Splash 2017
Course Catalog
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Visual and Performing Arts
A11853: Yoga Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jennifer Wang
Feeling kind of stiff? Come stretch out your limbs and find some inner peace while you're at it!
A11615: How to Read Sheet Music
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Victoria Provost
We will go through the basics of music theory, such as notes on a staff, dynamic markings, rhythms, and chord progressions. Absolutely no experience necessary!
A11564: Lighting Design Workshop - Beginner
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jakob Weisblat
Come learn a little bit about lighting design for the theater. We'll hang a few lighting instruments from the ceiling, play with controlling them a bit, and design lights for a short play.
Prerequisites
This class is not intended for someone with any lighting experience; general theater or theater tech experience is welcome.
Prerequisites
This class is not intended for someone with any lighting experience; general theater or theater tech experience is welcome.
A11852: The Life of Lines Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Iris Giannakopoulou Karamouzi
How do you tell a story with lines? Would you use a single or a thousand? In this class, we will think about how to draw with lines and how we can use them to convey stories.
A11725: Digital Things
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Gideon Schwartzman,
Christopher Weaver
Ever wondered how to make things using digital tools? If so, this is definitely the class for you!
We will provide an introduction to the exciting world of digital representation, introducing techniques of 3D modeling and rendering. This course will be great for anyone interested in architecture, animation, and digital design.
No experience necessary!
We will provide an introduction to the exciting world of digital representation, introducing techniques of 3D modeling and rendering. This course will be great for anyone interested in architecture, animation, and digital design.
No experience necessary!
A11625: Design School Confidential: What the First Year of Art and Design School is REALLY Like
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Steven Faerm
Thinking of applying to art/design school? Wondering about the differences between your high school- and college-level art/design courses? Looking for ways to prepare for a successful transition and have an amazing art/design school experience?
The goal of this informal presentation and discussion is to de-mystify the first year experience of art/design school. The presenter, an Associate Professor at Parsons School of Design, recently completed a year-long research study that examined students’ transition from high school to design school. He will present his findings so that you can learn what college seniors and recent graduates said about their first-year experiences. What was it like? How could it have been easier and better?
Following this brief overview, an informal conversation will allow you to ask your own questions and receive advice about the art/design school application process, portfolio development, coursework, future careers, and so much more. All students are welcome, and you are asked to bring any/all questions!
The goal of this informal presentation and discussion is to de-mystify the first year experience of art/design school. The presenter, an Associate Professor at Parsons School of Design, recently completed a year-long research study that examined students’ transition from high school to design school. He will present his findings so that you can learn what college seniors and recent graduates said about their first-year experiences. What was it like? How could it have been easier and better?
Following this brief overview, an informal conversation will allow you to ask your own questions and receive advice about the art/design school application process, portfolio development, coursework, future careers, and so much more. All students are welcome, and you are asked to bring any/all questions!
A11899: Making Art Without Materials: Art as Philosophy
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Nova Reilly
In this class, we'll discuss possible ways to conceptualize and think about "Art" as something greater than drawing and painting. We'll talk about how to use art to start discussion and present philosophical ideas. We'll also delve deeper into a modest intro to Performance Art, Audience Participation, and Relational Aesthetics- Can interacting with your friends be considered "Art"? Let's try it out!
If you like trying on new ideas for size, come join in! No drawing or painting ability required- just an open mind and a willingness to stretch it a bit further as we try to define the undefinable; "Art."
If you like trying on new ideas for size, come join in! No drawing or painting ability required- just an open mind and a willingness to stretch it a bit further as we try to define the undefinable; "Art."
A11898: Abstract Art Appreciation & Compositional Games
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Nova Reilly
Come learn the ins and outs of Abstract Expressionism, its importance, why it's AWESOME, and make some of your own!
Make some abstract art on your own, collaborate with other students, and brush up on your intuitive compositional skill while playing abstract art compositional games.
Much like figure drawing and representational drawing ability, the ability to invoke emotions, use colour and form, and construct vibrant, active compositions are all important principles to learn and practice to enhance your artistic skill.
Make some abstract art on your own, collaborate with other students, and brush up on your intuitive compositional skill while playing abstract art compositional games.
Much like figure drawing and representational drawing ability, the ability to invoke emotions, use colour and form, and construct vibrant, active compositions are all important principles to learn and practice to enhance your artistic skill.
A11622: Creating Design, Creating Story
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Steven Faerm
How do designers create and develop ideas? What is “conceptual thinking”? Are you thinking of becoming a designer?
This 40-minute power-point lecture explores the design process: Design thinking, research methods, conceptualization, motif, storytelling, creative processes, and more are shown in both student and professional work. A full analysis of an Alexander McQueen collection that incorporates all of the key elements concludes the power-point presentation. While this lecture uses fashion design as its primary ‘lens’, the ideas discussed are applicable to all areas of design such as graphics, architecture, industrial design, animation, fine arts, and many more.
Presented by Steven Faerm, Associate Professor, Parsons School of Design.
This 40-minute power-point lecture explores the design process: Design thinking, research methods, conceptualization, motif, storytelling, creative processes, and more are shown in both student and professional work. A full analysis of an Alexander McQueen collection that incorporates all of the key elements concludes the power-point presentation. While this lecture uses fashion design as its primary ‘lens’, the ideas discussed are applicable to all areas of design such as graphics, architecture, industrial design, animation, fine arts, and many more.
Presented by Steven Faerm, Associate Professor, Parsons School of Design.
A11565: Lighting Design Workshop - Intermediate
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Jakob Weisblat
We will design lights for a short play - we'll go through an abbreviated process from watching a recording of the play to doing visual research and choosing colors, to imagining scenes, to programming cues. We'll end with a performance where y'all are the lighting designers.
