Instructor:  Ismar Volić

Office:  Science Center W414 

Phone:  781-283-3103

Email:  ivolic@wellesley.edu

Meeting days and times:  Mondays and Thursdays, 11:20am-12:35pm

Meeting place:  Science Center L045

Office hours:  Mondays 2:30-3:30, Thursdays 8:45-9:45 and 2-4.

Google group:  The Google group for this class is math-349-01-fa25@wellesley.edu. You should check that you have been added to this group. Otherwise please add yourself. The group will contain important information. You can also ask questions, have conversations, or arrange study groups through the group. I will be checking the messages posted to it regularly.

Textbook:  There is no official textbook for this class. I will provide selevant materials throughout the semester.

Some good books on the subjects we'll be covering (not required): 

• The Knot Book, by C. Adams.

• Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI, by A. Ananthaswamy.

• Topological Data Analysis with Applications, by G. Carrlson and M. Vejdemo-Johansson.

• Elementary Applied Topology, by R. Ghrist.

• Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by C. O'Neil.

• The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, by S. Singh.

• What's the Use?: How Mathematics Shapes Everyday Life, by I. Stewart.

• The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order, by P. Vigna and M. Casey.

• Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation, by I. Volić.