Colorado State University — Pueblo; Fall 2014
Math 495: Independent Study/Capstone Seminar:
Communicating Mathematical Ideas

• W: We went over this introduction to LaTeX
• Please do HW0 Send me e-mail (at jonathan.poritz@gmail.com) telling me:
  1. Your name.
  2. Your e-mail address. (Please give me one that you actually check fairly frequently, since I may use it to contact you during the term.)
  3. Your year/program/major at CSUP.
  4. What you intend to do after CSUP, in so far as you have an idea.
  5. Past math classes you've had.
  6. The reason you are taking this course.
  7. Your favorite mathematical subject.
  8. Your favorite mathematical result/theorem/technique/example/problem.
  9. Anything else you think I should know (disabilities, employment or other things that take a lot of time, etc.).
  17. [Optional:] The name of a good book you have read recently.
• Start working on HW1:
  • Get a version of LaTeX working on a machine you can use in class and at home: perhaps an installation of MiKTeX on a thumbdrive, or install the packages you need on a laptop running Linux, whatever you choose.
  • Please bring that working computational environment to class from now on.
  • Download the hw1.tex file and make the modifications as suggested on the paper version as handed out in class. (Or here is a scanned version of that handout.) Bring that new file with you to our next class
  • Consult with any of the faculty associated with this class if you get stuck at any point installation or working with LaTeX.
  • Find a few problems (at least a one you like and one back-up) from a math course in the range Calc I to Linear Algebra, and bring its statement (i.e., the book or a copy of the page(s)) to our next class. In class next time (so: no need to get started ahead of time, we'll have time set aside for this in class) you will make a LaTeX version of the problem. The problem should have a nice mix of text and mathematical notation, so it will be fun to put into LaTeX.

• W: Students wrote their selected problems on the board, then worked on making nice LaTeX versions, which will be HW2.
• Here is a basic example of the kind of thing we are looking for; this came from this LaTeX file.
• If you want to include image files in your typeset problems, like this, you will need a little additional LaTeX, which can be found here.
• NOTE: Monday is the last day to drop classes without a grade being recorded

• W: Students gave presentations of solutions to their selected problems.
• Start working on HW3:
  1. Find two or three articles of interest to, and readable by, you, from the journals listed below.
  2. Please send PDF files of your chosen articles to the course instructors by Tuesday, September 23. This is so we can check that they are appropriate (not to hard or too thin work for you) before next week’s class.
  3. We have one more homework problem presentation Wednesday, and also plan to talk about research tools and techniques.
  4. We plan to allow time for each of you to speak for 2-3 minutes describing what articles you picked.
  5. Our hope is that you will approach you article search and choices as if one of the articles you pick might lead to your course major presentation topic. So the assignment is an occasion to practice and learn of the substance and mechanics of exploring and expanding your interests
  6. The journals for picking articles for Wednesday are
     1. Math Horizons
     2. Mathematical Monthly
     3. The College Mathematics Journal
     4. Mathematics Magazine
  7. These can be accessed electronically at the CSU-P Library website. Select MathSciNet and select the journal tab. Then type the name of a journal from the list above and click on issues and articles
     You can also try JSTOR.
     Journal Finder (located under the Articles tab on the library website is a good way to locate specific journals to which the library has a subscription of some sort; you do need to know the name of the journal to use this.
  8. Here is a typeset example, from this LaTeX files and this BibTeX file, showing how to incorporate
     • Images (i.e. like the yellow handout from last class.)
     • Bibliography and citations using BibTex.
  9. Templates are provided in the MiKTex distribution for the presentation package Beamer. You can process a template file to see how the results look. Then you can copy and modify a template for your own uses.
     1. Select New from Template... under the MiKTeX,
     2. Select the folder Beamer Presentations and click on one of the templates to open it
     3. Save this with a (different) name and folder of your choosing
     4. pdfLateX this file, which may prompt you to install several packages....
     5. view the displayed pdf of the template presentation slides

• W:
  • a presentation by a guest librarian on using our campus library and databases to do research
  • an example of the kind of thing students are asked to do for their next homework, which is...
• Start working on HW4:
  1. From the article you have selected — and which was approved by a course instructor — find four related sources, as follows:
     1. another paper by the same author
     2. a paper mentioned in the References section of your chosen paper
     3. a paper or book on a related topic to that of your chosen paper (e.g., one which discusses a technical term, theorem, or example mentioned in your chosen paper)
     4. a book (possibly but not necessarily a textbook) which provides an introduction to some of the background to the topic of your chosen paper
  2. Get a copy, electronic or otherwise, of those four sources.
  3. Write a document (due next class) consisting of the following parts:
     1. A short (a couple/few paragraphs, or around a third of a page) summary of your chosen article)
     2. A References section which will have formal references in BibTeX to your chosen article and to the four related sources you have found
     Don't forget, there were model LaTeX files for this document above.

