Math

Mathematics, whether we realize it or not, is pervasively woven throughout our lives, from cash registers to the mathematics that underlies the very workings of our universe. Many a physicist has said that "God is a mathematician of the highest order." Ergo, learning mathematics can be a fruitful endeavor.

The standard primary and secondary mathematics curriculum typically covers arithmatic, algebra, geometry, with a smattering of statistics thrown in for good measure. More advanced students may continue onto trigonometry and calculus.

The following resources may be helpful guides in planning out mathematics study plans.

Oregon State mathematics content standards
California State mathematics content standards
AP Calculus course description (PDF)

Contrary to popular belief, mathematicians don't sit around crunching numbers all day. Many mathematicians aren't even particularly good at crunching numbers by hand. The following books may be of interest to students who are interested in mathematics and want to get a taste of what mathematicians do. All are perfectly accessible to anyone who has familiarity with a bit of algebra.

Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh details the history of one of the most famous mathematical problems of all time, Fermat's Last Theorem. The statement of the theorem is easy for anyone to understand, but proving it took nearly three hundred years and some of the most complicated mathematics ever devised. The book gives a high level outline of Andrew Wiles proof and provides a brief introduction to number theory. It's a good introduction to the world of research mathematics and the concept of "proof" in the mathematical sense.

In Code by Sarah Flannery is an autobiographical account of a teenager's research into cryptography. The book puts a heavy emphasis on problem solving and covers some basic topics in number theory as they relate to cryptography. Flannery covers a wide variety of codes, from classical ciphers to modern asymmetric ciphers". For those with patience, she gives a good explanation of the workings of the RSA Algorithm (one of the more famous asymmetric ciphers) and her own code.