matthias beck

MATH 729 Communicating Mathematics Spring 2019 Time MW 5:00-6:15 Room TH 210 Instructor Dr. Matthias Beck Office Thornton Hall 933 Office hours Mondays 3-4, Wednesdays 1-2, and by appointment

Course objectives. Communicating research-level mathematics/mathematics education in both written and oral form is a skill that enhances a mathematician's career greatly. MATH 729 is designed to help graduate students to develop this skill through practice. The objectives of MATH 729 include:

• preparing students to write research articles and theses where they report their mathematical/educational findings,
• helping the students design oral presentations and a poster on their research, which will be used in campus- and CSU-wide student research competitions,
• supporting the students to compose a research grant application, such as an NSF graduate fellowship grant application.

Good mathematics/mathematics education requires good writing, and writing is difficult. In this course, you will get a lot of practice writing.

Textbooks. There is no official text book for MATH 729, though there are many good resources which you should use, e.g.:

• Donald E. Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, and Paul M. Roberts, Mathematical Writing, Mathematical Association of America, 1989 (see also the lecture notes from the course this book is based on).
• Nicholas J. Higham, Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences, SIAM 1998.
• Steven G. Krantz, A Primer of Mathematical Writing, American Mathematical Society, 1996.
• SIAM Style Manual
• William Strunk, E. B. White, The Elements of Style, Longman, 1999.
• Joseph M. Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Longman, 1996.

Assignments. Every student in the course will complete the following five main assignments:

• Oral presentation
• Poster presentation
• Grant proposal
• Expository paper
• Substantial edits of a Wikipedia page

Regarding the last two assignments, every student will produce first drafts of both an expository paper and a Wikipedia page and then decide which one they will continue to work on for the remainder of the semester. Students will also peer review each others' writing. The writing assignments can be submitted either as a printout in class or as a pdf file emailed before class. The iLearn site for Math 729 contains a few TeX templates and tricks.

Here is a tentative schedule for the assignments:

• Feb 4: Math autobiography
• Feb 18: First draft of expository paper
• Mar 4: First draft of Wikipedia entry
• Mar 18: First draft of poster
• Apr 8: Poster
• Apr 22: Second draft of expository paper/Wikipedia entry
• May 6: Grant proposal
• May 20: Expository paper/Wikipedia entry

We will schedule the oral presentations throughout the semester. An abstract of your talk will be due a week before your presentation.

Grading system.

Oral presentation	15%
Poster	15%
Grant proposal	15%
Peer reviews	15%
Expository paper/Wikipedia page	25%
Wikipedia page/Expository paper (1st draft)	15%

I want to ensure that each of you accomplishes the goals of this course as comfortably and successfully as possible. At any time you feel overwhelmed or lost, please come and talk with me.

Fine print.
SFSU academic calender
BS rule
Academic integrity and plagiarism
Tutoring
CR/NCR grading
Incomplete grades
Late and retroactive withdrawals
Student disclosures of sexual violence
Students with disabilities
Religious holidays

This syllabus is subject to change. All assignments, as well as other announcements on tests, policies, etc., are given in class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what's going on. I will try to keep this course web page as updated as possible, however, the most recent information will always be given in class. Always ask lots of questions in class; my courses are interactive. You are always encouraged to see me in my office.