2008-02-03 13:52MATH 880 PROSEMINAR JT SMITHOUTLINE 4 SPRING 20081. Assignment. After a brief class discussion it was decided to look at Tarski 1955 nexttime. So, glance through it and ask the same questions that were raised aboutSmith 2002.2. Further discussion of Smith 2002, with attention to these questions:a. What methods are used?b. What would you have to study to be able to understand them?c. Are there extensions of this material?d. Does this material have interesting connections to other subjects?e. Are there references to supporting documents?3. I preached a bit about references.a. The purpose of references is not to tell somebody what you read. The purposeis to show readersi. how to find the information on which your writing is based, orii. how to find related material.b. I feel that if (ii) is important at all, it is important enough to be discussed inyour main text. Thus (ii) can be eliminated.c. There’s no point in giving incomplete references: they don’t help the reader.They, and incorrect references, actually hinder the reader.d. Complete references are often complicated, hence very susceptible to error.To minimize errors, a complete reference should be given only once, so thatyou only have to correct your errors once.e. Most publishers have fairly explicit rules about references. Birkhäuser agreedwith me about a system I developed for Marchisotto and Smith 2007, basedon recommendations in Chicago 1993. I’m following that for the bibliogra-phies of this course and Math 800. The latter is much larger.f. Most writings refer to many references more than once. One way to handlethat is with the old op. cit., loc. cit., and ibid. conventions. But they’re mad-dening: no reader wants to flip through pages to find the original citation.g. My scheme, which I urge you to follow, consists in the following:i. A references or bibliography section at the end of your writing, withcomplete citations of everything used in your work.ii. Within your text, citations like Smith 2002, page 614, that point to abibliographic item and provide information special to the current con-text. These citations can be(1) in the text itself, or(2) in footnotes, or(3) in endnotes, after each chapter or at the end of your work.iii. I dislike endnotes (3) because I have to keep my place in two parts of thework at once. I use either (1) and (2), depending on the length of thecitation. Some publishers forbid footnotes because they’re hard totypeset.Page 2 MATH 880 SPRING 2008 OUTLINE 42008-02-03 13:52h. You will probably encounter questions on how to cite various kinds of sources.Almost all such questions can be sorted out by realizing that one source oftencontains another: for example a book, say Source 1984, consisting of papersby various authors. The bibliography should contain one entry for the book,and one for each paper in it that you actually use. The latter entries give thedata about the individual papers, including that they are in Source 1984, pagesabc–xyz.i. A huge variety of such questions occurred during compilation of the Marchi-sotto and Smith 2007 bibliography. Look there for models. (When you needa password, use ***.)j. Here’s a tip to use immediately as you start reading stuff for a possible paper.When you take notes on something or xerox it, by all means xerox the titlepage(s) of the book or journal it came from, maybe even the table of contents.Keep that with your notes or copy. It only takes a few seconds and a dime todo that, but finding that information again during your writing phase can takehours or even days, if the item is no longer accessible in the library.4. Social Organization of Mathematics. Is it worthwhile to discuss this in an organizedway? Maybe you’ve long wondered never felt up to asking. Here’s an opportunity!a. In class it became apparent that you are not at all familiar with the organiza-tions that are loci of everyday activity for faculty.b. My impression is that the situation is quite different in other disciplines. Atleast, my wife, who earned a master’s degree in international relations herearound 1968, was expected, as a senior then as a graduate student, to befamiliar with such things in her area.c. Major mathematical societies in the US. These all have big websites. Checkthem out!i. An organization of organizations: Conference Board of the MathematicalSciences (CBMS). Small. Takes care of some common interests.ii. American Mathematical Society (AMS). Big. I’m a member, as areseveral colleagues. Research-oriented, publishes many journals andbooks, organizes national and regional research meetings, attempts toexert public and legislative influence, runs the annual meat market. ThePacific Section meeting was at SFSU two years ago.iii. Mathematical Association of America (MAA). I’m a member, as areseveral colleagues. I was once a regional officer and continue organiza-tional work. Less research-, more teaching-oriented, publishes severaljournals and many books, cooperates with AMS on national meetings andorganizes its own regional meetings, attempts to exert public influence.The Northern California Section meeting will be held at CSU Sacra-mento on 1 March.iv. I don’t know much about the remaining societies, but they all do someof the same things.v. American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC).vi. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).MATH 880 SPRING 2008 OUTLINE 4 Page 32008-02-03 13:52vii. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). I used to be a member.viii. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). At least onefaculty member belongs.ix. Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL). I used to belong.x. American Statistical Association (ASA). At least one faculty memberbelongs.d. To be continued next