Prerequisites
Some lighting and/or theater tech experience. You should have used a light board and hung a light before.
Prerequisites
Some lighting and/or theater tech experience. You should have used a light board and hung a light before.
A11723: Introduction to Puppyhammer and Meteorhammer
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Henry Shackleton,
Duncan Wheeler
No, we don't hammer puppies. Come learn how to spin a fun new prop! You will learn the what the different modes of spinning are for a puppyhammer, then learn basic meteor and contact moves that can be done both with a puppyhammer and a meteorhammer. Experience with other props (poi, staff, etc.) is welcome. No experience with any spinning is even more welcome!
A11624: How Designers Design: Effective, Efficient, and Expeditions Ways for Generating Ideas
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Steven Faerm
Ever wonder how artists and designers create such incredibly creative work? How do they draw inspiration from their environment in literal and figural ways? How are these visual and conceptual elements abstracted to create design motifs? How are these motifs then manipulated to produce art and design?
This workshop will introduce you to the basic design process! We’ll first look at the work of fine artists (such as Ellsworth Kelly), designers (such as Alexander McQueen), and architects (such as Aoki Jun) to learn how images, research, and concepts combine to create ideas, motifs, and designs.
Then, we’ll develop our own motifs and design processes. These can be based on your own pre-selected images/photos (or from images/photos supplied by the teacher during class). Although we’ll talk a lot about design in the context of fashion design, you can create any type of art and design you wish during the workshop!
You’ll leave the class with lots of “raw” design ideas and sketches that can then be used to develop more finished work!
This workshop will introduce you to the basic design process! We’ll first look at the work of fine artists (such as Ellsworth Kelly), designers (such as Alexander McQueen), and architects (such as Aoki Jun) to learn how images, research, and concepts combine to create ideas, motifs, and designs.
Then, we’ll develop our own motifs and design processes. These can be based on your own pre-selected images/photos (or from images/photos supplied by the teacher during class). Although we’ll talk a lot about design in the context of fashion design, you can create any type of art and design you wish during the workshop!
You’ll leave the class with lots of “raw” design ideas and sketches that can then be used to develop more finished work!
A12006: A Cappella Arranging Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Abhijit Mudigonda
Ever wanted to learn how to write pieces like those performed in Pitch Perfect or Glee?
Well now you can! We'll start by going over the basics of arranging a song for a cappella. Then you'll get to split into groups and try arranging your own pieces!
(If you haven't heard much acappella before and want to get a sense for it, check these out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tffl66nJPWY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTtCjGqXYo)
Prerequisites
Knowledge of basic music theory (time/key signatures, major/minor scales and chords, etc.) recommended.
Well now you can! We'll start by going over the basics of arranging a song for a cappella. Then you'll get to split into groups and try arranging your own pieces!
(If you haven't heard much acappella before and want to get a sense for it, check these out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tffl66nJPWY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTtCjGqXYo)
Prerequisites
Knowledge of basic music theory (time/key signatures, major/minor scales and chords, etc.) recommended.
A11700: Don't Go To Film School
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Ari Donnelly
Are you interested in becoming a Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Actor, Editor, Animator, Cinematographer, Production Designer, Gaffer, Sound Mixer, Steadicam Operator, Costume Designer, Casting Director, Talent Agent, or Boom Op?
Are you thinking of going to Film School to learn more? Don't. It's a trap. Come to my class instead. You'll get a crash course in:
-The many disciplines of film.
-The best film schools you shouldn't go to.
-How you can start making movies now.
-The truth about unpaid internships.
-What a Best Boy is.
Filmmaking is a hard path, but despite what college tuition would suggest, it's never been cheaper. So for the price of Splash, I'; give you the inside scoop on the most dubious college major of all time (other than political science).
Prerequisites
All are welcome, whether you've never touched a camera, or you're already making your own movies.
Are you thinking of going to Film School to learn more? Don't. It's a trap. Come to my class instead. You'll get a crash course in:
-The many disciplines of film.
-The best film schools you shouldn't go to.
-How you can start making movies now.
-The truth about unpaid internships.
-What a Best Boy is.
Filmmaking is a hard path, but despite what college tuition would suggest, it's never been cheaper. So for the price of Splash, I'; give you the inside scoop on the most dubious college major of all time (other than political science).
Prerequisites
All are welcome, whether you've never touched a camera, or you're already making your own movies.
A11877: Recipe for K.F.C. (Korean Fried Chicken) and Korean Dramas Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Amanda Wu
Learn how to make Korean fried chicken while comparing the process to the formulation of a Korean drama series.
A11921: Juggling
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Katarina Bulovic,
Joachim Kennedy
Learn how to throw balls in the air and gradually drop them less.
A11518: From Swans to Spartacus: Ballet in the Soviet Union
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jessica Oehrlein
We often associate classical ballet with Imperial Russia. However, ballet was also culturally important during the Soviet period, and balletic developments in the Soviet Union were really different from those elsewhere. We'll talk about the history of Soviet ballet, how it influenced and was influenced by ballet in the West, and why only a few Soviet ballets survived the fall of the Soviet Union.
A11864: ALL THAT JAZZ
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jennifer Wang
Have dance experience, or want to just bring out your inner diva? This class is for you! Let's learn and stage one of the most iconic jazz dances of all time, featuring: some serious attitude, jazz hands, and just enough circular hip movements to make you feel slightly uncomfortable.
A11692: Life Mapping
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Kyle Branchesi
Learn how to express the beauty of the spaces you're closest to. Your school, your home, or even a building you love in your city are all possible subjects for this class, where we will discuss what makes these spaces special and capture their beauty in drawings, photographs, and other mediums!
