MATH 300
Foundations of Mathematics
Fall 2023
Instructor: Florent Baudier
Office: Blocker 525J
Office hours: MW 11:30 AM-12:30 PM or by appointment
Lectures:
Section 901: MWF 9:10 a.m.-10:00 a.m. BLOC 148
Section 903: MWF 10:20 a.m.-11:10 a.m. BLOC 148
Course description: Math 300 is designed to provide a bridge between computational mathematics and theoretical mathematics ("real math"). Thus a major goal is to teach the students how to write proofs. The required core of topics include logic, set theory, number theory, induction, functions, relations, operations, and combinatorics.
Textbook: Tamara J. Lakins, The Tools of Mathematical Reasoning, 1st edition, American Mathematical Society, Pure and applied undergraduate texts, The Sally Series.
Exams
Exam #1:
Section 901: Monday, September 25, 7:00-8:00 p.m. (classroom: Blocker 150).
Section 903: Monday, September 25, 7:00-8:00 p.m. (classroom: Blocker 150).
Exam #2:
Section 901: Monday, October 30, 7:00-8:00 p.m. (classroom: Blocker 150).
Section 901: Monday, October 30, 7:00-8:00 p.m. (classroom: Blocker 150).
Final exam:
Section 901: Friday, December 8, 8:00-10:00 a.m. (in the regular classroom).
Section 903: Monday, December 11, 8:00-10:00 a.m. (in the regular classroom).
Homework   Term Paper Instructions   Lecture notes  
Tentative Schedule
Date of Class Material covered
Monday 08/21 organizational laius, statements, predicates
Wednesday 08/23 basic logical connectives: conjunction, disjunction, negation, implication, contrapositive, converse, biconditional
Friday 08/25 basic logical connectives: implication, contrapositive, converse, biconditional
Monday 08/28 quantifiers: existential, universal, rules of negations, membership
Wednesday 08/30 negation of quantifiers and membership, statements and definitions involving mixed quantifiers
Friday 09/01 Quiz #1, problem session
Monday 09/04 Labor Day, no classes.
Wednesday 09/06 proof techniques: existential proofs, uniqueness proofs
Friday 09/08 Quiz #2, problem session
Monday 09/11 proof techniques: universal proofs
Wednesday 09/13 proof techniques: proof by contrapositive
Friday 09/15 Quiz #3, problem session
Monday 09/18 proof techniques: proof by contradiction
Wednesday 09/20 proof techniques: proving disjunction statements, proof by cases, working backwards
Friday 09/22 Quiz #4, problem session
Monday 10/25 review for exam #1
Exam #1 (7-8pm Blocker 150)
Wednesday 09/27 Solution of Exam #1 and additional problems
Friday 09/29 no class
Monday 10/02 Principle of Mathematical Induction
Wednesday 10/04 Principle of Strong Mathematical Induction
Friday 10/06 Quiz #5, problem session
Monday 10/09 Fall break, no classes
Wednesday 10/11 sets, subsets
Friday 10/13 Quiz #6, problem session
Monday 10/16 complement of a set
Wednesday 10/18 union and intersection of two sets
Friday 10/20 Quiz #7, arbitrary unions and intersections
Monday 10/23 problem session
Wednesday 10/25 power set, Cartesian product
Friday 10/27 Quiz #8, problem session
Monday 10/30 Review for exam #2
Exam #2 (7-8pm Blocker 150)
Wednesday 11/01 binary relations: definition, classical properties, examples
Friday 11/03 equivalence relations and partitions
Monday 11/06 functions: definition, terminology, examples
Wednesday 11/08 equality between functions and composition of functions
Friday 11/10 Quiz #9, problem session
Monday 11/13 injectivity, surjectivity
Wednesday 11/15 bijectivity and invertibility
Friday 11/17 Quiz #10 , problem session
Monday 11/20 class does not meet
Wednesday 11/22 Reading day, no classes
Friday 11/24 Thanksgiving break
Monday 11/27 direct image of a set
Wednesday 11/29 inverse image of a set
Friday 12/01 Quiz #11 , cardinality of a set
Monday 12/04 Last day of classes, problem session, review for the final
Wednesday 12/06 reading day, no classes
Thursday 12/07 Final examinations start
Friday 12/08 Final exam-Section 901 , 8-10 a.m.
Monday 12/11 Final exam-Section 903 , 8-10 a.m.