• W:
  • one more student "homework problem solution" presentation
  • instructor example presentations by Drs Barnett and Lundberg

    Dr Barnett's slides:

    PDF and TeX

    Dr Lundberg's slides:

    PDF and TeX

  • brief comments on using the beamer style file for LaTeX to make presentation slides
    • Here is a typeset example, made from this LaTeX file (that was the actual file; to look at it in a web browser, try this version) and this image file (that was the .eps file, which is best to incorporate into a LaTeX file; here is a .jpg to look at on the web — note that to convert a .jpg to .eps, you will need to use some tool like the GIMP).

• W:
  • three more students gave presentations of their articles
  • please make sure you have e-mailed your presentation slide files files to course instructors.
  • If you are having some issues getting your slides to come out the way you want with the BEAMER LaTeX class, you might like to read this user guide.

• W:
  • one student presentation on their article
  • we watched a video How NOT to give a presentation by Neil Dodgson, which can be seen here
  • after the model BAD talk video, we discussed some issues about giving talks, also in consultation with the handout How_To_Talk_Handout.pdf
  • please have a proposal for your final project, consisting of the following:
    1. a title
    2. a paragraph or so discussing the topic
    3. at least one reference you will consult in the preparation of your final project
    Don't hesitate to contact any of the three instructors for assistance in settling in on your project topic, in putting together various LaTeX documents, and in finding source materials.
  • as always, make sure you have e-mailed all of your LaTeX files (final versions, or works-in-progress if you are having troubles) to all three instructors
• NOTE: Friday is the last day to withdraw (with a W) from classes

• W:
  • Dr Poritz spoke on Perelman Proves Poincarè.
    • Here is the PDF of handout he distributed during the talk, whose LaTeX source file is here, whose BibTeX file is here, and whose required included image file is here.
    • Here is the PDF of the slides he used during the presentation, whose source file is here, while required image files are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

• W:
  • Guest presentation by Dr Kreminski on The Riemann Hypothesis: The #1 Problem in Mathematics.
    • Here is a PDF of the slides he used during his talk.
    • The video of the presentation is in two parts:
      1. Beginning
      2. End

• Exam week, hooray!
• We will meet during the scheduled exam period for this class, which is Wednesday, December 10th, 2014, 8-10:20am, in the math department computer lab, PM221, for students' 15 minute presentations. Here is the poster annoucing this event — which will be open to other members of the math department community — including times and titles of individual presentations. Please be on time and attentive to your fellow students' work, and ready to transition quickly between presentations (there will be only 2 minutes between successive presentations!).
• Students must e-mail their slides, in both PDF and TeX forms, to Dr Poritz by 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 9th, 2014
• Students must e-mail their final papers, in both PDF and TeX forms, to all three course instructors (Drs Barnett, Lundberg, and Poritz) by 5pm on Wednesday, December 10th, 2014, 8-10:20am (that's the day of the presentations).
• If students enrolled in this class could please answer the following questions, it would help to improve the course for the future. You can do this anonymously in the free response part of the regular CSU-P on-line course evaluations for Math 495 or simply by giving a written response to Mary Sandoval in the department office. If you don't mind the lack of anonymity, you can also send your answers in an e-mail to any (or all) of the course instructors.
  Here are the questions:
  1. What worked; ... best.
  2. What did not; ... worst.
  3. Areas in which you grew most.
  4. Areas in which you needed more help.
  5. Main challenges you encountered.
  6. Ideas for future versions of this seminar.
  7. I would have liked to                            .
  8. I would have liked not to                            .
  9. Best sources of material and materials you encountered:                            .
  10. Three ideas or experiences that impacted you the most:                            .