General Information

Instructor: Tom Sharland
email: tsharland "at" uri "dot" edu
Office: Lippitt Hall 200A
Lectures: TTH 11.00-12.15, Tyler 109
Office hours: Monday 2-3, Wednesday 2-3, Thursday 2-3 or by appointment

Course description: This is an introductory course on the concept of rigour in mathematics. We will move away from the viewpoint of mathematics as a computational subject and begin seeing it as a subject requiring airtight logic and, surprisingly, a fair amount of creativity. Particular topics we will investigate include set theory, methods of proof and applications of these to relations and functions. This is a 3 credit course.

This course is very different to the previous mathematics courses you have taken. You should expect to work hard both inside and out of class to keep up with the course material and make you sure you understand the concepts being covered.

Textbook: Book of Proof by Richard Hammack. The author has very kindly put a free version of the book on his webpage, but a hard copy can also be bought.

Prerequisites: MTH 142.

Homework and Quizzes: Homework will be assigned weekly but will not be collected or graded. However, there will be weekly quizzes which may have problems related to the homework, so you are encouraged to attempt the assigned problems (and more!) - there will be no make-up quizzes without documented evidence as to why the quiz was missed. I am more than happy to discuss homework problems (and more!) in office hours, but you should come prepared to show what you have attempted on a problem before seeking help.

Grade breakdown: The grading scheme will be as follows:

• Quizzes: 15% (lowest two scores are dropped)
• Midterm I: 25%
• Midterm II: 25%
• Final: 35%

• Midterm I is on 03/10.
• Midterm II is on 04/19.
• The final is on 05/05 at 8am (I'm as disappointed as you are...) in Tyler 109. There will be a Review Session on Tuesday May 3rd, 2-3.0pm in Lippitt 204.

Accommodations: Any student with a documented disability is welcome to contact me as early in the semester as possible so that we may arrange reasonable accommodations. As part of this process, please be in touch with Disability Services for Students Office at 330 Memorial Union, 401-874-2098 (http://www.uri.edu/disability/dss/).

Religious holidays: It is the policy of the University of Rhode Island to accord students, on an individual basis, the opportunity to observe their traditional religious holidays. Students desiring to observe a holiday of special importance must provide written notification to each instructor according to the procedure set forth in Sections 8.51.11 & 8.51.12 of the University Manual ( http://www.uri.edu/facsen/8.50-8.57.html )

Standards of behaviour: Students are responsible for being familiar with and adhering to the published "Community Standards of Behavior: University Policies and Regulations" which can be accessed in the University Student Handbook. If you must come in late, please do not disrupt the class. Please turn off all cell phones, pagers, or any electronic devices.