Discrete Math - Day 61

Today was the start of the review process for the final exam. To start things off, I showed a portion of an episode from the BBC's The Story of Maths series. This particular segment focused on the mathematics that was developed in China. Of course, it ended with a discussion of the Chinese remainder theorem and its use in modern cryptography.

I like to show videos like this because it shows where the math we learn in school comes from. It also shows how studying and exploring a topic that seems to have no relevance in our daily lives today may, in fact, turn out to be an important linchpin to future generations. The Chinese remainder theorem was first explored over 2,000 years ago but is critical to our digital age.

Next, I asked each student to write down what they felt were the five big ideas for the second half of the semester. I gave the class a few minutes to get their thoughts down and then we shared out as a class. I wrote down the topics as they were brought up and tried to write topics that were related near each other.

This generated some discussion about meanings of some terms and connections. It also spurred students to think about additional topics that had not been listed yet. As we looked over the list, students remarked at how much was covered. I agreed that we covered a lot of material in one semester.

Next, I asked each student to write a question that could appear on the final exam. I did this so that we could have review problems to use tomorrow and to try and incorporate some of the questions into the final exam.

With about five minutes remaining, I asked the class about the last graph that was given to them and whether or not an Euler path or circuit existed. Students readily responded that there was an Euler path but not an Euler circuit since the graph contained two odd vertices, one of degree 5 and one of degree 7.

With that, I asked students to briefly go through their notes and prioritize what they would like to focus on next class as far as topics and problems to review in depth.

Visit the class summary for a student's perspective and to view the lesson slide.