Autumn 1999
Math 130: Arithmetical Problem Solving

Instructor: Frank Sottile
    Office: Van Vleck 413
Telephone: 262 - 3545 		  email: sottile@math.wisc.edu
WWW: http://www.math.wisc.edu/~sottile
Office Hours: Tuesdays 15:30 - 16:30,   Wednesdays 14:30 - 15:20,   and by appointment.
Lectures: TuTh 13:00--14:15, 115 Ingraham
Final Exam: Monday, 20 December 17:05 Ingraham 16
Text: Course notes available at Bob's Copy Shop on Johnson Street.
Home Page: A current version of this document is found at
                http://www.math.wisc.edu/~sottile/courses/130.html
Overview
Course Particulars     Mid-term exam held on 26 October 1999. Average = 85, Median = 86
                                      I will drop the write up with the lowest score.
Course Schedule
Homeworks         Tips for Write-ups
16 September: Poison write up due.       Comments on Poison
28 September: Hippos write up due.
5 October: Squares & Paths write up due.
14 October: Clock Arithmetic write up due.
2 November: Addition and Subtraction with regrouping write up due.
11 November: A Multiplication Problem write up due.
30 November: NCTM Standaards write up due.
10 December: A Stamp Problem write up due.

Overview

This course is the first in a sequence of three designed to help you develop your intuitive reasoning and problem-solving skills. We will spend most of our time in class working in small groups on various problems, usually from the course packet. The problems are designed to be both interesting and non-trivial, so you should be prepared to spend some serious time on them (in class, for the most part). You will almost certainly get stuck on a problem at some point in the semester, but don't get discouraged - if you persevere, you will get through! We will usually discuss the problems in a large group after most of the groups have finished them. Sometimes you will be asked to write up your ideas and solutions, but always you are expected to think about the problems, participate in solving them, a communicate your ideas with others. Communicating your ideas to others is a important as developing them in the first place.

Note that this is a math content course, and not a pedagogy course. We hope this this course will make you a better teacher, more by setting an example than by teaching math methods.

Course Particulars

Your grade for the course will be determined by two exams; a midterm (20%) and a final (30%), by written work you submit during the term (40%), and by atendance and class participation (10%).

I will drop the write up with the lowest score when I compute the 40%.

Exams:
Ourt Mid term was on 26 October 1999. The average was 85 and the median was 86. Our final exam is scheduled for Final Exam: Monday, 20 December 17:05 Ingraham 16



Last modified: 2 December 1999 by Frank Sottile