Mathematics for Cross-Disciplinarity II

“There's a secret world out there. A hidden parallel universe of beauty and elegance, intricately intertwined with ours. It's the world of mathematics. And it's invisible to most of us.”

– Edward Frenkel; ‘Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality’

This course is a hands-on and playful introduction to quantitative reasoning that invites students to step into a creative space of relational thinking. It is light on formalities and formulas, but rather heavy on conceptual ideas that power major scientific processes like vaccine random control trials, climate assessment models, and measures of risk and uncertainty. In this course, students should not expect to learn how to do mathematics – but rather why to do mathematics. Along the way several ‘big ideas’ that are helpful for coming to terms with later courses in the ‘science and technology’ and ‘economy and politics’ tracks are seeded.

Assessment by active participation; kindly note that attendance over 80% is strictly required

1)This course follows on from the Mathematics for Cross-Disciplinarity which was held in WS2023-24. However, it is possible to join the course without having taken the first section.

2)Students from other study programs or other universities are welcome, provided the room capacity permits.