Last updated Thu Aug 26 02:42 EDT 2021
Note the "last updated" above. This will always be here to let you easily tell whether there have been changes since the last time you looked at this page.
Due-date: Friday 8/27/21 (but there is nothing to hand in!)
- Read the Class home page, Syllabus and course information, and Homework rules handouts.
- Go to the miscellaneous handouts page and read the handouts "What is a proof?", "Mathematical grammar and correct use of terminology", and "One-to-one and onto: What you are really doing when you solve equations". (Although this course's prerequisites are supposed to cover most of this material, most students enter MAA 4211 without having had sufficient feedback on their work to eliminate common mistakes or bad habits.) In later, hand-in homework, you will be expected not to make the mistakes discussed in these handouts, or other mistakes at a similar level (and will be penalized for not doing so). I recommend also reading "Taking notes in a college math class", even though it is aimed at freshmen and sophomores.
- Read Section 5.3 (pp. 133–135), "Mathematical Writing", in Richard Hammack's Book of Proof (the textbook now being used for MHF 3202, Sets and Logic). In later, hand-in homework, you will be expected to follow these and other good-writing guidelines (and will be penalized for not doing so). I would expand on Hammack's guideline 9: watch out for ambiguity. Ambiguity is most commonly, but not always, caused by an ambiguous pronoun, of which the most common is "it". (Neither the word "it" nor any other pronoun is automatically ambiguous; the structure of the sentence and, possibly, the preceding sentence(s) are what can cause a pronoun to be ambiguous.)
- Take the Proof-writing quiz, but DO NOT HAND IT IN. This quiz is a diagnostic tool for you to help assess your own readiness for this class. The passing score on this quiz is 100%. Getting anything wrong on this quiz is a sign that you may not be ready for this class. Getting more than one thing wrong is a sign that you're almost definitely not ready. I'll post the answers to the quiz some time on or before the due-date, so that you'll have time to drop the class or to try to switch sections if your performance on the quiz worries you.
Update: Answers to the proof-writing quiz are posted now, here.
General homework page
Class home page