Mathematical Reasoning

Summer Institute for Mathematics at the University of Washington 2008
Monty McGovern

An important part of what mathematicians do, in contrast to scientists or engineers, is prove theorems. We will explore the nuts and bolts of constructing mathematical proofs, focussing on the logical structure of and basic techniques used in such proofs. Students will get plenty of hands-on experience trying out these techniques in a wide variety of settings. This course is based on one of our courses at the UW that we introduced eight years ago.