MONT 109N -- Mathematics Across Cultures

Syllabus and Schedule

• Course syllabus (.pdf)
• Detailed course schedule to end of semester, revised March 15
• Natural World Cluster Common Events
  • Medical Ethics Presentation -- Thursday, February 17 (7:30 - 8:30pm), Seelos Theater.
  • Boston ``Emerald Necklace'' Conservancy and Museum trip -- Saturday, April 16 (full day).
  • Natural World Cluster End-of-Year Dinner -- Monday, May 2 (5 - 7pm).

Examples, Class Notes, Etc.

• An Inca quipu
• Area inhabited by the ancient Mayans
• A Mayan mathematical scribe
• A Mayan palace from the city of Palenque
• A Mayan pyramidal temple from the city of Palenque
• The Mayan ``ball court'' in the city of Copan
• The ``hoop'' in a Mayan ball court
• A Mayan observatory(?) from the city of Caracol
• "Our" page from the Dresden Codex
• Another page from the Dresden Codex
• The Mayan 260-day ``tzolkin'' calendar
• A Mayan Long Count date from the Leiden plaque -- early Classic period.
• Another Mayan Long Count date from Chichen Itza (Post-Classic period).
• Boston map showing "T" rapid transit lines, more or less as they are actually located
• Boston "T" map
• A Marshall Islands seagoing canoe
• Discussion questions on Collapse.
• Topic Sentences (class on 2/14).
• Escher's Day and Night
• Escher's Reptiles
• Escher's "Seahorses"
• Class notes on Alhambra tilings, Escher, symmetry, etc.
• Escher quotations (class on 3/16).
• Symmetry in J.S. Bach's Musical Offering
• Remains of Mohenjo-Daro -- a city of the Indus river civilization
• More remains of Mohenjo-Daro
• Bhaskara's approximation of the sine function
• Frederick Law Olmsted (class on 4/15)

Assignments

• Problem Set 1 -- writeups due Friday, February 11.
  • Background and questions
  • Pages from the Dresden Codex
  • Eclipse animation applet from web page of Charles Hartley at Hartwick College. (The applet animation is down at the bottom of this page. It is not ``flashy'' but it shows the geometry of solar and lunar eclipses pretty clearly. Read all of the text carefully to understand what is going on.)
• Problem Set 2 -- due Friday, February 18.
• Paper 1 -- this will be due in two stages -- see due dates on the assignment sheet.
• Discussion Day 2 -- group writeups due Friday, March 4.
• Information on Final Projects
• Discussion/Problem Set on Chinese mathematics -- group writeups due Monday, April 4.
• Discussion/Problem Set on Indian mathematics -- group writeups due Friday, April 15.
• Paper 2 (follow-up on MFA visit in Boston) -- due Wednesday, April 20.

Information and Announcements

• Natural World Cluster trip to Boston is Saturday, April 16 (with rain date Sunday, May 1).

Related Links

• Maya Calendar Converter from web page of Charles Hartley at Hartwick College.
• An online mancala game
• the 17 "wallpaper groups" from David Joyce's site at Clark University.
• Escher's notebooks on plane tesselations.
• Math and the Art of M.C. Escher developed by Anneke Bart and Bryan Clair for a course at Saint Louis University.

Academic Support for Students at Holy Cross

• Overall information: Academic Services and Learning Resources
• Support Services for Students Contact: Tina Chen (Director) x2713.
• Academic workshop schedule for Fall 2009
• The Writer's Workshop (In addition to the locations in Dinand Library, Stein, and Smith, check the Montserrat Moodle page to see when Writer's Workshop tutors will be offering sessions in Wheeler, Hanselman, and Mulledy. Contact: Elaine Hayes (Director) x3648.
• Holy Cross Libraries -- Contact: Patty Porcaro (Head of Reader Services), x3533.
• Counseling Center -- Office: Hogan 207, x3363.
• Career Planning Center -- Office: Hogan 203, x3880.

Downloading Information

Last modified: April 15, 2011