Math 157 - Intro to Mathematical Software

Course description: Math 157 is an introduction to the use of mathematical software. Although mathematics is still largely taught as a pencil-and-paper (and chalk) subject, this approach ignores the fundamental role played by computing technology in the process of mathematical reasoning and discovery. This course will introduce students to a broad but coherent collection of open-source software tools, and to diverse examples of their use in mathematical study and research. The course will be taught in a hands-on fashion; lectures will consist of interactive demonstrations, while assignments will involve guided experimentation and discovery. We will make extensive use of the Python programming language, the Jupyter notebook system, and the SageMath computer algebra system; however, no prior exposure to these tools, other mathematical software (Mathematica, Maple, Matlab, etc.), or computer programming will be assumed. This course was developed for UCSD by Kiran Kedlaya and based on a course taught by William Stein at University of Washington.

This course is based on the cloud computing platform CoCalc (formerly SageMathCloud). As one component of the course grade is in-class participation, students are required to bring a laptop or large tablet to lectures; however, the only local software installation required is a web browser. More details on how CoCalc is to be used will be given in the first lecture.

Instructor: Peter Wear, pwear [at] ucsd [etcetera]

TAs:

Lectures: MWF 1:00-1:50pm in CENTR 109. No lectures on Monday, November 12 or Friday, November 23 (university holidays). There is a class participation component that contributes to the course grade; see below.

Discussion sections: Friday 5:00-5:50pm, 6:00-6:50pm in APM 6402 (Grubb), Friday 5:00-5:50pm, 6:00-6:50pm in APM 5402 (Lau)

Regular discussion sections will start on October 5th. Thomas will have one hour of section on September 28th from 5:00-5:50pm in APM 6402; anyone having trouble getting onto CoCalc should attend.

Office hours:

  • Wear: Monday 2-4pm, APM 6132.
  • Grubb: Monday 11am-1pm, APM 6436.
  • Lau: Friday 2-4pm, APM 6436
  • In addition, we will be conducting "virtual office hours" Tuesday 1:30-5:30pm. During this time, the course staff will be monitoring the course chatroom on CoCalc to answer any questions that may arise.

    Textbook: None. Students will need to create a free account on CoCalc in order to complete and submit assignments. Students should already have gotten an invitation to the course via email, contact the instructor if this is not the case. If you do not use your official UCSD email address to create the account, please provide the instructor with the address you used in order to gain access to the course materials.

    Prerequisites: Math 20D, plus any one of Math 18 or Math 20F or Math 31AH.

    Homework: Weekly problem sets, due Tuesdays at 8pm (one each during weeks 2-9). All assignments will be assigned, completed, submitted, evaluated, and returned using CoCalc; the process will be explained in the first lecture. For security reasons, grades will not be posted within CoCalc; check TritonEd for those.

    Midterms: None.

    Final exam: None. Instead, there will be a two-part final project. This will include an in-depth problem set based on all of the material covered in the class and a presentation given to a small group of classmates.

    Grading:

    Since these parameters have been chosen to be somewhat forgiving, no additional excuses will be granted (not even for waitlisted students). No exceptions.

    For the conversion of raw scores into letter grades, the following minima are guaranteed:
    Percentage 97 93 90 87 83 80 77 73 70
    Minimum grade A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C-
    Additionally, any score in at least the 85th percentile or higher is guaranteed an A grade, while any score in the 65th percentile or higher is guaranteed a B grade.

    Academic Integrity:

    Topics calendar:

    Some adjustments may be made as the term progresses.