Hi everyone,
Please complete the survey by Tuesday 10/6 — I’m hoping to get a sense of how the various activities we have done are working so far, and what you’d like to see in the remainder of the semester. Many thanks!
-Prof. Reitz
Category: Course Activities (Page 3 of 4)
Hi everyone,
It’s been a pleasure meeting with you all one-on-one over the weekend! Exam #1 grades can be found in the OpenLab Gradebook (look for Check Your Grade in the right sidebar, or go to Dashboard > OpenLab GradeBook).
- You must be logged in to the OpenLab, and you must be a member of this course, in order to view the OpenLab Gradebook (for help with these steps, see instructions here).
- A link to your graded exam is available through the blue “comment bubble” next to your Exam 1 grade in the Gradebook.
- Your exam grade will only be posted after our one-on-one meeting takes place (there are one or two still outstanding).
If you have questions about the exam, please send me an email or ask me in class.
All the best,
Prof. Reitz
The assignment below is due BEFORE CLASS on Thursday, October 8th (it is essential that you complete it before class, as we will be doing a class activity building on the assignment).
We are going to play a game creating walking tours of cities with bridges. We begin in the city of Kingâs Mountain, which is built on four land masses â both shores of a river and two islands in midstream â connected by a total of seven bridges (shown in green).
EXAMPLE 1: Can you create a walking tour of the city that crosses every bridge exactly once? You can begin anywhere you like, and end anywhere you like, as long as you cross each bridge just once.
Background – Graph Theory
We can simplify the picture of Kingâs Mountain to make it easier to deal with:
The key elements of the map are the four land masses (letâs label them A, B, C, and D) and the seven bridges (p,q,r,s,t,u and v) (thanks to mathisfun.com for the images):
For the purposes of our problem, we can simply think about each land mass as a point (A, B, C, and D), and the bridges as lines connecting the points (p,q,r,s,t,u and v) – like this:
We call this kind of picture a graph – the points are called vertices and the the lines are called edges. Our goal of finding âa walking tour that crosses each bridge onceâ is now matter of tracing out all the edges without lifting our pencil (and without repeating any edge).
Assignment, Due Thursday 10/8 (beginning of class)
Warm up (This Warm Up is just for practice – you do NOT need to submit your answers – see below for the four-part Assignment to be submitted).  The following examples build on the example above.
EXAMPLE 2: If you are given the freedom to build one new bridge in King’s Mountain (“make one new edge in the graph”), can you do it in such a way the walking tour becomes possible? Do it!
EXAMPLE 3: If you are given the freedom to destroy one bridge (“erase one edge”), can you do it in such a way that the walking tour becomes possible? Do it!
EXAMPLE 4: Construct walking tours for each of the following graphs (or decide if it is impossible).
Assignment. Your assignment has 4 parts.
PART 1. For each of the four graphs below (G1 – G4), decide whether it is possible to create a walking tour crossing each bridge exactly once. Post your solutions here (TO POST A SOLUTION, JUST LIST THE POINTS OF YOUR WALKING TOUR IN ORDER). If it is not possible to create a create a solution, say so!
PART 2. Challenge your friends: Now itâs up to you to build your own graph, and challenge your classmates to construct a walking tour (or to determine if it is impossible). It can consist of as many points as you wish, and as many bridges (edges) connecting them. You MUST label your points “A, B, C…” etc. When youâre finished, decide for yourself if a walking tour crossing each bridge exactly once is possible. Remember, the most challenging puzzles are the ones where the answer is difficult to determine. Post two puzzles in the comments. See the note “POSTING YOUR PUZZLE ONLINE” below for instructions on how to draw and share graphs online.
PART 3. Solve a friend’s puzzle. Leave a response to a friend’s posted puzzle, giving a solution. TO POST A SOLUTION, JUST LIST THE POINTS OF YOUR WALKING TOUR IN ORDER.
Example:
Here is a puzzle: http://sketchtoy.com/67467551
Here is a solution: (start at A) – A, B, D, A, E, B, C, E
PART 4. Â The last part of your assignment is to write a short paragraph (at least 3 sentences) responding to the following prompt. Â Be sure to respond to each part:
Writing Prompt: Did you enjoy this assignment? Why or why not? Describe a connection between this assignment and our work in the class. (If you don’t believe there is a connection, try to imagine why we are doing this). Leave your response in the comments.
POSTING YOUR PUZZLE ONLINE.  I recommend the site sketchtoy.com – it allows you to draw something, then click “SAVE” and get a link to your drawing. If you have another (free) solution that you’d like to use, that’s fine! You can post the link in a comment, and we’ll be able to click on it and view your drawing.   Don’t worry if it’s not pretty!  For example, here is a graph that I drew (can you find a walking tour that crosses all edges?): http://sketchtoy.com/67467556
Today during class we will take our first exam. Please read the following instructions carefully.
Continue readingDue Thursday, 9/17/20. Â For this week’s writing assignment, take a look at the picture below called “Sentences.” Â Read every sentence in the picture. Â As you read, pay attention to your own stream of consciousness – what are the thoughts that pop into your head? Â For full credit, respond to all 4 of the following items.
Continue readingFor the past several years I have taught this same course in the Fall semester (until last year, it had the course number MAT 2071). At the end of each course, I give my students the following assignment:
Imagine that you are invited to speak on the first day of MAT 2071, to give advice to entering students. Write at least three sentences ⌠describing what you would tell them.
To see the assignment and the studentsâ responses, follow this link for Fall 2019 (this class was very small, only 5 students), this link for Fall 2018, and this link for Fall 2017.
Your assignment, due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 8th, is to:
- Read through ALL the responses (there are about 30 of them altogether).
- Write a reply to this post (1 paragraph) responding to all of the following:
- What advice seemed most relevant to you personally? Why? (you can copy/paste a short statement, or put it in your own words)
- Based on this advice, what changes can you make right now to help you succeed in this course?
Extra Credit. For extra credit, write a response to one of your classmatesâ comments. Do you have any advice? Be kind.
Your first OpenLab Discussion assignment is to introduce yourself to your classmates. This assignment is due Tuesday, September 3rd, at the start of class. Late submissions will receive partial credit.
Assignment. Add a comment in reply to this post introducing yourself to the class (click “COMMENTS” just below the title above). Your comment should be at least 2 paragraphs in length. In the first paragraph, introduce yourself in whatever way you wish. You could include your academic interests, why you chose your major, what you enjoy reading, listening to, watching, and doing in your spare time, or anything else you want to share (include your pronouns, if you wish). In the second paragraph, choose ONE of the following two topics and write a response. Donât forget to tell us which topic you chose.
Topics (choose ONE).
- Was math ever your favorite subject? If so, when was it? What about math made it your favorite? If math has never been your favorite subject, what about it do you not like?
- Sometimes people can recognize a time when their opinion of math dramatically changed either for the better or the worse. Tell us about it.
Extra Credit. Get to know your classmates! For extra credit, write a response to one of your classmatesâ comments. Do you feel the same? Did you learn anything? Do you have any advice? Be kind.
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