Reading Assignments

(main course page)

Assignments:

1. For Friday January 6 lecture:  Answer the following Introduction questions in a blog entry.
   
   • What is your year in school and major?
   • Which post-calculus math courses have you taken?  (Use names or BYU course numbers.)
   • Why are you taking this class?  (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 or the TA's scheduled office hours, what times would work for you?
2. For Friday January 6 lecture:  Read and blog about Sections 1.1-1.3.
3. For Monday January 9 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.1.
4. For Wednesday January 11 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.2.
5. For Friday January 13 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.3.
6. For Wednesday January 18 lecture: Read and blog about Section 3.1 through the middle of page 48.
7. For Friday January 20 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of Section 3.1.
8. For Monday January 23 lecture: Read and blog about Section 3.2.
9. For Wednesday January 25 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.3.
10. For Friday January 27 lecture: 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 Monday January 30 lecture: Read and blog about Section 4.1.
12. For Wednesday February 1 lecture: Read and blog about Section 4.2.
13. For Friday February 3 lecture: Read and blog about Section 4.3.
14. For Monday February 6: Read and blog about Section 4.4.
15. For Wednesday February 8 lecture: Read and blog about sections 4.5 and 4.6. As you study for the exam (note that there is a study guide available here), 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 371 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.

16. For Friday February 10 lecture: Read and blog about Section 5.1.
17. For Monday February 13 lecture: Read and blog about Section 5.2.
18. For Wednesday February 15 lecture: Read and blog about Section 5.3.
19. For Friday February 17 lecture: Read and blog about Section 6.1 through the middle of page 138.
20. For Tuesday February 21 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of section 6.1 and Section 6.2 up through the middle of page 147.
21. For Wednesday February 22 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of Section 6.2.
22. For Friday February 24 lecture: Read and blog about Section 6.3.
23. For Monday February 27 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.1 up through the first full example on page 164.
24. For Wednesday February 29 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of Section 7.1.
25. For Friday March 2 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.2.
26. For Monday March 5 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.3.
27. For Wednesday March 7 lecture: As you study for the exam (note that there is a study guide available here), 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 in class on Wednesday.
28. For Friday March 9 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.4.
29. For Monday March 12 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.5 up through Corollary 7.27. Remember that you can make up a reading assignment by going to Ed Burger's Focus On Math talk at 4 PM on Tuesday March 13 in TMCB 1170 and blogging about it. More information about the talk is available here.
30. For Wednesday March 14 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of Section 7.5.
31. For Friday March 16 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.6 through page 211.
32. For Monday March 19 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of Section 7.6.
33. For Wednesday March 21 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.7.
34. For Friday March 23 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.8.
35. For Monday March 26 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.9.
36. For Wednesday March 28 lecture: Read and blog about Section 7.10.
37. For Friday March 30 lecture: Read and blog about Section 8.1.
38. For Monday April 2 lecture: Read and blog about Section 8.2.
39. For Wednesday April 4 lecture: Read and blog about Section 8.3.
40. For Friday April 6 lecture: Read and blog about Sections 8.4 and 8.5.
41. For Monday April 9 lecture: Read and blog about Section 9.4.
42. For Wednesday April 11 lecture: Complete your student ratings for this course. As you study for the final exam (note that there is a study guide available here, and the proof of Cauchy's theorem from class is available here), write responses to the following questions.
• Which topics and theorems do you think are 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 in class.
• How do you think the things you learned in this course might 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 January 5.
• 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 January 6
  and the second entry will be titled
  1.1-1.3, due on January 6.
  
  A blog entry should have two parts:
  1.  (Difficult)  Answer the question "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?" or something else.
• 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 reading has been done.
  2 points:  Submission of both parts (Difficult and Reflective) on time, demonstrating that you have done 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.
• Click on the orange box with “Get started”. 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.  Include your full name in the email message, especially if your name does not appear on your blog.