Math 200, Spring 2009
Techniques of Proof
2 MWF, CNS E108
Professor: Lawrence Stout
Office: C209C CNS
Office Hours: M 9-12 W 9-11
Phone: 556-3038
e-mail: lstoutiwu.edu
Web: http://www.iwu.edu/∼lstout
Required Texts: Leslie Lamport
The L
A
T
E
X User’s Guide and Reference Manual
2nd Edition
Course Description
This is a course on how to write mathematical proofs. Since most 300
level math courses and all 400 level ones use a lot of proof and expect you
to be able to find and write proofs it serves as one of the keystones of our
curriculum. What you will do in this course is search for proofs (both alone
in your homework and with your peers in class), critique proposed proofs to
see if they are correct, write the proofs you have found, rewrite what you
have written so that it is clear and expressed in (what passes in mathematics
for) flowing English. In addition you will learn how to typeset your work in
L
A
T
EX, the mark-up language used for producing mathematical text. All of
your grade in this course will be earned by finding and writing proofs.
This course is writing intensive, not just because you need a writing
intensive course in the major to graduate, but also because the process of
finding a proof and the process of writing it down coherently are best learned
by doing, not watching. We come to know mathematics through a many
staged process: first we explore examples; then make conjectures, look for
counterexamples, and if none are found search for a proof; eventually we
see the idea of a proof; then we fill in all of the details to be certain of the
result, often finding flaws which we need to correct; then we write the proof
so that the idea of the proof is clear, there are enough details given so that
the certainty of the result is not in doubt, and the argument flows. You will
1