Prerequisites
No set requirements, a knowledge of Adobe products (Illustrator or Photoshop) encouraged - but not required
Prerequisites
No set requirements, a knowledge of Adobe products (Illustrator or Photoshop) encouraged - but not required
A11676: Design for the Everyday Object
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Darle Shinsato,
Manuela Uribe
Today, we are not aware of the importance of the everyday objects we use in life. However, these objects have become an extension of our being. We utilize them beneath the surface of our consciousness and do not consider their design, materials or geometries until prompted to make one.
Prerequisites
Bring your imagination and creative thinking.
Prerequisites
Bring your imagination and creative thinking.
A11715: Intro to Calligraphy
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Johnson Huynh,
Torridon Yearwood
Learn to hand-letter in brush and Gothic scripts! Get ready to impress all of your friends with your amazing handwriting prowess!
Prerequisites
Hands
Prerequisites
Hands
A11616: Bad Acting Appreciation
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Victoria Provost
An hour of film analysis, laughs, and ABC's! Featuring the esteemed work of Nicholas Cage, Kristen Stewart, and other spectacularly sub-par acting examples.
A11911: Modular Origami
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jade Fischer,
Natalya Ter-Saakov
Create beautiful geometrical origami creations in multiple colors!
A11691: Dance Rueda de Casino (Group Cuban Salsa)
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Monika Avello,
Isabel Quispe
Learn to dance Rueda de Casino, a group form of dancing Casino (Cuban Salsa)!
Prerequisites
Willingness to move and dance with everyone!
Prerequisites
Willingness to move and dance with everyone!
A12009: Gouache Painting Studio
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Arkadiy Frasinich,
Tara Liu
Come learn and experiment with a rather underappreciated medium, gouache! Made of lots of pigment with a small amount of binder, gouache lets you paint opaquely, like acrylic, yet also use watercolor techniques when diluted. We'll go over some gouache techniques, then have studio time to work on your own paintings.
Prerequisites
some drawing/painting experience helpful, but not necessary
Prerequisites
some drawing/painting experience helpful, but not necessary
A11753: The Art of Cardmaking
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Divya Ramamoorthy
Do you have a birthday or holiday coming up that you need a card for? Have you ever walked through the greeting cards section of a store and wondered how they are made?
This class will teach you how to make beautiful handmade cards. We'll cover rubber stamping, paper layering, and embossing techniques - and everything you need to know to make cards on your own! This class is for everyone, from avid cardmakers to first time crafters.
Each student will get to take home their handmade cards!
This class will teach you how to make beautiful handmade cards. We'll cover rubber stamping, paper layering, and embossing techniques - and everything you need to know to make cards on your own! This class is for everyone, from avid cardmakers to first time crafters.
Each student will get to take home their handmade cards!
A11617: Broadway Singalong! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Victoria Provost
Exactly what it sounds like! Jam out to classic tunes like "Defying Gravity," "Satisfied," and "Seize the Day." Jazz squares and time steps welcome!
Prerequisites
MUST be willing to participate.
Prerequisites
MUST be willing to participate.
A11900: Learn to Knit Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Adira Balzac,
jill Pelavin
Learn to knit! Ever wanted to knit yourself a hat, sweater, scarf, or toy for your cat?
We'll teach you!
We'll provide the yarn and needles, you just bring your hands and some patience.
No experience required, just willingness to play with sticks, yarn, and the realization that it will seem awkward at first (with practice, it becomes smooth and relaxing!)
Prerequisites
two working hands.
We'll teach you!
We'll provide the yarn and needles, you just bring your hands and some patience.
No experience required, just willingness to play with sticks, yarn, and the realization that it will seem awkward at first (with practice, it becomes smooth and relaxing!)
Prerequisites
two working hands.
A11544: Fugues! (FYOOgz)
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Henry Hu
You may have heard of The Master, but are you interested in learning about his coolest works, the mighty fugues? Do you go on YouTube often to learn about stuff? Do you want to hear music in a new, more immersive way?
Let's discuss what a fugue is, what makes it special, and then listen to a bunch of fugues with visual graphs from YouTube to help us understand. We will listen to everything from "child's play" to "in one ear and out the other" and everywhere in between! Figure out why people have been listening to this beloved work for centuries...
Prerequisites
Some ability to read music is preferred, curiosity and motivation are mandatory! And ears!
Let's discuss what a fugue is, what makes it special, and then listen to a bunch of fugues with visual graphs from YouTube to help us understand. We will listen to everything from "child's play" to "in one ear and out the other" and everywhere in between! Figure out why people have been listening to this beloved work for centuries...
Prerequisites
Some ability to read music is preferred, curiosity and motivation are mandatory! And ears!
A11850: Creative Cartography with Vinyl Cutters
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Kate Weishaar
Have an interest in graphic design or making? Jealous of how the folks at FiveThirtyEight always make such attractive maps and graphs? Come learn Creative Cartography and get a chance to cut your own multi-layered map stickers or posters on a vinyl cutter! You'll learn basic vinyl cutting techniques as well as ways to use colors, fonts, and lines to manipulate your audience.
A11969: Korean Pop Dance: Boy in Luv
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Eric Jiang,
Laura Pang
BTS is a Korean boy group that has become extremely popular in recent years. You might have heard news about them winning the Billboard Music Awards for Top Social Artist. Come and learn one of their older songs, Boy in Luv, and enjoy their style of dance and music! All levels welcome :)
A11612: Drawing Shiny Things
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
sarah dohadwala
Learning how to draw reflective surfaces that interact with light in cool ways.
Prerequisites
some drawing experience
Prerequisites
some drawing experience
A11563: Improv Workshop
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jakob Weisblat
Let's play improv games together! From freeze to taxi to zip-zap-zop, it'll be lots of fun. No experience required.
