Excursions in modern mathematics

Abstract

This text started many years ago as a set of lecture notes for a new, experimental "math appreciation" course (these types of courses are described, sometimes a bit derisively, as "math for poets"). Over time, the lecture notes grew into a text and the "poets" turned out to be social scientists, political scientists, economists, psychologists, environmentalists, and many other "ists." Over time, and with the input of many users, the contents have been expanded and improved, but the underlying philosophy of the text has remained the same since those handwritten lecture notes were handed out to my first group of students. Excursions in Modern Mathematics is a travelogue into that vast and alien frontier that many people perceive mathematics to be. My goal is to show the open-minded reader that mathematics is a lively, interesting, useful, and surprisingly rich human activity