Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Emilie Du Chatelet Activity, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide students with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to work of Émilie du Châtelet. The activity has the students use some algebra to look at rates of change (velocity and acceleration) of a paraboloid apparatus. It could also be used in other courses, such as history of math, high school or college algebra, and calculus.

Ada Byron Lovelace Activity, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide students with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to the work of Lady Ada Byron Lovelace. The activity is based on her work related to the Difference Engine of Charles Babbage, and has students investigate differences of sequences. The activity could also be used in other courses, such as a general education mathematics course, a course for pre-service elementary teachers, or a history of mathematics course.

Maria Agnesi Activity, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide students with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to the work of Maria Agnesi. The activity has the students look at some of her work in algebra and calculus (optional). It could also be used in other courses, such as history of math, a general education mathematics course, high school or college algebra, and calculus.

Maryam Mirzakhani Riemann Surface Activity, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide students (who may not yet have taken much upper level mathematics) with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to the work of Maryam Mirzakhani. In this activity, students investigate some Riemann surfaces and one non-example. The activity could also be used in other courses, such as a general education mathematics course, a course for pre-service elementary teachers, or a history of mathematics course.

Ingrid Daubechies Wavelet Activity (Function Transformations), Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide the students with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to the work of Ingrid Daubechies on wavelets. The activity could also be used in a high school algebra or college algebra course to motivate transformations of functions, in particular, translation (shifting) and scaling. The functions used are a basic quadratic x², the exponential function e^x , and the sine function, but other functions could be used to fit the level of the students.

Sophie Germain Activity, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide students, who may not have had an abstract algebra class, with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to the work of Sophie Germain on Fermat’s Last Theorem. The activity has the students find all primes less than 100 using the Sieve of Eratosthenes and then determine which of those are Germain primes. The activity could also be used in other courses, such as a general education mathematics course or a history of mathematics course.

Emmy Noether And Modular Arithmetic Activity, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This activity was originally created for a Women in Mathematics course to provide students, who may not have had an abstract algebra class, with a small taste of some basic mathematics connected to the work of Emmy Noether. The activity has the students perform some basic modular (clock) arithmetic and then investigate real world applications of modular arithmetic to ISBN and UPC codes. It could also be used in other courses, such as a general education mathematics course.

Oer Women In Math Course, Cynthia J. Huffman Ph.D.

Open Educational Resources - Math

This Women in Math course takes a look at 11 notable women mathematicians through readings, quizzes, discussion boards, and activities related to the mathematical contributions of the women. Several of the activities are original and can be found separately at Pittsburg State University Digital Commons (https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/ - search by author for Huffman, Cynthia).

Course URL

The OER Women in Math course can be accessed at https://pittstate.instructure.com/courses/1081791 .