Have you ever wondered if there are unseen dimensions of space? Have you tried to fathom the mysteries of infinity? Have you marveled at the intricacy of nature’s designs for trees, mountains, clouds, or your own body? Have you been awed by the power of numbers and logic?​

 

Mathematics is the study of patterns and enables you to explore questions like these. Mathematicians are not human calculators, but observers who learn to see what the untrained eye does not notice. They are thinkers who use logic to look beyond the obvious. They are questioners whose imaginations probe beneath the surface of existence to explore its hidden secrets.

 

This course will expand students’ view of mathematics—they will see it  as a dynamic, thinking-based discipline and not as a disconnected set of rules and procedures. This perspective reflects the variety of ways in which mathematicians, scientists, and others use mathematics in their work and their lives. Students will develop  foundational awareness and thinking skills that they need to imagine and pursue any number of future careers and avocations that depend on a deep understanding of mathematics. Though students will learn some advanced mathematical content- more importantly, they will learn mathematical ways of thinking that they do not typically encounter.

                                                                                                                        

Students will learn to observe and question things deeply as they solve fascinating problems about number, shape, change, dimension, and infinity. The problems they wrestle with may involve anything from everyday concerns such as managing the ecosystem in an aquarium to mind-bending tasks like using games to create a visualization of a four-dimensional doughnut. They will create and explore their own mathematical systems, and analyze complex patterns, make predictions, and debate them with others. In short, they will learn to think like mathematicians!