A11636: Intro to Podcasting
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Emma Trujillo
Want to learn how to record and edit podcasts? Then this is the class for you.
Do you like listening to podcasts and want to come dissect them? Then this is the class for you.
We will look at different podcasting styles and what going into making them.
We will be using Audacity to edit the audio so if you want to download it to follow along that would great. It's free.
Do you like listening to podcasts and want to come dissect them? Then this is the class for you.
We will look at different podcasting styles and what going into making them.
We will be using Audacity to edit the audio so if you want to download it to follow along that would great. It's free.
A11912: Firespinning!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Adira Balzac,
Alexander Lam
Without the fire.
Learn how to spin, but not the kind with yarn. We'll be teaching dragon staff and poi. Be prepared to hit yourself (we have). Snacks will be provided.
Prerequisites
A tolerance for getting whacked and being frustrated at first.
Learn how to spin, but not the kind with yarn. We'll be teaching dragon staff and poi. Be prepared to hit yourself (we have). Snacks will be provided.
Prerequisites
A tolerance for getting whacked and being frustrated at first.
A11591: Learning Odissi, an Indian Classical Dance Form!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Simantini Mitra-Behura
We'll learn steps in an art form that has lasted thousands of years and put it to modern-day music! We'll also talk about how this type of dance has reached the form it's in today.
A11634: How to Play Piano by Ear
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Anthony Liu
Do you play piano? Do you want to play your favorite pop/EDM/r&b songs without having to find and purchase sheet music? If you already have a basic set of piano playing skills, then playing piano by ear is easier than you may think. In this class, we'll go over a step-by-step process to playing songs by ear, covering topics such as finding the key of a song, identifying chords, playing rhythmic patterns, and improvising. Note: you do NOT need to know how to read sheet music to take this class (that's kind of the point) :)
Prerequisites
* should be able to play basic melodies and chord progressions * ~1-2 years of experience playing; you should be able to play with both hands comfortably * you don't need any formal training!!! * you definitely do NOT need to know anything about sheet music
Prerequisites
* should be able to play basic melodies and chord progressions * ~1-2 years of experience playing; you should be able to play with both hands comfortably * you don't need any formal training!!! * you definitely do NOT need to know anything about sheet music
A11808: How to speak in public without peeing your pants!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jim Flannery
In this class, I will help you overcome your fear of public speaking through a set of fun activities sure to make you laugh while you learn. I taught this workshop for the first time at last year's Splash and have been fine-tuning it over the last year. Whether you want to be a social activist, stand-up comedian, hip hop artist, or just want to feel more comfortable giving presentations at school - this class will help you!
Prerequisites
none
Prerequisites
none
A11535: Analyzing Children's Media
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Ethan Vo
We'll watch a cartoon, read some comics, listen to a stage musical, and then discuss the material as a group. Since the works are intended for children, the content will be simple but also deal with rather complicated issues. Some examples of such subjects include gender, American democracy, and schadenfreude in entertainment. Another aspect of discussion includes the presentation methods of each work and its form of media.
This course is intended to be a small seminar which emphasizes student-led discussion.
Prerequisites
A willingness to participate in discussion.
This course is intended to be a small seminar which emphasizes student-led discussion.
Prerequisites
A willingness to participate in discussion.
Languages and Literatures
B12013: 28200 Seconds of Lojban, Fragment 1
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Robert Kao
Lojban is a language invented in 1987 that is designed to be logical. It has characteristics that cannot be found in any natural language. While it is not possible to become fluent in a language in a day, students will learn how to do many important things about Lojban, such as constructing compound words, parsing sentences, understanding how Lojban avoids syntactic ambiguity while allowing significant freedom, recognizing and using most of the common grammatical structures, and talking about many things in everyday life. Methods to continue learning Lojban after this class will also be discussed significantly. Do not worry about having to focus continuously for such a long time; we will take breaks.
Update: due to certain considerations, the originally planned 28200 second class had to be broken into two shorter classes with an hour of break in between. This is the first class of the series and assumes no prior knowledge of Lojban, and it can be taken independently of the second class.
Update: due to certain considerations, the originally planned 28200 second class had to be broken into two shorter classes with an hour of break in between. This is the first class of the series and assumes no prior knowledge of Lojban, and it can be taken independently of the second class.
B11627: Learn the International Phonetic Alphabet!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Tuesday Mueller-Harder
Or, [lɝn ði ɪntərnæʃnəl fənɛdɪk ælfəbɛt]!
Ever seen a word's pronunciation on Wikipedia and not understood how to read it? Ever wanted to be able to precisely and accurately explain how to say a certain word? Come learn the IPA! You'll understand the basics of how to transcribe American English pronunciation, and if we have time, we'll begin to cover sounds that appear in other languages.
Prerequisites
Must not be afraid of unfamiliar words.
Ever seen a word's pronunciation on Wikipedia and not understood how to read it? Ever wanted to be able to precisely and accurately explain how to say a certain word? Come learn the IPA! You'll understand the basics of how to transcribe American English pronunciation, and if we have time, we'll begin to cover sounds that appear in other languages.
Prerequisites
Must not be afraid of unfamiliar words.
B11668: The Persian Writing System 101
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Annalise Pforr
We will be tackling the Persian/Farsi alphabet in 50 minutes!
Join in to learn about Persian pronunciation (it's mostly phonetic!), the beauty and technicalities of conjoined letters, and some Persian calligraphy basics-- how to write your name, ect.. We'll also be analyzing examples of the script and letter combinations as they appear in ancient and modern art.
Absolutely no prior knowledge of Persian is necessary, although those who can already read Arabic or Urdu will have an upper hand.
