Visit a MATH/STAT class!

Select Math/Stat classes are currently available for outside guests (prospective students, parents) to visit.

MATH 406 - Number Theory and Discrete Mathematics

Professor Raymond Cheng welcomes visitors to his MATH 406 class. This course is a survey of number theory and discrete math. Topics include prime numbers, divisibility, congruences, Diophantine equations, graphs, coding, linear programming and Pythagorean triples.

We'll show that:

• 1 + 3 + 5 + ... + (2n-1) = n² for any positive integer n

• If a whole number has units digit 2, 3, 7 or 8, then it cannot be a square

• Eight "perfect shuffles" of a 52-card deck will restore the initial order of the cards

We'll see how a method of encryption can be built from the practical unsolvability of the following type of problem:

"53ⁿ divided by 71 leaves remainder 47. Find n."