MVAJ I/II is a mathematical topics course, to be held in English. One main goal is that you should improve your ability to read, write, and talk about mathematics in English. In order to do this, we will discuss some mathematical topics that will likely be new to you. A second main goal is to give you some experience with writing basic professional documents such as letters or CVs.
ANA-I, Linear Algebra knowledge consistent with ALG-I and with current enrollment in ALG-II; basic competency with English.
The textbook for this course will be Proofs from THE BOOK, by Martin Aigner and Günther Ziegler, 5th edition.
The textbook is a selection of mathematical gems. Every student in the course will lecture at the board on at least one such gem. The lecturing student should also submit their (English-language) notes, and should select a homework problem related to their topic.
The first 10 weeks of the course will be mainly taught by Russ Woodroofe, and will focus on various mathematical topics. The last 4 weeks of the course will be mainly taught by Mojca Kompara, and will focus on professional development.
The mathematical topics will consist of examples of particularly beautiful results of fundamental results from a variety of areas.
The professional development topics include letter writing (letters of application, cover letters, letters of recommendation), CVs, and presentation skills, as well as a review/overview of English grammar.
In-class practice is an essential part of language instruction, and your regular attendance of the course is important. If you have not attended at least 80% of lectures and tutorials, you may not take a final in the course.
Attendance recording is subject to university academic honesty rules.
Homework assignments will comprise 10% of your grade. A lecture given by you at the board will comprise another 10%. The remaining 80% of your grade will be determined by exams.
There will be 1 midterm examination (kolokvij), to be held at a mutually convenient time midway through the semester.
In accordance with university policy, there will be at least 4 opportunities to take an instance of the final. (However, you may only take the final once more after you have attained a passing grade.) Currently these are scheduled for: 5 Jun, 19 Jun, 16 Aug, 30 Aug.
The exam portion of your grade will be made up either of midterm and final, or else of final alone. More specifically, your overall grade will be determined by
10%(homework) + 10%(your lecture) + max( 30%(midterm) + 50%(final), 80%(final) )
You may bring one hand-written A4-sized sheet of paper with you to each exam, but no other aids.
I expect much of your learning to take place in working out the homework problems. While you may collaborate with other students on the homework, I expect you to have thought hard about the problems on your own first. If you do collaborate substantially, then you should so indicate on your homework paper.
Your write-up should in any case represent your own solutions, written in your own words. Copying the solutions from another student or from an internet source is a form of academic dishonesty, and will not be tolerated.
Obviously, exams will be strictly your own work.
Last modified March 02, 2018