Join in to learn about Persian pronunciation (it's mostly phonetic!), the beauty and technicalities of conjoined letters, and some Persian calligraphy basics-- how to write your name, ect.. We'll also be analyzing examples of the script and letter combinations as they appear in ancient and modern art.
Absolutely no prior knowledge of Persian is necessary, although those who can already read Arabic or Urdu will have an upper hand.
B11733: Making it in Moscow: A Splash! Course in Introductory Russian
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Marcella Lusardi
Take a journey east to learn the mysterious language of the czars, the Soviets, and the modern-day natives of the largest country in the world—Russia! An introductory course in the Russian language and culture for the absolute beginner. We'll cover the alphabet, some culture, and a few phrases.
B11534: Chinese Characters Breakdown
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Marianne Olsen
Sheep + Big = ... Beautiful? It does in Chinese writing!
Chinese characters barely look pictographic anymore, but we'll look at some interesting character breakdowns. You won't actually learn Chinese from this class, but you'll hear about radicals and hopefully some fun origin stories for some characters.
Prerequisites
If you already know Chinese, this class is probably way too basic for you :)
Chinese characters barely look pictographic anymore, but we'll look at some interesting character breakdowns. You won't actually learn Chinese from this class, but you'll hear about radicals and hopefully some fun origin stories for some characters.
Prerequisites
If you already know Chinese, this class is probably way too basic for you :)
B11538: 28200 Seconds of Lojban, Fragment 2
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Robert Kao
Lojban is a language invented in 1987 that is designed to be logical. It has characteristics that cannot be found in any natural language. While it is not possible to become fluent in a language in a day, students will learn how to do many important things about Lojban, such as constructing compound words, parsing sentences, understanding how Lojban avoids syntactic ambiguity while allowing significant freedom, recognizing and using most of the common grammatical structures, and talking about many things in everyday life. Methods to continue learning Lojban after this class will also be discussed significantly. Do not worry about having to focus continuously for such a long time; we will take breaks.
Update: due to certain considerations, the originally planned 28200 second class had to be broken into two shorter classes with an hour of break in between. This is the second class of the series, and while it can be taken independently of the first class, it builds on some (though not all) of the material covered in the first class.
Prerequisites
Students who are not taking the first class of the series are encouraged to study a little bit of Lojban on their own by reading online materials. A few hours of study should suffice. However, this step is optional, and not doing this preparation will not significantly affect the learning of material in this class.
Update: due to certain considerations, the originally planned 28200 second class had to be broken into two shorter classes with an hour of break in between. This is the second class of the series, and while it can be taken independently of the first class, it builds on some (though not all) of the material covered in the first class.
Prerequisites
Students who are not taking the first class of the series are encouraged to study a little bit of Lojban on their own by reading online materials. A few hours of study should suffice. However, this step is optional, and not doing this preparation will not significantly affect the learning of material in this class.
B11709: Make Your Own Language: Linguistics and Conlanging
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Chris Eschler
Have you ever felt the urge to be able to speak or write in a language of your own creation? Whether it's for your own enjoyment, to communicate secretly with friends, or simply to gain a better understanding of what characterizes language, this class aims to teach you about the principles of human languages in the context of artificially designing them. We will cover the sounds of spoken language, writing systems, types of constructed languages (conlangs), and the basics of grammar and syntax. The class will consist of both lecture and discussion portions, including some time for you to work in groups designing or brainstorming ideas. Although you will not have time to create a full-fledged language, you will be introduced to resources and information to help you along your way.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of grammar
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of grammar
B11742: How to make your own writing system!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Helen Read
If you've ever wanted to create a secret code that only you and your friends can read? Do you want to make a fancy script for your fantasy world? Do you just like writing systems?
In this one hour class, we'll discuss the different writing systems of the world before delving into making a unique way of writing English! (or another language or conlang if that applies)
In this one hour class, we'll discuss the different writing systems of the world before delving into making a unique way of writing English! (or another language or conlang if that applies)
B11747: The Power of Accents
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Hannah Holden
Ever wondered how Hollywood actors can change their accent with the snap of their fingers? Or why certain accents sound so different than others? In The Power of Accents, with the help of some introductory phonetics, we will look at speech as a human faculty, and discover that what we say is just as important as how we say it.
B11557: You Are What You Speak: An Introduction to Linguistic Relativity
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Katie O'Nell
Have you ever wondered if the language(s) you speak shapes the way you conceptualize the world? Well you're not alone! It's a contentious area in linguistic and cognitive research, so I don't have any definitive answers for you, but if you want to learn more about the related literature and current theories, this is the class for you!
Prerequisites
A love of language and the human mind :)
Prerequisites
A love of language and the human mind :)
B11626: Hangul 101
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jasmine Lennert
Come learn to read and write Korean! We'll cover the alphabet, some history, and a lot of pronunciation rules
B11813: Intro to Latin (and general Roman weirdness)
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Emma Batson
Learn everything that's strange about Latin and ancient Rome over the course of an hour!
B11541: Basic Lojban
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Robert Kao
Learn Lojban, a constructed language designed to be unambiguous, culturally neutral, and precise. By the end of the course, students will be able to compose simple, grammatical Lojban sentences.
B11779: Basic Japanese for Basic Weebs
Difficulty: *
Basically a Basic Japanese Language class taught by people who know basic Japanese. By the end of this intensive 2 hour class, you'll be able to watch anime without any subtitles!!!
Prerequisites
NOTHING
Prerequisites
NOTHING
B11835: Consonant Phonology: Strange Sounds of the World's Languages
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Roan LaPlante
In this course we will go over the theory, anatomy, and orthography (International Phonetic Alphabet) of different consonant sounds, including sounds in English and lots of amazingly fun sounds that are not at all like sounds in English.
This is a very interactive course, with an emphasis on speech production.
