MAT336: History of Mathematics - Fall 2025

AI Policy

Overview

The goal of MAT 336 is to help you think critically, organize your ideas, and engage meaningfully with the history of mathematics. Tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, or Google Translate can support your process—but they cannot replace your own thinking or writing. In many cases, excessive use can interfere with your learning process.

You are expected to write everything in your own words, showing that you understood the material and thought about it yourself. If your work appears AI-generated, vague, generic, or disconnected from class content—or raises concerns about authorship—you may be asked to explain your ideas in person.

One of the goals of this course is helping you develop the following skills: thinking critically, writing, and being able to present your ideas. Once you are stronger in these areas, you will be better equipped to evaluate AI responses and use them more productively.

What You May Not Do

The following uses of AI or translation tools are not allowed:

• Using AI or translation tools to write your paper, homework, or slides for you
• Copying full sentences or paragraphs written or translated by AI without rewriting them in your own words
• Using AI to solve problems for you

What You May Do

You may use AI or translation tools to support your thinking, as long as you remain the author of your work. Examples of acceptable uses:

• Brainstorming or organizing ideas
  e.g., “Ask me questions to help me plan my paper on Euclid’s Elements”
• Clarifying understanding of sources or translating material to read it
  (Always rewrite in your own words when writing for class, and go back to the sources to check the explanation was fine.)
• Getting help with grammar or clarity—as long as you revise in your own voice
  e.g., “Can you simplify this sentence?”
• Asking focused questions about your draft
  e.g., “Is my introduction clear?” or “Which parts of this slide might be confusing?”
• Asking questions about mistakes in your text, e.g, "Tell me mistakes in this text". Use its answers to implement corrections.
• Using AI to get an initial understanding of difficult texts through summaries. Note: you must still read and engage with the original sources yourself; AI summaries cannot replace your own reading and thought process.

You will learn more—and likely earn a better grade—by submitting work that reflects your thinking, even with minor language issues, than by turning in something polished but impersonal or AI-generated.

Instructor Use of AI

Your instructor follows the same standards as you, with two exceptions:

• She may occasionally use AI to help structure tables or wording—but always based on her own ideas and always reviewed carefully.
• She may use AI to help draft language for policies or course materials. When she does, the text is checked, refined, and clearly aligned with the course goals.

These small liberties reflect the fact that your instructor has already developed the skills you’re now working to build.

Need Help?

We are here to support you. If you’re unsure whether a particular use of AI is allowed—or if you want help thinking through your ideas—come to office hours. We’re happy to talk about it.

Reminders About AI

• Be skeptical: AI might give you an answer with a very convincing tone—and then give you the opposite answer the next day, just as confidently.
• It is trained to sound helpful, which is not the same as being helpful. It is not trained to adhere to facts. It will often "fill in the gaps" with incorrect information that sounds plausible.
• It tends to reinforce your initial questions or ideas, even if they're based on a misunderstanding. It’s not built to challenge you or ask, “Are you sure?”
• Incorrect use of AI will likely make you submit work that shows no personal engagement, analysis, or reflection. This type of work will not help you learn, nor earn a good grade.
• It may keep asking you questions to keep you engaged—not to help you think more clearly.
• AI produces fluff: AI-generated text often sounds polished but vague. It frequently includes general statements or historical claims that are widely repeated on the web but are not necessarily true, even if you specifically ask it to use peer-reviewed sources.
• Translation tools and AI may change or blur the meaning of what you're trying to say, especially with mathematical or historical nuance.