Number, Numeral, Shape & Structure

Number, Numeral, Shape and Structure.
This course explores the nature of mathematics
starting with how the human brain conceptualizes
numbers and how human cultures have represented
numbers through the use of oral and written
language. Through a series of lectures and
readings, we will examine how a wide range of
cultures developed mathematical ideas such as
zero, the infinitely small and the even idea that
there are types of infinity that exceed what you
might think of as infinity. We will see where
geometry and algebra are similar and how
mathematicians discovered entirely different ways
of conceptualizing the Universe by challenging
what they thought was know about "truth" and
"proof". This course provides a general survey of
some of the major ideas in mathematics and as
such puts far less emphasis of how to make
calculations and places much more emphasis on how
mathematics have enabled humanity to understand
patterns and how that understanding helps us to
make further discoveries. Short essays and
problem sets will be assigned but students will
also complete a final project where they
critically engage a mathematical concept through
the arts.