Math 116
Math & Humanity
- Catalog Entry
MATH 116. Math and Humanity
Three Lecture Hours (3).
Prerequisites: None
Core Math for the Humanities. Mathematics is studied in its historical and cultural context, as a creative human endeavor. Topics covered include the numerical and geometrical genesis of mathematics, formal and rhetorical logic, the developments leading to modern algebra and analysis, the development of modern logic, sets and infinity, and the mathematics of computation. Will not satisfy requirements for a major in mathematics. General Education Credit – Mathematical Sciences.
- Detailed Description of Course
Topics:
1. NUMERICAL SENSE
- Historical development
- Tally, Grouping, and Bases
- Zero and Place Notation
- Rational Numbers and magnitudes
- Irrational Numbers and Pythagoras
2. GEOMETRY
- Practical historical development
- Axiomatic systems
- Constructions and conjectures
- Renaissance: perspective
- Euclid and non-Euclid
- Topology
3. LOGIC
- Logic of classes
- Sentential logic
- Argumentation and Fallacy
- Sets and Infinity
4. ALGEBRA
- Historical development, Arabs
- Cardano, Descartes; curves and solutions
- Polynomials and general solutions
- Abstraction and general algebras
5. COMPUTATION
- Turing and computability
- Artificial Intelligence
- Limits of computation
- Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
In addition to lecture/recitation this course will include cooperative/group learning and projects, Socratic (instructor-student) and group (student-student) dialogue, and written responses to material. Course materials will include project material and assessment developed by math department faculty, in coordination with faculty in the arts, language arts, and philosophy and religion departments.
- Student Goals and Objectives of the Course
Intended primarily as a quantitative literacy course for students whose professional interests and pursuits require them to understand and analyze human culture in its many quantitative aspects, and to employ mathematical thinking as a means of greater perceptive and expressive power. Students will learn to employ mathematics for the expression or interpretation of numerical, geometrical, logical, algebraic, and analytical relationships. Students will also examine in detail the cultural and historical significance of mathematics as a human artifact.
- Assessment Measures
Students will be assessed on their content knowledge of the mathematical topics presented using traditional instruments, including a common multiple-choice final exam. In addition, students will be assessed on their in-class engagement (participation) and on their cooperative work with other students.
- Other Course Information
- Review and Approval Date
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