- Welcome!
- Some thoughts for the day, and for the course:
- For you to be successful, your attitude is as important as your ability.
- What you do shows what you are.
- Wherever you are, be all there. Jim Elliot
- Most days there will be a "Question of the day": today's is
What's the probability that two people in this room have the same
birthday?
I'm guessing that many of you like to gamble. I should say that I
don't encourage it!:) If you do end up gambling, I'd like you to
gamble intelligently. Only gamble if you have inside
information -- and that's often provided by mathematics.
- 3x5 cards: Please fill out the card, indicating
- Name
- Hometown
- What is your calling? ("a calling has to do with one's larger
purpose, personhood, deepest values, and the gift one wishes to give
the world.... A calling is about the use one makes of a career." David
Orr, Earth in Mind)
- What is your dream job?
- What is something special about you?
- Introductions
- The syllabus.
- The text will be supplemented with on-line materials. It's cheap! There was unfortunately a glitch at the bookstore, and they don't seem to have copies yet. I got my copy in the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble back in August, but I paid eight dollars and they seem to have a copy for 1.99 now. So I'm pretty mad about that....
You should get it as soon as possible, but I won't assign anything in it until the end of next week. The bookstore has ordered some, if you don't like the internet shopping experience.
- Because of scenes like this:
and this:
I have instituted the "Class Agreement".
- Your first assignment is on-line: there is a reading (short, on-line) and an optional (extra credit) assignment, of explaining how a card trick works that I'll
show you today!
In a sense this assignment is optional, but it might be good to give
this first one a go. If you successfully solve the trick, you will get
a "GOHF" ("Get Out of Homework Free") card.
- What is this "Logo"? Here are a few examples that former students have done:
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- Our goal is more than just mathematics -- there are "Lessons for life"
that we should focus on:
- Keep an open mind.
- Just do it. Jump in. Make mistakes and fail, but never give up.
- Often when we've done it once, we do it again. Follow up one good deed with another!
- Understand simple things deeply.
- Break a difficult problem into easier ones.
- Look for patterns and similarities.
- Explore the consequences of new ideas. Generalize.
- Examine issues from several points of view.
Don't be a turkey -- be a dog! (this one may require a little
explanation....)
- Now add your birthday (just month and day) to your card. We need to decide
how much to bet that two people in this room have the same birthday.... And
there's no sense betting if you can't win!
In math, you also don't bet if the odds of coming out ahead are against
you. Which is why you shouldn't play the lottery. But I want you to see that
math can be profitable....
Against my better judgement, I'll bet $20 against a student's dollar that there
are two people in here with the same birthday. Anyone want to take that bet?
[Hint: your expected payoff, dollar for dollar, is bigger than that of the
power ball that's over a billion dollars!]
Now, once we get that out of the way, we should think about
- how many should be in the room before you'd make an even money bet
that there is a shared birthday;
- and we might think about how to generalize this to other bets you
could make!
- Now, while you're thinking about those questions, let's get to that card
trick that I mentioned awhile ago. It's all about your favorite kind of ice
cream. I'll need a volunteer (or two)....
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:
- How does the trick work?
- Does it always work (for all flavors of ice cream)?
- What is the secret to success?