*WARNING: Course is known to change very frequently depending on prof.
Course Description:
Inquiry into the ideas and methods of advanced mathematics. Material will include topics selected from algebra, calculus, discrete math, geometry and number theory.
Textbook:
An Introduction to Mathematical Thinking - W. J. Gilbert and S. A. Vanstone
Course Breakdown:
Class & Tutorial Participation: 30%
Midterm 1: 15%
Midterm 2: 15%
Assignment 1: 20%
Assignment 2: 20%
Assignments:
Assignments were two written reports on two separate topics which involve math and it's applications. For instance, my group of 5 covered logarithmic functions and their applications (ie. earthquakes, etc) as well as the dot and cross product and their applications (ie. torque, orthogonal projection, etc). Overall, these were easy to score well in. Hard to score terribly as well as score extremely well.
Midterms:
The midterms would have probably gone better if the entire class decided to study. The first midterm was extremely easy, with simple conversions from decimal to binary, etc and Diophantine's Equations and small proofs. The second midterm consisted of large proofs, which proved to be really difficult.
Final Exam:
No Final Exam
Final Thoughts:
This years prof was Ian Hambleton. Nice guy, rambled a bit too much, but not a lot of complaints. The TA's name was Jonah, who has TA'ed this course for a few years. Tutorials were overall pretty useless unless you had specific questions. If you didn't, the TA stood awkwardly in front of the class waiting for someone to say something. Overall, this course was meant to be a breather course. Everyone came out with a decent grade, not many fabulous ones.