Mathematics 190
First-Year Seminar in Mathematics
Calvin College
Fall, 2001
Tentative Schedule
September 5. Organizational Meeting. Dodge
Ball.
September 12. Modular Arithmetic.
September 19. RSA coding.
September 26. Infinity. One-to-one
correspondence, comparing infinities.
October 3. Infinity, continued. Some infinities
are larger than others.
October 10. The fourth dimension. How to
visualize 4D objects. The method of analogy.
October 17. The fourth dimension, continued.
October 24. No meeting: Reading Recess.
October 31. Topology: surfaces. Möbius bands,
Klein bottles and doughnuts.
November 7. Topology: knot theory. Knots,
links, and tangles.
November 14. The dynamics of change.
November 21. No Meeting: Thanksgiving.
November 28. Fractal geometry and fractional
dimensions.
December 5. The mathematics of chaos.
Instructors
Gerard Venema
North Hall 287
Extension 6402
venema@calvin.edu
Tom Scofield
North Hall 281
Extension 6856
scofield@calvin.edu
Grades
The course is offered on a credit/no credit basis;
no letter grades will be assigned.
Course Credit
In order to receive credit for the seminar you
must attend every week and turn in the homework
assigned. If for some reason you absolutely cannot
attend one of the sessions, please contact one of
the two instructors before the scheduled meeting.