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stoutfellowNext semester, I am scheduled to teach Math 437, on differential geometry. It's one of my favorite classes to teach, second only to Math 400 (history of modern math). Unfortunately, a 400-level (senior) class requires a minimum of ten students to avoid being cancelled. I've been watching the enrollment, which has been hovering in the mid-single digits. One of the enrollees is making a second try, after the class was cancelled last year. Two more are graduate students, hoping to finish next semester; they would be delayed another year if it were cancelled.
Monday evening, I was discussing the situation with the latter two. One of them asked if the class could somehow be converted into a 500-level (graduate) class, for which the minimum would be five students. This struck me as a real possibility. Tuesday morning, I broached the idea to the Chair. He was amenable, and said that he would consult with the Assistant Chair, who handles scheduling, and then take it to the Dean for approval. Yesterday afternoon, he gave me the word: the Dean agreed, and the paperwork is in motion.
I love that class. The two highlights are the Isoperimetric Inequality (of all curves of a given length, the circle encloses the largest area) and the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, to my mind one of the two most beautiful theorems in mathematics (alongside the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity, also first proved by Gauss). After seeing it cancelled last year, I was dreading losing it again this go-round. But - no!
Monday evening, I was discussing the situation with the latter two. One of them asked if the class could somehow be converted into a 500-level (graduate) class, for which the minimum would be five students. This struck me as a real possibility. Tuesday morning, I broached the idea to the Chair. He was amenable, and said that he would consult with the Assistant Chair, who handles scheduling, and then take it to the Dean for approval. Yesterday afternoon, he gave me the word: the Dean agreed, and the paperwork is in motion.
I love that class. The two highlights are the Isoperimetric Inequality (of all curves of a given length, the circle encloses the largest area) and the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, to my mind one of the two most beautiful theorems in mathematics (alongside the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity, also first proved by Gauss). After seeing it cancelled last year, I was dreading losing it again this go-round. But - no!
