This course is intended for students who do not plan to major in programs that require calculus courses. The aim of this course is to expose students to the utility and beauty of mathematics, and strengthen their quantitative and analytical skills. The material is organized as a series of independent modules exploring various topics in modern mathematics, its real-world applications, and directions of current research. Topics of the modules are selected at the discretion of the course instructor. This course fulfills the Math and Quantitative Reasoning requirement of the UB Curriculum.
Allows transfer students to efficiently learn specific topics from UB calculus courses that were not covered in calculus courses they took at other institutions.
Analytic solutions, qualitative behavior of solutions to differential equations. First-order and higher-order ordinary differential equations, including nonlinear equations. Covers analytic, geometric, and numerical perspectives as well as an interplay between methods and model problems. Discusses necessary matrix theory and explores differential equation models of phenomena from various disciplines. Uses a mathematical software system designed to aid in the numerical and qualitative study of solutions, and in the geometric interpretation of solutions. This course is a controlled enrollment (impacted) course. Students who have previously attempted the course and received a grade other than W may repeat the course in the summer or winter; or only in the fall or spring semester with a petition to the College of Arts and Sciences Deans' Office.
Continuation of MTH 429. Irrational numbers; continued fractions from a geometric viewpoint; best rational approximations to real numbers; the Fermat-Pell equation; quadratic fields and integers. Applications to diophantine equations.
Introduces the mathematical theory of games--a systematic approach to modeling conflict, competition, cooperation, and negotiation--with applications to mathematics, economics, politics and evolutionary biology. A game, in mathematical terms, consists of a starting point and various choices made by 'players.' Each choice might lead to new choices or to an outcome that ends the game. Some choices might be random; some might be made without full information about what has transpired. The players are each trying to maximize their own payoff, but the play of each might influence the results of the others. The approaches Game Theory uses to analyze conflict between two or more people lead to results that can seem paradoxical as well as illuminating. The most important thing a student can take from this course is a useful way of approaching decisions, from the trivial-- how does a couple decide which movie to see--to the critical--how should countries pursue their goals in cooperation or conflict with their allies and enemies. Partial list of topics: Prisoner's Dilemma, game trees, pure and mixed strategies, backward induction, normal form, Nash equilibrium, chance moves, utility functions, domination, convexity, payoff regions, strictly competitive games, separating hyperplanes, repeating games, and cooperative bargaining theory.
Treats problems, methods, and recent developments in any area of mathematics that does not fit nearly or fully under the title of any other "Topics in..." course.