Math 15: Mathematics: An Exploration

Spring 2020

General Information

Instructor: Chris Staecker (Personal Homepage)

Email: cstaecker@fairfield.edu

Office: BNW 16

Office Hours: TF 11-12:30, W 11-1 or by appointment
Office hours on Zoom here: https://fairfield.zoom.us/j/5514910533

Class Meetings: TF 9:30-10:45, DSB 201

Final Exam: Friday May 1, 8AM

Other Stuff

Tests, Homework, class materials

1/28: Homework #1 due
Homework #1 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
2/4: Homework #2 due
Homework #2 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
2/11: Homework #3 due
Homework #3 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
2/14: Exam #1
 
2/18: Homework #4 due
Homework #4 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
2/25: Homework #5 due
Homework #5 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
2/28 Gerrymandering examples shown during class
The original "Gerrymander" from 1812
State of Maryland US Congress districts, some of the worst in the nation, intended to favor Democrats
Districts around Austin TX, intended to crack Democratic voters
Chicago district #4, a court-ordered Gerrymander intended to unify two latino neighborhoods
These last two examples are from a nice article at The Fulcrum
3/3: Homework #6 due
Homework #6 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
3/17: Homework #7 due
Homework #7 (pdf)
Submit on Gradescope
Professor's selected solutions
Week of 3/17 videos
Video: Gerrymandering dectection: Convex Hull ratio
Video: Gerrymandering detection: Isoperimetric quotient
3/24: Homework #8 due
Homework #8 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
Week of 3/24 videos
Video: Graph theory intro
3/27: Exam #2
 
3/31: Homework #9 due
Homework #9 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
Week of 3/30 videos
Video: Graph theory and Euler circuits
Video: Euler circuits and paths
4/7: Homework #10 due
Homework #10 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
Week of 4/6 videos
Fleury's Algorithm
4/14: Homework #11 due
Homework #11 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
Week of 4/13 videos
Minimum duplication circuits and Hamilton circuits
Finding Hamilton circuits
4/21: Homework #12 due
Homework #12 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
Week of 4/20 videos
The Traveling Salesman Problem: Brute force & sorted edges
The Traveling Salesman Problem: Nearest neighbor
4/28: Homework #13 due
Homework #13 (pdf)
Professor's selected solutions
5/1, 8:00AM: Exam #3
 
Course evaluation
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