Senior Thesis at CMC is often described institutionally as the capstone of one’s undergraduate education. As such, I wanted my own to accurately capture and reflect how I’ve grown as a student and mathematician these past four years. What follows is my attempt to distill lessons I learned in mathematics outside the curriculum, written for incoming undergraduates and anyone with just a little bit of mathematical curiosity. In it, I attempt to dispel some common preconceptions about mathematics, namely that it’s uninteresting, formulaic, acultural, or completely objective, in favor of a dynamic historical and cultural perspective, with particular attention paid to the early twentieth century search to secure the foundations of mathematics and a detailed look at contemporary Hungarian mathematics. After doing so, I conclude that the scope of mathematics is not what one might expect but that it’s still absolutely worth doing and appreciating.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CLAREMONT/oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cmc_theses-2655 |
| Date | 01 January 2017 |
| Creators | Boggess, Michael H |
| Publisher | Scholarship @ Claremont |
| Source Sets | Claremont Colleges |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | CMC Senior Theses |
| Rights | © 2017 Michael H. Boggess, default |
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