All students must have their official University I.D. card with them at the time of the final exam and must show it to one of the proctors when handing in their exam. The proctor will NOT accept a final exam from a student without an I.D. card.

This course is an introduction to several mathematical ideas having relevance to the contemporary world. The topics we will be covering this semester are: graphs and networks, voting systems, methods of fair division, fractals, and probability. This course is designed for students who want to satisfy a mathematics requirement and who do not want to take any more math.

Course Information

All of the following documents are in PDF formation.

Here is the course syllabus.

Here is a preliminary schedule for the course, including dates of tests and quizzes.

The course textbook is Tannenbaum's "Excursions in Modern Mathematics," 6th edition.

Homework

Homework problems and other information will be posted here.

Quizzes and tests

Here are various quizzes and tests with their solutions.

• Quiz 1: Quiz, and solutions.
• Quiz 2: Quiz, and solutions.
• Quiz 3: Quiz, and solutions.
• Test 1: Test, and solutions.
• Quiz 4: Quiz, and solutions.
• Quiz 5: Quiz, and solutions.
• Quiz 6: Quiz, and solutions.
• Test 2: Test, and solutions.
• Quiz 7: Quiz, and solutions.
• Quiz 8: Quiz, and solutions.
• Test 3: Test, and solutions.

News

Solutions to test 3 have been posted.	(Dec. 11)
Today, solutions to quizzes 6-8 have been posted. Again, please let me know if there are any errors or typos.	(Dec. 7)
Today the room for the common final exam was announced (see top of page).	(Dec. 4)
Today, solutions to quizzes 4-5 and test 2 have been posted. Again, please let me know if there are any errors or typos.	(Nov. 28)
Today, solutions to quizzes 1-3 and test 1 have been posted. Please let me know if there are any errors or typos and I will do my best to correct them.	(Nov. 26)
The week of September 16 I will be out of the country. Classes and the quiz will be handled by guest instructors.	(Sep. 12)
Quiz 1 will happen on Wednesday, September 12 in class. The quiz and solutions will be posted on this website later.	(Sep. 11)
A tentative list of homework assignments for the semester has been posted. The first assignment is due September 12.	(Sep. 4)
The first class of the semester is Wednesday, September 5. After introductions, we will begin talking about graphs and Euler circuits.	(Aug. 31)

Contact information

If you have questions or comments, please contact me. My contact information is as follows:

• By email: tlawson (at) math.umn.edu
• By phone: 5-6802
• By foot: Vincent Hall 323