This is a very interactive course, with an emphasis on speech production.
B11740: How to make your own language
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Helen Read
Learn how to construct your own personal language, from phonetics to grammar! A basic intro to IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) will be included, as well as how to get started, and good features to include, as well as ways to avoid a copy of English or a "kitchen sink" conlang.
B11684: Learn Lojban Through Music
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Robert Kao
Learn a little Lojban by singing songs that members of the Lojban-speaking community have composed and published.
Prerequisites
Knowing the pronunciation rules of Lojban, of which there are only a few, is really helpful. Other than that, as much Lojban as you want.
Prerequisites
Knowing the pronunciation rules of Lojban, of which there are only a few, is really helpful. Other than that, as much Lojban as you want.
B11892: Marhaban Bikum! or, Who Wants to Learn Some Arabic?
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Lydia Brown
I spent four-six years (arguable either way) of my life cramming Modern Standard Arabic and two dialects into my brainspace, including a stint in Jordan. Ever wanted to know how to swear at p -- er, make small talk in Arabic? Come to this class and I will spit some of it up for you! You will learn how to write in the Arabic alphabet, how to sound out unfamiliar words, and how to say some useful basic phrases -- if we're lucky, you'll even progress to basic conversation and then you can go home and impress your friends and family with your ability to correctly pronounce all of those words every newscaster totally butchers!
Prerequisites
Willingness to potentially embarrass yourself in front of a roomful of people. Ability to make weird sounds with your throat. Also, a throat. (Throats with trachs welcome.)
Prerequisites
Willingness to potentially embarrass yourself in front of a roomful of people. Ability to make weird sounds with your throat. Also, a throat. (Throats with trachs welcome.)
B11560: Fantasy World-Building
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Ben Johnson
Have you ever wanted to create your own world just like Middle Earth? Or maybe that's a bit too one sided for you and you prefer Azeroth. Or maybe that's just got too many things going on and you'd prefer Earth, but with Hogwarts. Or maybe we're still too close to home and we should head to Tattooine. In this class we will be exploring what all of these worlds have in common and how we can build one from scratch. We will also design the blueprint of one in class.
B11641: American Sign Language for beginners
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Gustavo Goretkin,
Barbara Johnson
American Sign Language (ASL) is used by many Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (and other) people in the US. ASL is not English and has its own grammar, idiomatic expressions, and literature.
In this class, we will start 100% VOICES-OFF, and build up your ASL abilities through gestures, writing, and, well, ASL itself. By the end of the class, you will be able to meet a signer, introduce yourself to a signer, and have simple conversations with a signer.
Prerequisites
We will learn it in class, but if possible, please practice the ASL manual (fingerspelling) alphabet.
In this class, we will start 100% VOICES-OFF, and build up your ASL abilities through gestures, writing, and, well, ASL itself. By the end of the class, you will be able to meet a signer, introduce yourself to a signer, and have simple conversations with a signer.
Prerequisites
We will learn it in class, but if possible, please practice the ASL manual (fingerspelling) alphabet.
B11712: Learn Japanese Instantly
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Cory Lynch
We have two hours. By the time you leave, you'll know the entire Japanese language. (ok maybe not)
Prepare to speak a lot in the class! We'll be doing a lot of drills to make sure you speak like a true 日本人.
Prerequisites
No prior Japanese needed.
Prepare to speak a lot in the class! We'll be doing a lot of drills to make sure you speak like a true 日本人.
Prerequisites
No prior Japanese needed.
B11606: Languages of Middle Earth
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Ryker Reed
Love Lord of the Rings? Ever wondered where all the names in Middle Earth come from? Come find out more about the complex linguistic systems underlying Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series. For instance, did you know that Tolkien was a linguist and actually invented an entire Elvish language before even writing the Lord of the Rings books? Learn about some of the real world languages that inspired and influenced Tolkien’s invented languages. And find out more about the history of Middle Earth and how its languages came to be what they are now.
Prerequisites
None, if you've taken this class before, it will be the same material.
Prerequisites
None, if you've taken this class before, it will be the same material.
B11800: Introduction to ASL Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Karen Camacho
Ever wanted to learn American Sign Language? Take the first step! In this course, we'll cover the basics, including, but not limited to, the alphabet, sign language parameters, the history, greetings, and common phrases.
B11537: Lojban Until We Die
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Robert Kao
Will you not have had enough fun by the end of Splash? Or do you just want as much Lojban as possible?
The teacher will keep talking about Lojbanistan and its language. The level of the presented material will depend on the amount of Lojban the students already know. If permitted, the class will extend well past the stated end time and stop only when everyone falls asleep, or all of the students' parents absolutely $$\textit{have}$$ to pick them up, or we get persecuted, or continuing is judged to be too dangerous.
Prerequisites
As much Lojban as you want
The teacher will keep talking about Lojbanistan and its language. The level of the presented material will depend on the amount of Lojban the students already know. If permitted, the class will extend well past the stated end time and stop only when everyone falls asleep, or all of the students' parents absolutely $$\textit{have}$$ to pick them up, or we get persecuted, or continuing is judged to be too dangerous.
Prerequisites
As much Lojban as you want
B11982: a fifty-minute introduction to historical linguistics
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sasha Barish
in this class you'll learn a few things about the field of historical linguistics, and how languages change over time. i'll explain the basics of how sound change works and how some grammatical changes work, and i'll talk about the ways that people can tell whether different languages are related to each other and what those languages were like thousands of years ago, when they weren't even written down.
Prerequisites
None.
Prerequisites
None.
