Class participation is an essential part of the course; mathematics is not a spectator sport.
For this section, class participation consists of reading assignments, quizzes, and homework problems.
The format for the exam will be approximately as follows.
Consider preparing for the exam by reviewing your homework and quizzes.
When preparing keep in mind that the best way to remember the material is to understand it.
Also, be sure to have an example in mind for every definition that you choose to remember;
root the abstract ideas we are studying in particular, meaningful examples.
Math 39
pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to fonts of wisdom and knowledge.
Reading Assignments
Reading assignments will be given daily and should be read before coming to class.
For some of my thoughts on reading mathematics texts,
click here.
Quizzes
Quizzes will be administered at the end of class on Monday covering material presented in
lecture the previous week.
They will consist of a couple of questions and should only take 10 - 15 minutes to complete.
If you do the homework for the lectures given the previous week (including Friday's homework),
then you should do fine on the quizzes.
Homework Problems
Homework problems will be assigned daily and collected the following class period.
Late homework will not be accepted and a grade of 0 will be assigned
(of course, exceptions can be made for emergencies such as illness, death, natural disasters...).
I will grade your homework problems and return them as soon as possible,
typically during the next class period.
The solutions you present must be coherent and written in complete sentences whenever possible.
Simply stating answers or turning in garbled, unclear solutions will result in a grade of 0.
The Schedule
On the remainder of this page you will find schedule for the course, including
reading assignments, quiz dates and homework assignments.
There is also some information concerning the exams, which will be updated periodically to include
late-breaking news.
Chapter 1: Informal Statement Calculus
Chapter 2: Formal Statement Calculus
Chapter 3: Informal Predicate Calculus
Chapter 4: Formal Predicate Calculus
we will cover in class on Wednesday 10/28.
Midterm Exam
The midterm exam is on Tuesday, October 27th from 6:00-8:00 pm in 113 SILSBY.
The exam is worth 25% of your final grade and will cover the material listed above
(i.e., Chapters 1 through 4.1).
The exam is designed so that well-prepared students can complete the exam in approximately
an hour and a half. However, the exam time is designated as lasting two hours to eliminate (for
the most part) time pressures.
Please arrive a little early to allow time to get seated, settled, and exams distributed by 6:00.
The room contains almost 60 seats and there are only 5 of you;
so, there is plenty of room to spread out and leave some empty seats between you and the
other test-takers.
Finally, bring writing utensils, but not paper.
(Note that the exam is still being developed,
and so this number may change.)
Chapter 4: Formal Predicate Calculus (cont'd)
Chapter 6: The Gödel Incompletenes Theorem
The Final Exam
The final exam is on Tuesday, December 8th from 9:00 - 11:00 AM in 13 Bradley.
The exam will be comprehensive, covering all of the material we have discussed in the course.
There will be some weighting of problems towards the material from the final half of the course;
i.e., about one third of the exam will focus on ideas from the first half and
about two thirds of the exam will focus on ideas from the second half of the course.