Category: Assignment Instructions (Page 1 of 5)

Due Monday, November 20

MAT 2680 students’ instructions

MAT 2680 students, the instructions here are not for you! Do not comment on this post! See the post with your instructions over on the MAT 1275 site here (link coming soon).

MAT 1275 students’ instructions

MAT 1275 students, welcome to the MAT 2680 site! The students in MAT 2680 are learning to solve differential equations. A differential equation is an equation that involves derivatives of some mystery function (you’ll learn about derivatives in your calculus class). A solution of a differential equation is just the mystery function that satisfies the equation. The concept of an equation and a solution are not too different from the analogous concepts in your class!

MAT 2680 has MAT 1575 (Calculus II) as a prerequisite, which has MAT 1475 (Calculus I) as a prerequisite, which has MAT 1375 (Precalculus) as a prerequisite, which has MAT 1275 (your class) as a prerequisite!

So the MAT 2680 students are like future versions of you, who have already passed MAT 1575. Even if you are not going to take MAT 2680 yourself, you probably have questions that the MAT 2680 students could answer.

• Maybe you’d like to ask them what skills or material they think is most important from MAT 1275?
• Maybe you’d like to ask them what they wish they’d learned better from MAT 1275 or from any of their other math courses?
• Maybe you’d just like to ask them how they succeeded in MAT 1275 or in any of their other math courses?
• Maybe you have a more personal question for them like what their major is, what they like about differential equations, what they liked about Calculus or Algebra, or what other math classes they have to take?

Now’s your chance to get some advice from students who are a bit ahead of where you currently are on their math journeys!

So, your instructions for this assignment are simple: in the comments below, ask the MAT 2680 students any questions you like.

Since you have not commented in this group before, your comments will not appear right away. They have to be approved by the administrator first, but the administrator is me and I’ll approve any questions as long as they are not too inappropriate. Anyone who asks a question will earn participation credit.

Due Monday, November 13

November is Native American Heritage month! This assignment is similar to the one you completed for Hispanic Heritage Month. This time, you will profile an indigenous mathematician in a comment on this post.

The website indigenousmathematicians.org includes profiles of several indigenous mathematicians, many of them belonging to first nations of what is now known as North/Central/South America. (The website includes profiles of mathematicians belonging to first nations in other parts of the world; while this assignment is to celebrate Native American Heritage Month, if you find an indigenous mathematician from another part of the world and you’d like to profile them, go ahead.)

1. Scroll to the map or click on “profiles” or “honorees” to see a list of indigenous mathematicians.
2. Choose one mathematician you’d like to profile. Read their profile on the indigeneous mathematicians webpage.
3. See what else you can find out about the mathematician you chose. Many mathematicians have personal/academic webpages that include information that might not be in their profile.

Your comment should include

1. The mathematician’s name and tribal/nation affiliation (if available).
2. Where they are now (most of them probably have a job at a university).
3. What field of math they do research in or a title of a recent research paper they published.
4. Any other interesting biographical details you can find out about them.
5. What made this person stand out to you.
6. A photograph of them (optional).

Feel free to use other websites as resources for finding out about indigenous mathematicians! Include any relevant links in your comment.