New Program: Master of Arts in Teaching

Course News

MA 580 History of Mathematics - Summer 2, 2010

The course will describe the origins of mathematical concepts and their evolution over time, from early number systems to recent results in the foundations of mathematics. In addition to the mathematical ideas themselves, we will consider the role of applications in their development, and connections between society and mathematics through the ages.

Text: The History of Mathematics: An Introduction (7th edition) by David M. Burton

Prerequisite: At least a year of calculus. Some background in mathematical proof-writing.

Instructor: Matthew Walsh, Ph. D.

Matthew Walsh studied at the University of Waterloo and at Auburn University, receiving his doctorate from the latter in 2002. He has published multiple research papers on diverse topics in graph theory and related subjects. He is a fellow of the Institute for Combinatorics and its Applications, and was awarded their Kirkman medal for promising young researchers in 2005.

Time and Location: The course will meet Monday through Thursday from 5:30-7:15 p.m. in IPFW Kettler Hall G49, from June 28 to August 5.

MA 521 is an introduction to optimization and its applications. The course starts with a review of some concepts from linear algebra and multivariate calculus, followed by unconstrained optimization methods, with applications to neural networks and least squares optimization. Constrained optimization is illustrated with linear programming and its nonlinear analog, convex programming.

Text: An Introduction to Optimization, 3rd edition, by Edwin K. P. Chong and Stanislaw H. Zak.

Prerequisite: A course in vector calculus or advanced calculus, and a linear algebra course. See the instructor if you have a question about your background.

Instructor: Dan Coroian, Ph. D. (coriand (at) ipfw.edu ; (260)-481-6228)

Time and location: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12-1:15 p.m. starting August 24 in Kettler 241.

In MA 540 (and 541) we examine some fundamental topics from calculus with closer attention to theory and proof. In the setting of metric spaces we study sequences and continuous functions, using the concepts of completeness, compactness, and connectedness.

Text: Introduction to Analysis, by Maxwell Rosenlicht.

Prerequisite: A grade of C or better in MA 441 (Real Analysis) or its equivalent. See the instructor if you have a question about your background.

Instructor: Cecilia Weakley, Ph. D. (weakley (at) ipfw.edu ; (260)-481-6233)

Cecilia Weakley received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has taught at IPFW since 1989. She has published papers in measure theory and functional analysis.

Time and location: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:30-5:45 p.m., starting August 24, in Kettler 247.

This course is an introduction to the mathematical theories of error-correcting codes and cryptography. Linear codes; cyclic codes; the Hamming, Golay, BCH, and Reed-Muller codes; maximum likelihood decoding. History of cryptographic techniques; symmetric key cryptography (DES, AES); public key cryptosystems and related techniques; protocols for information security.

Text: Coding Theory and Cryptography: The Essentials (2nd edition), by Hankerson et al. Material from Chapters 1-5 and 10-12 will be covered.

Prerequisite: MA 351 or equivalent with a grade of C or better. See the instructor if you have a question about your background.

Instructor: Matthew Walsh, Ph. D. (walshM (at) ipfw.edu ; (260)-481-5762)

Matthew Walsh studied at the University of Waterloo and at Auburn University, receiving his doctorate from the latter in 2002. He has published multiple research papers on diverse topics in graph theory and related subjects. He is a fellow of the Institute for Combinatorics and its Applications, and was awarded their Kirkman medal for promising young researchers in 2005.

Time and location: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6-7:15 p.m., beginning August 24 in Kettler 218.

This course is an introduction to probability as a foundation for statistics. Topics include sample spaces and random variables; joint, conditional, and marginal distributions, special discrete and continuous distributions; moment generating functions, distribution of functions of random variables; limit theorems.

Text: An Introduction to Probability and Statistical Inference, by George Roussas.

Prerequisite: Multivariable calculus. See the instructor if you have a question about your background.

Instructor: Yihao Deng, Ph. D. (dengy (at) ipfw.edu ; (260)-481-4185)

Yihao Deng joined the faculty in fall 2006, after receiving his Ph.D. in statistics from Old Dominion University. His areas of specialization include longitudinal data analysis, regression analysis, and generalized linear models. He has done consulting work on leadership and organizational change, youth violence prevention, adolescent ADHD, and other topics.

Time and location: Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:30-5:45 p.m., beginning August 23, in Kettler 216.

Topics covered include inference in simple and multiple linear regression, polynomial regression, model building with real data, nonlinear regression; one-way and two-way analysis of variance, analysis of covariance; use of existing statistical computer programs.

Text: Applied Linear Statistical Models, 5th ed., by J. Neter, M. Kutner, C. Nachtsheim, and W. Wasserman.

Prerequisite: A statistics course similar to STAT 511, 517, or 528. See the instructor if you have a question about your background.

Instructor: Yvonne Zubovic, Ph. D. (zubovic (at) ipfw.edu ; (260)-481-6037)

Yvonne Zubovic received a Ph. D. from The Ohio State University in 1988 and has taught at IPFW since 1991. In 1997, she received the Outstanding Teacher Award for IPFW. Her main research interests are in biostatistics.

Time and location: Mondays and Wednesdays, 6-7:15 p.m., beginning August 23, in Kettler 218.