B11608: Quirky Linguistics
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Ryker Reed
Like linguistics or just enjoy thinking about language? Ever noticed how weird language can be? Come learn about some of the quirkier aspects of language. We'll discuss things ranging from infixation (putting words inside other words) to semantic implication (things we say without actually saying them), and semantic satiation (that thing that happens when you say a word too many times and it stops meaning anything). Come enjoy the strangeness of language!
[Deprecated] Computers and Programming
C11605: Advanced Algorithms
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Rikhav Shah,
Sandeep Silwal
Forget the boring basic algorithms. In this class we will push the border of what is currently known and explore some of the coolest and mind blowing algorithms! Don't worry if you get lost because we are too!
Prerequisites
Familiarity with a little bit of programming would be helpful but not required.
Prerequisites
Familiarity with a little bit of programming would be helpful but not required.
C11576: Programming For A Living: What They Don't Teach You In School
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
John Gregg
I've been doing this for a long time, and there is a lot more to doing it happily and well than clever coding. This class will cover a lot of issues that pertain to any white collar/corporate job, then delve into some of the challenges particular to doing software engineering for a company. "Dilbert" gets some things right and some things wrong.
C11566: What's in an Operating System: Syscalls, Drivers, and Resource Management
Difficulty: ****
Teachers:
Jakob Weisblat
Your computer has a lot of stuff that makes it work, and we're gonna take a big bite out of how some of that happens.
Prerequisites
Basic familiarity with programming or a passing understanding of what's in your computer
Prerequisites
Basic familiarity with programming or a passing understanding of what's in your computer
C11562: Basics of TI-BASIC Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Miles Dai,
Nathaniel Huffman
Tired of doing the same calculations over and over again on school worksheets? Sick of doing Riemann sums by hand? Don't know what a Riemann sum is? Doesn't matter! In this class, we will teach you the basics of programming your TI calculator to do the work for you. Harness the power of the pre-installed language inside your calculator to help you with repetitive worksheets, make some easy games, and learn some easy programming along the way.
Prerequisites
We will be using a TI-8X series calculators in this class(TI-82 series, TI-83 series, TI-84 series, and any variation on the TI-83 and TI-84 (e.g. TI-84 SE, TI-84 CE, etc.)). If you have one of these calculators, feel free to bring it to class. If you do not have one, we will provide a few in class to share. Also, a very basic understanding of programming is helpful, but not required.
Prerequisites
We will be using a TI-8X series calculators in this class(TI-82 series, TI-83 series, TI-84 series, and any variation on the TI-83 and TI-84 (e.g. TI-84 SE, TI-84 CE, etc.)). If you have one of these calculators, feel free to bring it to class. If you do not have one, we will provide a few in class to share. Also, a very basic understanding of programming is helpful, but not required.
C11821: Graph Search and 15-Puzzles
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Nathan Hunt
We'll learn what a graph is (hint: this kind is more like cities connected by roads than an x and y axis) and how we can find good paths in graphs. Then we'll see how we can represent a 15-puzzle as a graph and solve it by finding the right path. I'll provide the starter code, and you'll implement the graph search (in the Python programming language). This class should help you see how graph techniques could be applied to real world problems and have fun programming one yourself. See here (https://neighthan.github.io/graphs_and_games/eight_puzzle.html; just click play) for what this sort of puzzle looks like.
Prerequisites
Basic programming experience (e.g. for loops, if statements), ideally in Python. You can gain this in not too much time by going through the basics at this website or a similar one: https://www.learnpython.org/
Prerequisites
Basic programming experience (e.g. for loops, if statements), ideally in Python. You can gain this in not too much time by going through the basics at this website or a similar one: https://www.learnpython.org/
C11841: Functions, and Nothing Else
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
David Bau
Learn how to write any program without using numbers, operators, loops, conditionals, or memory -- nothing but functions applied to other functions applied to other functions.
An introduction to the untyped lambda calculus, a human-readable programming language with only one keyword. Starts from first principles and builds Church encodings and the fixed-point Y combinator.
Prerequisites
Some programming experience or a firm grasp of high school algebra.
An introduction to the untyped lambda calculus, a human-readable programming language with only one keyword. Starts from first principles and builds Church encodings and the fixed-point Y combinator.
Prerequisites
Some programming experience or a firm grasp of high school algebra.
C11580: Intro to Game Design and Development
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Julian Hernandez
What makes games fun, and how do you make them in the first place? What jobs are involved in the game development process? How can you get started on the path to make the games you've envisioned a reality?
Join us for a fun, hands-on experience in discussing the art of games and making one ourselves using GameMaker:Studio 2 (the same development environment used to make hit games like Hotline Miami and Undertale!). No previous programming or game design experience required.
Join us for a fun, hands-on experience in discussing the art of games and making one ourselves using GameMaker:Studio 2 (the same development environment used to make hit games like Hotline Miami and Undertale!). No previous programming or game design experience required.
C11987: Pacman: The Untold Story
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Kevin Chen
Ever wondered how the game of pacman worked? How do those ghosts always manage to trap you? Is there even an end to this terror? Find out all that and more as we go through the history and mechanics of this iconic game.
C11644: Enumerative Combinatorics with Haskell
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Brian Chen
Haskell is an elegant functional programming language used in academia and industry alike. Enumerative combinatorics is the study of counting, or "how many?": from "how many ways can you arrange the numbers 1 to 10 in a row?" to "how many pattern locks can you enter into an Android phone?" Learn how to program and count cool things with the coolest programming language ever!
In this course, we'll dive into Haskell with a focus on the features that make it mathematically appealing and useful for listing and counting combinatorial objects, from permutations, partitions, and Fibonacci numbers to completely ad-hoc structures made up for fun. Who knows, we might even get to cover a little category theory.<
Prerequisites
Familiarity with programming (in any language), and preferably with recursion in particular. Basic knowledge of — and passion for! — counting/combinatorics.
