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Apr 28, 2024
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MATH 001 PZ - Mathematics, Philosophy and the Real World
CrsNo MATH001 PZ
Instructor(s): J. Grabiner; G. Karaali
Throughout history, mathematics has changed the way people look at the world. This course will focus on two examples: Euclidean geometry (which suggested to philosophers that certainty was achievable through human thought) and probability and statistics (which gave scientists a way of dealing with events that did not seem to follow any laws but those of chance). Readings and problems will be taken from three types of sources: (1) Euclid’s Elements of Geometry; (2) modern elementary works on probability and its applications to the study of society and to gambling; (3) the writings of philosophers whose views were strongly influenced by mathematics, such as: Plato, Aristotle, Pascal, Spinoza, Kant, Laplace, Helmholtz, and Thomas Jefferson. Prerequisite: high school algebra and geometry. Prerequisite: high-school algebra and geometry. Offered jointly by Pitzer and Pomona colleges
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