| Date | # | Topics | Quizzes and Assignments Due Dates | Presentations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tu 8/29 | 1 | Beginnings of mathematics, info about the course | ||
| Th 8/31 | 2 | Beginnings of mathematics, info about the course | HW0 Due Optional Reading: On the origin of numbers | |
| Tu 9/5 | 3 | Beginnings of mathematics /Number systems | Reading: Number systems | |
| Th 9/7 | 4 | Number systems | ||
| Tu 9/12 | 5 | Mathematics in Ancient Egypt | Reading: These notes from the beginning until Question 2 in Section 1.1.2. (Of course you are welcome to read them all...) | |
| Th 9/14 | 6 | Mathematics in Ancient Egypt | HW2 due (Number systems) | |
| Tu 9/19 | 7 | Mathematics in Ancient Egypt /Mesopotamia | Reading: This text from the beginning to Section 1.5 Plimpton 322 (as usual, you are encouraged to read it all.) | |
| Th 9/21 | 8 | Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia | Quiz 1 about Number systems | |
| Tu 9/26 | 9 | Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia | ||
| Th 9/28 | 10 | Inca and Mayan Mathematics | This text about Mayan mathematics. | |
| Tu 10/3 | 11 | The earliest Hellenic mathematics | Reading: The first two pages of this paper. | |
| Th 10/5 | 12 | Hellenic mathematics: Euclid's Elements | HW3 due (Egypt and Mesopotamia). Annotated bibliography due |
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| Tu 10/10 | No class - Fall break | |||
| Th 10/12 | 13 | Hellenic mathematics: Euclid's Elements | Abstract and outline of the paper due | Mathematics of Maya (Anthony M) Right-Angled Triangles in Ancient China (Derek) |
| Tu 10/17 | 14 | Hellenic mathematics: Euclid's Elements - Axiom Systems | Reading: This article about the diagrams on Euclid's Elements. Quiz 2 about Mathematics in Egypt | Zeno’s arguments and the Development of the Theory of Limits (Kevin) History of Platonic solids (Griffin) |
| Th 10/19 | 15 | Hellenic mathematics: Archimedes | Astronomical Math (Kim) The Remarkable Ibn al-Haytham (Ahad) |
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| Tu 10/24 | 16 | Hellenic mathematics: Archimedes | Quiz 3 about Mathematics in Mesopotamia | The Lengths of Curves (Elijah) Squaring the circle (Zixu) |
| Th 10/26 | 17 | Hellenic mathematics: Apollonius, Erathostenes, Ptolemy, Diophantus | Archimedes and the quadrature of the parabola (Max) Gauss and the Regular Polygon of Seventeen Sides (Xiaoyi) |
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| Tu 10/31 | 18 | Hellenic mathematics: Apollonius, Erathostenes, Ptolemy, Diophantus | HW4 due (Euclid's Elements) | Japanese Temple Geometry (Russel) Thales and the Height of the great pyramid of Giza (Jose) |
| Th 11/2 | 19 | Ancient and Medieval Chinese Mathematics | Draft of paper (1000 words) | Historical Stages in the Definition of Curves (Jason) Fermat's Method of Finding Areas under Graphs (Bingze) |
| Tu 11/7 | 20 | Ancient and Medieval Chinese Mathematics | Quiz 4 about Euclid's Elements | History of the binomial theorem (Charlie) History of the number e (David) |
| Th 11/9 | 21 | Ancient and Medieval Indian Mathematics | Diophantus and the birth of literal algebra (Kenny) Ideas of calculus in the Islamic world (Anthony N) |
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| Tu 11/14 | 22 | Mathematics in the Islamic World - Indian Mathematics | HW5 due | Ideas of calculus in India (Scott) Euler and the bridges of Konigsberg (Tatiana) |
| Th 11/16 | 23 | Mathematics in the Islamic World | Euler's Contribution to Number Theory (Andrew) Pascal and the Problem of Points (Edmund) |
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| Tu 11/21 | 24 | Mathematics in the Renaissance | Paper due | Sophie Germain on Fermat number theory (Wayland) History of Fermat last Theorem (Sheryl) |
| Th 11/23 | No class - Thanksgiving | |||
| Tu 11/28 | 25 | Mathematics in the Renaissance | HW6 due Review | Gauss and the Discovery of Ceres (Zhengchen) How Kepler Discovered the Elliptical Orbit (Boxu) |
| Th 11/30 | 26 | Calculus | History of matrices and determinants (Olivia) | |
| Tu 12/5 | 27 | Calculus | Quiz 6: India and Islamic World | |
| Th 12/7 | 28 | Review |