MGF1107 (Spr 2019)

MGF 1107 Syllabus

Course Summary

MGF 1107, Mathematics for Liberal Arts 2 is a general education/math course which is not intended to prepare you for Precalculus or Calculus. Instead, this course emphasizes mathematical reasoning and the connections between mathematics and the liberal arts. This course qualifies for both GenEd and Gordon Rule credits.

Instructors

Name:           Ross Ptacek
Office:         LIT 442
Office Hours:   TBD (Tenatively 10:00-1:00 PM on Wednesdays)
Email:          rptacek@ufl.edu
Phone:          3522942306

The above is the instructor of record for this course.  Email is the preferred method of communication followed by Canvas messages.

Name:           Jason Johnson
Office:         LIT 477   LIT 225 (Tues Period 3)  LIT 368 (Thurs Period 4)
Office Hours:   Tuesday and Thursday prior to class and by appointment.
Email:          jasonchaos@ufl.edu
Phone:

The above is the TA for this course, but he functions more like a co-instructor.  He will update his contact information once his course schedule is fixed.  It is best to contact Dr. Ptacek first for administrative questions, but feel free to message whoever you want for course content issues.

Prerequisites: None (No, not even MGF1106.  The courses are independent.)

Credits: 3

Textbook: We will primarily use the free textbooks from Discovering the Art of Mathematics. These can be found at https://www.artofmathematics.org/books. On occasion there will be notes or worksheets distributed in class and through Canvas.

Course Content: This course focuses on mathematical thinking and how it can be applied to problems both within and outside of pure mathematics.  Covering particular material is of secondary importance.  That said, we will apply mathematical reasoning to topics from game theory, graph theory, counting principles, probability and statistics, and elementary number theory.  Course material is flexible and will be guided to some extend by student interest.

Course Format

There will be very little traditional lecture in this course.  Most classes will have the class form small groups to work on challenging problems.  Following some initial time to work on the problem, groups will present their (partial) solutions to the class.  Followup activities will be given for homework and weekly quizzes will be given to reinforce the topics from the group activities.  Finally, there will be three major projects throughout the semester instead of exams.

All course communication will be through Canvas or your ufl email.  Homework assignments and course announcements will be posted on Canvas, so it is highly recommended to have notifications from canvas sent to your email (Click on “Account” in the side bar of Canvas, then go to “Notifications” and set announcements to email).  This should be the default setting.

Some course assignments, particularly group assignments may be posted on https://goformative.com/.  Go Formative allows us to monitor groupwork in real time (for free).  Login information will be provided on the first day of class (and later posted on Canvas).  We’re going to try to get everyone signed up and complete an introductory assignment on the first day.

Assignments

Assignments are graded either based on mastery or numerically.  In short, mastery grades will either give all points or none but have a chance for resubmission while numerical grades are graded once for points.  Details can be found below in the “Grading Procedures” section.

In-Class Groupwork:  Most days class will begin by dividing into groups of 3-5 and working on a problem or a continuation of a previous day’s problem.  Every day students will be assessed as participating or insufficiently participating.  Each group will be given a mastery grade on the group work.

Homework:  There will also be a list of problems relating to the in-class group problems maintained on Canvas.  Homework will also be given a mastery grade.  While students are encouraged to discuss homework problems with their peers (it is natural to team up with your group members to discuss) each members’ final solutions must all be original work.  Students found to be copying answers will be unable to master that assignment.

Quizzes:  We will have a quiz every week which will be graded numerically.  Quizzes are individual assignments which cover topics from that week’s group work.

Documentaries:  Throughout the semester you will be provided with documentaries that deal with the history and application of mathematics.  Students are required to watch some of these, and this will be evaluated with a quiz or a short writing assignment.

Projects:  There will be three major projects over the course of the semester.  Projects will be given a numerical grade rather than a mastery grade.  With few exceptions, these will have the same conditions as homework.  All final work must be original work.  Copied answers will result in a score of 0 for that project.

