Mathematics 629, Spring, 2015

Last updated Fri 15 May 15

Here is the (tentative) course handout (syllabus). The first thing a student should do is to acquire the book by Stillwell. Be sure to get the current (third) edition. I did not list an ISBN because, according to Springer's web page, the book is available in hardback, paperback, and e-book formats (but the paperback costs as much as the hardback).

New feature: Jump down to current week's material (or close to it)


ANNOUNCEMENTS


5/15: Truly concluding remarks
5/6: Concluding remarks
4/11: Recall (per e-mail) that the position paper is due next Friday, April 17.
3/21: News about grading and posting of your papers
3/10:Thanks to Jennifer Carver and Daniel Brown for pointing out two glitches: 2/22: Instructions for the big term paper: This should be about 15–20 pages, or a comparable project in another medium. The topic is your choice, but (like the book) it should involve a nontrivial amount of history and a nontrivial amount of mathematics. For example topics (and other help), see the page Some other pertinent links. Ignore "You should choose a topic by Feb. 23." because I was slow in providing the examples, but don't wait too much longer.
2/21: Instructions for the second paper (position paper).
1/23: Instructions for the book review
1/23: MAA style sheet for references
1/23: The welcoming message
1/23: Formal course handout

LINKS

The History of Mathematics by G. Donald Allen ©

Old course pages:

Home pages: Fulling ._._. Do ._._. eCampus ._._. TAMU Library ._._. Math Dept ._._. University

e-mail: fulling@math.tamu.edu
Grader: dothanh@math.tamu.edu
(Please send homework to both of us, but especially to Ngoc Thanh Do.)

Some other pertinent links

WEEKLY COURSE MATERIALS

Week 1 (the beginnings of mathematics)
Week 2 (Egypt, Babylon, and an overview of Greece)
Week 3 (the early and classic Greek periods)
Week 4 (the late Greek period)
Week 5 (Asia, the Islamic period, and the medieval period)
Week 6 (the renaissance period)
Week 7 (the transition, or precalculus, period)
Week 8 (the creation of calculus)
Week 9 (complex numbers)
Week 10 (modern geometry)
Week 11 (modern algebra)
Week 12 (analysis and topology)
Week 13 (set theory and combinatorics)
Week 14 (modern education: the math wars)