Course Text: Lang & Murrow GEOMETRY
A High School Course
Required Equipment:
Graph Paper for Assignments
Notebook for Journal and Notes
Ruler
Compass
Protractor
Pencils, Eraser, Colored Pencils etc
Laptop with Geometer's Sketchpad© installed
The course covers basic Euclidean
Geometry, Logic, Formal and Informal Proofs, Non-Euclidean Geometries and Modern
application of Geometry including
Coordinate Geometry, Vectors and Transformations, Networks and the geometry of
the complex plane.
In this course we aim to teach you several
important things:
1. Useful and Interesting Geometric Theorems and
Properties, some of which you will already be familiar with and most of which
are essential background knowledge for future mathematical study.
2. The use of a deductive system in Mathematics. You may
not have thought much before about the nature of Mathematical Truth, but in
this course we will be asking you to do just that. We expect that you will be
able to produce thorough, well reasoned and elegant proofs by the end of the
year.
Also, in this course we will also emphasize
problem solving and mathematical reporting and will strive to establish unity
among some seemingly separate ideas. This class will provide a lot of
opportunity for you to demonstrate mathematical
creativity. This involves asking original questions and following up in
intelligent ways.
Fairly
early on in the course we will introduce you to the use of Geometer’s SketchPad©
and to several Internet sites which you may find interesting and useful. We
encourage you to use this software in creating clear diagrams. The constructions
used are however inherently different from the traditional Ruler Compass Constructions
which have merit in their own right for different reasons. We will be doing
some of these. As we will see, Sketchpad is also a fantastic tool for generating
conjectures.
Student
Responsibilities:
This course will require you to do
substantial reading outside of class. You are expected to prepare for class
meetings and to bring questions to class. You will help yourself and others if
you are actively involved in getting your questions answered!
Homework
You will have daily assignments. It is
expected that all assignments will be completed and turned in at the next
meeting or on the due date that is given. Homework is designed to help you
learn the necessary ideas and techniques, it is the
most important part of the course. Homework will be collected and assigned
points. Some assignments will be checked for completeness and others will be
carefully graded providing you with feedback. We expect to discuss the more
difficult questions in our class meetings.
Assessments
The
majority of your course grades are based on your performance on in-class tests
and quizzes. These will always be announced in advance.
In-class work
In addition to quizzes, tests
and homework there will also be work covered in class during long periods.
Handouts and/or Web based curriculum will be provided for material not covered
in the text. This becomes more common during the second semester.
Projects
During the course of the year you will also
have two projects to do on applications, uses and history of Geometry. Studying
Geometry affords us a rich opportunity to look at the History and Culture of
Mathematics. It is one of the most ancient branches of the discipline.
Grade Distribution and Homework
policies are based on the Lakeside Math Department guidelines.