Honors course "Mathematical Methodology", Spring 1996
Prerequisites:
• a playful mind,
• a mathematical inclination,
• a good mastery of English, i.e. the ability to write it well, to read it well, to speak it well, and to understand it well.
This course is not about mathematical results but about doing mathematics, about wasting neither your own time, nor the time of your readers. Mathematics will be treated as the art and science of effective reasoning, the latter encompassing the design, recording and explanation of arguments.
The most common form of homework is to give one-page solutions to (well-chosen) problems; co-operation with a fellow student is encouraged, competition is frowned upon.
Each student ends the course with an oral examination of (at most) two hours. I can not accommodate much more than sixteen students in this class, but what they will have learned is immediately applicable and will never get obsolete.
Transcribed by Jennifer Lu Greene.
Last revised