M185 - Syllabus

Instructor	David Brown, 402A Williams Hall, 274-7375
Office Hours	Monday 11-12, Wednesday 11-12, Thursday 1-2 in Williams 402A
Meeting Times	Tuesday, Thursday 2:35 - 3:50pm in Williams 320
Text	There is no textbook for this course. I will provide all materials.
Objectives & Expectations	We explore a variety of mathematical topics, with an emphasis on the discovery of interesting and meaningful ideas. This exploration will involve the use of technology to generate conjectures and then follow up with the appropriate mathematical approach to support these conjectures. We learn procedural programming: loops, recursion, conditionals, and algorithms. Technological tools include Mathematica, spreadsheets, and graphing software. We will focus on the use of computers and mathematical reasoning to integrate an experimental approach to the generation of mathematics.
Schedule	Week 1 - Introduction to Mathematica and LaTeX. Lab 1 distributed. Weeks 2-10 - New lab distributed each week. Weeks 11-14 - Work on research project and present project to class.
Grading	This course is graded as follows. All work will be submitted in typewritten format with clear explanations and proper support evidence. Weekly lab reports - 50% Course Log - 10% Final project and presentation - 40%
Lab Reports	Each week, each student will turn in a Lab Report on the investigative work completed during the previous week. The report is due to Dr. Brown (Williams 402A) by 9am on the Tuesday of the week after which it is assigned. You may work together on computer experiments, but I expect individual reports which are not duplicates of others' work. Plagiarism of any manner will result in a grade of F on that assignment for all involved. More information can be found on the Lab Reports Page.
Course Log	You will keep a notebook (course log) of all work that you have done on a particular topic. This includes, but is not limited to the experiments, your observations, your guesses, and any results you create. In this log, you should record ideas that worked AND those that did not. We can learn a lot from what does not work. I will collect these notebooks from you every three weeks and will see how you progress through your investigations. I will look for consistent attempts at the investigations, and will look at things that worked and things that did not work.
Project	There will be a final project to end the course. This project may be based on investigations that we completed during the semester, or may be something completely new. Feel free to suggest a project that interests you; we will discuss it to see if it is feasible. You will complete this project in a group of two to three students. Your project will involve investigating a topic in depth, writing a final paper, and presenting your work to the class during the last week and during Finals Week (Tuesday May 6, 7:30-10:00am.) More information can found on the Project Page.
Attendance	It is essential to the success of this course that you attend each meeting and participate in the discussions and the investigations. If you miss more than two classes, this will result in deduction from your lab report grade. If you miss more than four classes, I may remove you from the class. You are responsible for any work missed due to an absence.
Support	When you run into difficulties in this class, you should first seek out my help. I will do my best to help you overcome any difficulties with the material or with anxiety you might have about the course. Please do not wait until you feel completely overwhelmed before seeking my help.