Check out daily activities at the course calendar.
You will find reading assignments, homework exercises, paper topics,
and important due dates.
This calendar may change often, so return to it regularly throughout
the semester to be aware of news and updates.
| Course Content: | This course will survey the landscape of formal geometry, with special emphasis on the tradition of Euclidean geometry, the problems of constructibility, the discovery of noneuclidean geometries, and the modern move towards rigor and foundational issues. We will also introduce elements of non-Euclidean geometry (hyperbolic and spherical) as well as projective geometry and finite geometries. | ||||||||
| Time & Place: | Alter 224, TR 5:30 - 6:45pm | ||||||||
| Instructor: | Daniel E. Otero | ||||||||
| Office Hours: | Hinkle 104, TWRF 1:30 - 2:30, or by appointment | ||||||||
| Phone: | 745-2012 (voicemail available) | ||||||||
| Email: | otero@xu.edu | ||||||||
| Textbook: | A Survey of Classical and Modern Geometries, with computer activities, by Arthur Baragar, (Prentice Hall, 2001). | ||||||||
| Computing: | We will make frequent use of Geometer's Sketchpad. | ||||||||
| Grading: | A standard scale (A = 90%, B = 80%, C = 70%, D = 60%) based on a total
500 pts:
Homework assignments will be assigned and collected regularly. Two substantial research papers are due, one on January 23, the other April 15. The final exam will be cumulative, but will emphasize material from the second half of the semester. The Department of Mathematics & Computer Science has adopted this Statement of Grading Standards which identifies criteria that are used for assessing student achievement; you may wish to familiarize yourself with these standards. |
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| Absences: | Attendance and participation in class is expected. No extra credit work will be assigned. If you foresee that you will not be able to attend a class, you must make arrangements with me beforehand to schedule a time to make up any missing work. Even a phone message before class time is sufficient. No arrangements will be made otherwise. |
A large variety of geometry websites can be found at David Eppstein's Geometry Junkyard.
The award-winning website Cut the Knot has a geometry page with lots of interesting links.
The Math Archives at the University of Tennessee Knoxville has categorized a list of geometry links.
At the University of St. Andrews in Aberdeen, Scotland, is is the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. This site contains biographies and images of most of the important mathematicians throughout history as well as several other features. As with any other site on the Web, it should be used with caution. For example, look at the entry for Euclid. Who is the man in the engraving? Is it really Euclid?
For the study of Euclid, I recommend David Joyce's site at Clark University. He has a general history of mathematics and also a marvelous online version of the Elements. A curious and fascinating version, extremely visual and striking in its use of color pictures associated with the propositions, is Oliver Byrne's 1847 version of the Elements.
At Trinity University, Dublin, you will find information on mathematicians
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries taken from W.W. Rouse Ball's
Short
Account of the History of Mathematics.
Be warned that care must be exercised when using information you have obtained from the Web. Consider sources. Is the site based at a trustworthy location such as a university or government department? Are the documents written by scholars and experts, or by dilettantes and cranks? Frequently it is just too easy not to follow references given at a website and to use the documents without review. This is a hallmark of sloppy scholarship.