Guide to My Courses (guidet.doc)                Martin Zwick                            9/25/02

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Topics:

1. Degree of mathematical content and topic specialization of courses

2. Relevance of courses to different fields

3. Course scheduling

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Table 1. Degree of mathematical content and topic specialization of courses

SP: 510/610;    ST: 511/611;    AL: 557/657;    DMM: 551/651;    GT: 552/652

I am comparing the relative mathematical content only of my own courses; I’m not quantifying how mathematical my courses are compared to courses given by other faculty.

¹Although the Discrete Multivariate Modeling course is listed as having “high” mathematical content, it is accessible to social science students who have taken courses in probability and statistics.  Calculus is not needed for DMM.  Some prior exposure to set theory is helpful but not essential.

Systems Philosophy and Systems Theory are both survey courses.  ST covers -- more mathematically -- some of the topics discussed in SP.  In SP, the emphasis is on becoming familiar with concepts and the work in the course is writing a paper.  ST, by contrast, is competence-oriented, and exams are used to evaluate knowledge gained.  (Some other topics discussed in SP are presented in greater detail and more technically in Artificial Life.)

The full length courses of DMM and Game Theory give two of the SP/ST topics, namely (1) set- and information-theoretic analyses of multivariate relations and (2) game and decision theory, more extensive treatment.  DMM and GT (and AL) can be taken without previously taking ST or SP, but this is easiest for students in mathematics, physical sciences, or engineering, or for social science students who are comfortable with quantitative methods.  Students who like to encounter concepts or be given a general orientation before tackling mathematics should consider taking SP before other courses.

In bold are courses (AL, GT, DMM) that can provide a basis for dissertation research, i.e., there are past or current dissertations by SySc students based on the subject matter of these courses.

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Table 2. Relevance of courses to different fields

By “social sciences,” I mean Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Political Science, Anthropology, Social Work, Urban Studies, etc.  I include Engineering Management or Technology Management in “business.”

²The indicated level of relevance for the different fields is an estimate based on an intuitive averaging over the contents of these fields.  For some fields, GT and AL are listed as having low relevance, but this needs to be qualified by noting that Game Theory has some relevance to certain aspects of mathematics and engineering, and that some aspects of Artificial Life are quite relevant to the social sciences.

Note that the ideas and (especially the) methods taught in DMM are relevant to, and thus potentially useful in, virtually every field.

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Table 3. Course scheduling

Currently, these courses are offered in the quarters indicated.  In bold are courses which are likely to continue to be offered in the quarters indicated.  Courses not in bold might be given in different quarters in the future.