Wk | Date | Topics and activities | Readings |
1 | 1/27 | Introductions | |
1/29 | $\LaTeX$: first contact | ||
2 | 02/01 | Two different(?) numbers | |
02/03 | What numbers are fractions... | ||
02/05 | ...what numbers are not? | ||
3 | 2/08 | Numbers vs magnitudes in the time of Pythagoras | |
2/10 | Commensurability | A Light Dance on the Dust of the Ages | |
2/12 | Spring Break 1/6 | ||
4 | 2/15 | Geometric proofs | |
2/17 | Introduction to Logic | ||
2/19 | Aristotelian logic: categorical propositions | ||
5 | 2/22 | Aristotelian logic: syllogisms | |
2/24 | Truth tables | ||
2/26 | Contrapositives and Modus ponens | ||
6 | 3/01 | Achilles, the Tortoise and Riemann's Rearrangement Theorem | |
3/03 | Introduction to Zeno's paradoxes | On Zeno's Paradoxes, by W. C. Salmon | |
3/05 | No class | ||
7 | 3/08 | Zeno's paradoxes as a defense of Parmenides | |
3/10 | Influence of Parmenides | Parmenides, by B. Russell | |
3/12 | Mathematical Journeys into Fictional Worlds, by S. Hart | Profile of S. Hart | |
8 | 3/15 | Discussion: fractals, geometry and group theory | |
3/17 | Spring Break 3/6 | ||
3/19 | $\LaTeX$ presentations and timeline of final projects | ||
9 | 3/22 | Newton and Leibniz on time, space and motion, I | Newton's Scholium to the definitions |
3/24 | Newton and Leibniz on time, space and motion, II | Leibniz-Clarke correspondence | |
3/26 | Newton and Leibniz, wrap up | ||
10 | 3/29 | Library instruction session | |
3/31 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, I | with A. Moore (Virginia Tech) | |
4/02 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, II | ||
11 | 4/05 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, III | |
4/07 | Spring Break 5/6 | ||
4/09 | Individual meetings | ||
12 | 4/12 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, IV | |
4/14 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, V | ||
4/16 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, VI | ||
13 | 4/19 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, VII | |
4/21 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, VIII | ||
4/23 | Equity, identity and ideology in Mathematics, IX | ||
14 | 4/26 | Spring Break 6/6 | |
4/28 | On the Euler characteristic | ||
4/30 | Mathematics and natural sciences | Mathematics and Empiricism, by John von Neumann | |
15 | 5/03 | Coxeter and Bourbaki | |
5/05 | Sprouts and the Euler characteristic | ||
5/07 | Mathematics, Platonism and Cognition | Useful invention or absolute truth? Remarks on the Changeux-Connes debate |