Due September 7, 1999

Some Preliminaries

1. Please be sure you have a calculator that does at least arithmetic (+, , × , ÷ ) and powers. We will use calculators regularly both in class and for assignments.

2. Included with your course outline is a diagnostic test that gives you an idea of skills that you should have going into the course. This test is for your own use. I recommend taking it, grading it, and asking me for help if you have deficiencies. It is not an entrance exam for the course!

3. PLEASE activate your email account. It is easy to do and I can give you instructions or help you. You need your student ID number and PIN number to do this. Then use your email account!

4. PLEASE learn how to access the World Wide Web and then visit the course home page (along with 10 million even more interesting sites). Once again, I can help.

Reading

1. Please read the Prologue of the book.

2. Please read Units 2A, 2B, 2C of the book. Unit 2D is related, interesting, but optional. Actually Unit 2E, dealing with causality, is also important, particularly if you are philosophically inclined. But we will have to skip it.

3. As you will see, there are many problems at the end of each chapter of this book. It would be impossible to assign or do all of the problems. Nevertheless, there are many important and interesting topics presented in the problems. It would be a good idea to skim the problems at the end of each unit and at least look at the problem titles.

Problems

The following list of problems is minimal. This means that you should not hesitate to do additional problems, particularly if you don't fully understand a topic . You will master the course material only by doing plenty of problems. I am available in office hours or by email for help! Answers (not solutions) to odd-number problems are in the back of the book.

Please write up solutions to the following problems.

• Preface: 2
• Unit 2A: 6, 10, 18, 24
• Unit 2B: 2, 8, 19
  

Guidelines for Solutions

• Either write your solutions very neatly or use a word processor. You can also use a word processor for text and write the mathematics by hand.
• When explanation is required, please write in good English! This means you must use complete sentences, good grammar and correct spelling.
• Answers alone will not suffice! You must show complete solutions to problems. When you do a problem, it must be presented neatly and sequentially, showing how you got from one step to the next.
• The general guideline is that your solutions should be useful and understandable to you if you were to read them five years from now (and hopefully you will)! If this is true, they will be understandable to me today.
  

Just For Fun: Read and Think Carefully Problems (not collected or graded)

a. Anna has six apples and eats all but four of them. How many apples are left?
b. If there are 12 one-cent stamps in a dozen, how many two-cent stamps are there in a dozen?
c. If two peacocks lay two eggs in two days, how many eggs can one peacock lay in one day?
d. There are five apples in a basket. How can you divide them among five girls so that each girl gets and apple but one apple remains in the basket?
e. How many marbles can you put in an empty bag.
f. Do you know how long cows should be milked?
g. In what month do Americans eat the least?
h. The butcher is six foot, four inches tall and wears size 14 shoes. What does he weigh?
j. How long will a seven-day grandfather clock run without winding?
k. What is the best way to get down from a camel?
l. If Mr. Jones rooster laid an egg in Mr. Gomez' yard, who owns the egg?
m. Is it legal to marry your widow's sister?
n. You have two bills in your pocket that total $21 and one of them is not a $1 bill. How is this possible?
o. A rope ladder hanging over the side of a boat has rungs one foot apart. Ten rungs are showing. If the tide rises five feet, how many rungs will be showing?