MATH 4L03 Project:
- Each student in the class will be expected to submit an essay on some
topic related to the course material. The essay should not be a
technical document that merely produces the proof of some theorem.
Ideally, it will deal with some aspect of mathematical logic not covered
in the lectures or it will explore the connection between some of the
material covered in the course with some other branch of mathematics,
computer science, philosophy, psychology, history, etc, or with popular
culture. The essay could be historical in nature, for example,
covering the motivation and/or circumstances leading up to the
development of first order logic.
- The course textbook may provide some ideas for topics, but you might
be better off looking through other sources. See below for a few
suggestions. Dr. Valeriote may also be able to provide assistance
with this.
- Unless a compelling reason is given, you will not be allowed to choose
a topic that has already been selected by some other student in the
class.
- You are not allowed to collaborate with other students on this
project; it is not a group project.
- You may not use any generative Artificial Intelligence system, such as
ChatGPT, to assist you in preparing or writing your essay.
- Once you have settled on a topic, please send it in an email to Dr.
Valeriote. He might be able to suggest some books and articles to
consult for your proposed project.
- Not counting the bibliography, the essay should contain approximately
700 words.
- All sources used in your essay should be properly referenced and you
should reference at least two separate, published sources.
- Essays should be submitted in a pdf format.
- This project is worth 10% of your final grade in this course.
Deadlines:
- Thursday, November 14: send essay topic in an email to Dr. Valeriote
- Thursday, December 5:
submit an electronic copy of your essay to the dropbox set up on the
course's Avenue to Learn site, by 11:59pm. Late submissions will
not be accepted.
Some Possible Project Topics:
The following is a list of topics that
could be suitable for this project. When available, a link
to an entry for a given topic in the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, or a link to the Wikipedia entry, is provided.
Please ask Dr. Valeriote for other sources once you have
selected your topic. You may select some topic that is not
on this list. If so, please check with Dr. Valeriote
before spending too much time researching it. You might
find some suitable topics by browsing the entries in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/index.html)
or in the Handbook of Mathematical Logic (https://mcmaster.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OCUL_MU/deno1h/alma991025522249707371) or in the Oxford Handbook of
Philosophy of mathematics and logic (https://mcmaster.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OCUL_MU/deno1h/alma991033009590607371).