful source of potential lectures. Also, I encourage you to leaf through the Mathematical Intelligentseras well as the Mathematical Monthly. Other sources include Nature, Science and Scientific American, and the science section of the New York Times. Be creative, I will support you (within reason!).

Written reports: A written report for a talk should be typed and be of at least two pages for the 40% credit. You are encouraged to work in groups on these reports, although I will expect more than from an individual report for full credit. You can use the chat room (see below) to gather information (e.g. "does anybody have a good sour ce for ....?").

Exercises: The speakers will be asked to give exercises related to their talk. These may be different from any you had in the past, because the context will be presumably new at each talk. This should foster in- and out-of-class discussions. Discussing a problem in class or in the Virtual Forum brings you credit for both your solution and your oral participation.

ATTENDANCE: Attendance to all the classes is important. I would appreciate your writing me an email message or calling me if you cannot make it to a class.