Grading Procedures

Every assignment in this course is either given a numerical grade or a mastery-based grade.  Numerical grades are the kind of grades you are familiar with.  An assignment that is graded based on mastery will either be awarded 0 points or full points.  However, assignments given a mastery grade may be resubmitted up until the final deadline.  For example a 10 point assignment with a numerical grade could be assigned 0/10, 10/10 or any grade in between like 7/10, but the grade received is final.  A 10 point assignment with a mastery grade will be given either 0/10 or 10/10 but will have a chance for resubmission up until the assignment’s final deadline.

This course is divided into three grading periods, each with a possible 250 points.  The three grading periods end on 2/5, 3/19, and 4/23.  The grade for each period will be (roughly) as follows:

Group work           25 points
Homework             50 points
Quizzes              50 points
Documentaries        25 points
Project             100 points
Total               250 points

So there are a total of 750 points in the class.  The final course grade will be given by the following grading scale:

Passing Grades

Non-Passing Grades 
Letter Grade Point Range   Letter Grade Point Range
A 675-750   C- 465-494
A- 645-674   D+ 435-464
B+ 615-644   D 405-434
B 585-614   D- 375-404
B- 555-584   E 0-374
C+ 525-554  
C 495-524  

This grading scale will be strictly adhered to.  The University’s grade point policy can be found here: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/grades.aspx.

Makeup Policy

Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies that can be found at: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/attendance.aspx.

Any makeup request must be made prior to the deadline of the assignment unless an emergency prevents communication.  Makeups are only approved in the case of official UF business, religious observances, or personal emergency.  Makeups may be denied if the reason for absence was known about well before it being communicated.  There are makeups for group work, but the lowest 3 group work assignments (one per grading period) will be dropped to compensate for this.

Special Accommodations

Students with disabilities requesting accommodations on homework, quizzes, and exams must first register with the Dean of Students Office (352-392-8565, http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/). The Dean will provide the student with documentation, which must be turned in to the course coordinator or your instructor during the first two weeks of the semester.

Academic Honesty

The University of Florida expects students to be honest in all of their university class work. Please remember to commit yourself to academic honesty with the pledge:

“We, the members of the University of Florida Community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity.”

The Math Department expects you to follow the academic honesty guidelines. Matters of violations of academic honesty are adjudicated by the Student Honor Code.

In this course, it is especially important that students do their own work.  Since the bulk of the class is about mathematical reasoning, the use of a tutor is strongly discouraged.  In general, if a student cannot adequately explain their reasoning to the point that the instructor does not believe that it is the student’s work, it will be treated as though the student copied the answers.

Evaluations

Students are expected to provide feedback on the quality of instruction in this course by completing online evaluations at https://evaluations.ufl.edu. Evaluations are typically open during the last two or three weeks of the semester, but students will be given specific times when they are open. Summary results of these assessments are available to students at https://evaluations.ufl.edu/results/.

Tentative Weekly Schedule

Unit 1: Combinatorial Games (proof, graph theory, symmetry, counting principles)

  • Week 1: Proof, Counting (permutations, combinations)
  • Week 2: Counting with symmetry (rotations, reflections, equivalence under symmetry)
  • Week 3: Game trees and solving games (Chomp)
  • Week 4: More game trees, number systems (Nim)
  • Week 5: Intro to strategic games, Nash equilibrium

Unit 2: Randomness (Game Theory, Probability, Statistics)

  • Week 6: Mixed strategies, finite distributions, expected values
  • Week 7: True randomness, informal probability theory
  • Week 8: Formal probability theory, probability with counting methods, discrete distributions
  • Spring Break
  • Week 9: Infinite sets, infinite sums, continuous distributions
  • Week 10: Statistics

Unit 3: Fun Things (Number Theory, Geometry, Topology, What interests you!)

  • Week 11: The fold and cut problem
  • Week 12: Mobius strip dissection and nonorientability
  • Week 13: Cartography, stereographic projection, cylindrical projection
  • Week 14: The water jug problem (Bèzout’s identity)
  • Week 15: Finish up projects!