| Date | Class Topic | Readings/Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| 1/25 | Course Introduction | Please read all of [McC] and be ready to discuss it starting Friday |
| 1/27 | All the Pretty Horses -- the ``Western'' genre | [McC] |
| 1/30 | All the Pretty Horses -- ``borders, boundaries, and all that'' | [McC] |
| 2/1 | All the Pretty Horses -- a writer's choices | [McC] |
| 2/3 | Thinking about school mathematics | [HJS], Chapter 9, pp. 302-331. |
| 2/6 | Start preparations for Montserrat public speaking night | Essay 1 due 5:00pm |
| 2/8 | Old Babylonian Mathematics -- an overview | [Jos], Chapter 4, pp. 125-144. |
| 2/10 | Old Babylonian Problem Texts -- the tablet YBC 6967 | (materials on course homepage) |
| 2/13 | Deciphering the tablet YBC 7289 -- small group discussion | (handouts in class) |
| 2/15 | Euclid, Book X, Proposition 117: Comparing Babylonian mathematics and Greek geometry | (materials on course homepage) -- YBC 7289 writeups due 5:00pm |
| 2/17 | ``Geometric Algebra'' | Euclid, Book II, Propositions 1-5 (materials on course homepage) |
| 2/20 | Final Preparations for Montserrat public speaking night | |
| 2/22 | Spare day | |
| 2/24 | Diophantus and the Arithmetica | (materials on course homepage) |
| 2/27 | More on Diophantus | (materials on course homepage) -- Problem Set 1 due 5:00pm |
| 3/1 | Diophantus and symbolic algebra | (materials on course homepage) |
| 3/3 | The influence of Diophantus | (materials on course homepage) |
| 3/6,8,10 | Spring Break -- no class | Start reading [O] |
| 3/13 | Ovid and the Metamorphoses -- the power of myth | [O], Books I and II, pp. 3 - 73 -- Problem Set 2 due 5:00pm |
| 3/15 | Ovid -- gods and men | [O], Book III, pp. 77 - 106. |
| 3/17 | Ovid and Pythagoras; for the glory of Rome. | [O], Book XV, pp. 513 - 549, and Afterword, pp. 551-559. Final project topic and team choices due, by email |
| 3/20 | Islamic Mathematics -- an overview | [J], Chapter 11, pp. 450 - 503. -- Essay 2 due 5:00pm |
| 3/22 | al-Khwarizmi and the Hisab al-jabr wa'l muqabala | Read pages 67 - 83 in Robert of Chester's translation (odd-numbered pages only, unless you want to compare with the Latin version!) |
| 3/24 | al-Khwarizmi, continued. | Read pages 85 - 109 (see above) |
| 3/27 | Assessing the influence of Islamic mathematics | [J], Chapter 1, pp. 1 - 24, Chapter 11, pp. 508 - 512. -- Problem Set 3 due 5:00pm |
| 3/29 | Spare day | |
| 3/31 | Midterm Exam | topics and format to be announced |
| 4/3 | Viète's The Analytical Art | Read the Wikipedia page on François Viète and pages 315-328 of the Analytical Art (course homepage) |
| 4/5 | Viète, continued | Read pages 328 - 338 of the Analytical Art |
| 4/7 | Viète, continued | Read pages 339 - 353 of the Analytical Art; Final project bibliographies due, by email |
| 4/10 | analysis and synthesis in mathematics | (materials on course homepage) -- Problem Set 4 due 5:00pm |
| 4/12 | Is algebra difficult because it is analysis? | (materials on course homepage) |
| 4/14, 17 | Easter break -- no class | |
| 4/19 | Descartes, La Géometrie | (materials on course homepage) |
| 4/21 | More on Descartes | (materials on course homepage) -- Final day to turn in reflection paper |
| 4/24 | The Left Hand of Darkness | [L] -- please read the whole text prior to this day -- Problem Set 5 due 5:00pm |
| 4/26 | Academic Conference -- no class | |
| 4/28 | The Left Hand of Darkness | [L] |
| 5/1 | Final project presentations | (order to be determined) |
| 5/3 | Final project presentations | (order to be determined) |
| 5/5 | Final project presentations | (order to be determined) |
| 5/8 | Final project presentations | Final project papers due 5:00pm |
Last modified: March 31, 2017