Teaching, Training, and Advising for the Harvard Mathematics Department. Oh, and some computer stuff.
I have left Harvard as of July 1, 2008 to take a position at
NYU.
This website has been cached and left static. Feel free to browse
my new website,
aka "What the heck is a Clinical Associate Professor?"
Well, it’s finally here: the first class day of the academic year. Back on Cinco de Mayo when we celebrated the end of classes Tom said, “Can you believe we won’t have to teach for another fourmonths?” Thin air.
I have one class which meets this week. The intro meeting for Math 1a (Calculus I) is tomorrow morning, and those sections start next Monday.
Here’s my intro talk from Math 20:
I thought about the lessons that Merlin Mann wrote about presentations last week. So unlike previous intro talks I’ve given, the slides seem pretty incomplete (the syllabus, handed out on paper as they walk in, has all the nitty-gritty on it). You’re not able to page through the slides and get a full picture of what I said. And I came to that concept, along with Merlin’s example, with the following rhetorical question:
If the slideshow tells the whole story, what do you add by standing in front of it?
So I took all my bullet points and moved them into the notes section, and printed that out to make sure I hit them in class (then forgot to bring them, but luckliy I internalized them by this process). I replaced them with one, maybe two words, and a big picture (shout-out to sxc.hu for royalty-free stock photos). The result was a much more impressive-looking slideshow, even if devoid of facts.
Before
After
Also, I started using Keynote instead of PowerPoint. Starting from zero, after about four hours of working, I realized I was almost as good at Keynote as I was at PowerPoint, even though I’ve usd that program for years. That’s pretty amazing. And even factoring out my re-thinking of the content, I think Keynote just “pops” more then PPT.
As I’ve been saying, September is the cruelest month. Most of the preparation is done, though, and we finally reached the first day of the 2005 Fall term. I had the opening meetings for Math 1b and Math 20, distributed syllabi, and did the meet-and-greet. Though it takes a few weeks to build up my teaching stamina, I’m still looking forward to an exciting semester.
If you are interested in taking one of these courses and missed the first day, please go to the course web sites and download the relevant information. If you have other questions, come and see me or e-mail me.
Finally the Math 20syllabus and calendar are online. I’m looking forward to teaching this course this year.
In previous years, the course focused on a lot of linear algebra and some multivariable calculus. We’ve decided to shift this balance the other direction, and talk more about calculus than linear algebra. This is intended to help those taking Math 20 as prerequisite for Ec 1011a.
We will still have time enough to do some fun applications, including linear programming and game theory. And no daily problem sets this term!
My answer is as complicated as the question is simple: it depends.
First of all, Math 20 squeezes as much as we can of 21a and 21b into a semester while keeping it relevant to the social sciences. It will definitely give you the mathematics you need for Economics 1011a. This might be a good route to take if you want to take just one more math course.
To me the choice is between 20 and both 21a and 21b. These two will give you a solid foundation to do undergraduate work in any of the sciences, including economics. They also serve as good background for the more abstract courses such as Math 110 or Math 112. You may be interested in these courses if you are thinking about graduate work in economics. Acquaintance with the basic courses will help you in the advanced ones simply by exposure. When we think abstractly, it’s nice to have the concrete to fall back on.
Any freshman trying to decide on a second-year mathematics course should attend the “Shall I take Math 23,25,55, or 101?” meeting and discussion on Thursday, September 15th at 4:00-5:30 pm in Science Center D.
