FWS: Writing in Mathematics

Catalog description

How can you use writing to solve mathematical problems? Or even to discover problems that are worth solving? This course revisits high school mathematics with the goal of learning how mathematicians think about math. We will use writing to probe familiar math problems as well as discover new ones, and we will refine our ability to communicate their solutions. Readings will include excerpts from Lang’s Basic Mathematics and works by Gelfand. (These are high school math textbooks written by mathematicians with research careers.) The class will culminate in a research project: you will use writing to develop, investigate, and present your progress on a problem.