In this course, we'll dive into Haskell with a focus on the features that make it mathematically appealing and useful for listing and counting combinatorial objects, from permutations, partitions, and Fibonacci numbers to completely ad-hoc structures made up for fun. Who knows, we might even get to cover a little category theory.<
Prerequisites
Familiarity with programming (in any language), and preferably with recursion in particular. Basic knowledge of — and passion for! — counting/combinatorics.
C11986: How fast can you search through k lists?
Some of you might know how to search for an item in a sorted list very fast. How about 2 lists at a time? How about 20 lists? Or k lists?
Is the answer $$O(k \log n)$$? Nah, we can do (much) better.
We'll tackle the problem of searching for an item in many lists efficiently using the technique of fractional cascading. [Spoiler alert: it actually takes the same amount of time as searching in 1 list!...almost]. Then, we'll see how fractional cascading can be applied to solve a variety of geometric problems in theoretical CS.
Prerequisites
Ideally, has heard of "binary search."
Is the answer $$O(k \log n)$$? Nah, we can do (much) better.
We'll tackle the problem of searching for an item in many lists efficiently using the technique of fractional cascading. [Spoiler alert: it actually takes the same amount of time as searching in 1 list!...almost]. Then, we'll see how fractional cascading can be applied to solve a variety of geometric problems in theoretical CS.
Prerequisites
Ideally, has heard of "binary search."
C11553: How Do Computers Add?
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Marcus Boorstin
How do computers add? What happens behind the scenes when your program runs the line "int z = x + y;"? This may seem simple for you, but it's NOT for your computer. We'll discuss the nitty-gritty of how hardware adders work, starting with transistors and working our way up through logic gates to the complex hardware algorithms modern computers use.
C11837: Intro to Regular Expressions, Or, How to Find Anything Very Quickly
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Tuesday Mueller-Harder
Regular Expressions, often shortened to regex or regexp, are a very powerful tool for find and replace operations, but people often get scared off by how confusing it looks.
In this class, we will start from the basic building blocks of regex, and get as far as we can. We'll probably move pretty quickly through the material, but you will be armed with the tools and understanding necessary to work everything out for yourself outside of Splash.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of a programming language may be helpful, but not required.
In this class, we will start from the basic building blocks of regex, and get as far as we can. We'll probably move pretty quickly through the material, but you will be armed with the tools and understanding necessary to work everything out for yourself outside of Splash.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of a programming language may be helpful, but not required.
C11703: Promiscuous Mode-Network Protocol Analysis
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Harvey Yee
Do you want to be in Promiscuous (Monitor) mode? You may if you are a network engineer. Join us in learning what is involved in Network Protocol analysis, and along the way learn about network architecture and protocols. Depending on what is available in the classroom, a demonstration of a wired or wireless network session will be provided. A free copy of Linux LiveCD will be provided so that you can continue your learning of network protocol analysis after this class.
Prerequisites
None: Just a sense of curosity and adventure!
Prerequisites
None: Just a sense of curosity and adventure!
C11646: Machine Learning
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jessica Pointing
Learn the basics of machine learning! After this course, you should be able to understand what machine learning is, and how to use it in your own projects!
C11869: Intro to Circuits and Coding with Arduino
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sarah Flanagan,
Zoe Klawans
Learn the basics of building a circuit on a breadboard. Program an LED light to blink in time with music using an Arduino. An Arduino is a small device that allows your code to come alive on your circuit. No prior knowledge of circuits, programming, or Arduino is required for this class.
C11568: How Computers Understand Music
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Jakob Weisblat,
Lisa Zahray
We'll start with different ways in which computers understand music, then proceed onto running some code that analyzes audio files; we'll figure out what chord progressions are going on and maybe even do some music identification.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with python and have a basic understanding of music theory.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with python and have a basic understanding of music theory.
C11847: Breaking crypto with Z3 Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Rahul Sridhar,
Ray Wang
Z3 is a powerful theorem prover/SMT solver developed by Microsoft. We will use it to break hash functions, pseudo-random number generators, and more.
Prerequisites
Python (necessary)
Prerequisites
Python (necessary)
C11724: Theoretical Thinking Machines
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Joshua Gruenstein
When we think about artificial intelligence, we often study the key: techniques like machine learning, neural networks, and bayesian nonparametrics which allow us to tackle more and more complex challenges. However, we often neglect to study the lock. In this short class, we will explore classifications of different types of computational tasks, and learn what exactly computers can do.
Prerequisites
Basic algebra and an ability to think abstractly. No computer science or advanced math experience required, although they might give you an interesting perspective.
Prerequisites
Basic algebra and an ability to think abstractly. No computer science or advanced math experience required, although they might give you an interesting perspective.
C11726: Do all the Algorithms!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Megan Fu,
Avery Nortonsmith
A fast overview of the material covered in MIT's 6.006: Introduction to Algorithms. We will look at a wide variety of algorithms, and give examples of the problems that they can be used to solve. Potential topics covered include:
Asymptotic notation
Divide and Conquer algorithms
Sorting
Hash tables, stacks, queues, trees
Dynamic Programming
Graph algorithms
Prerequisites
Comfort with math up through pre-calculus. Some programming experience is also recommended.
Asymptotic notation
Divide and Conquer algorithms
Sorting
Hash tables, stacks, queues, trees
Dynamic Programming
Graph algorithms
Prerequisites
Comfort with math up through pre-calculus. Some programming experience is also recommended.
C11831: Intro to ReactJS
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Rahul Yesantharao
Introduction to modern web development using ReactJS!
Prerequisites
JavaScript, NodeJS (basic knowledge)
Prerequisites
JavaScript, NodeJS (basic knowledge)
C11704: Wireshark Workshop
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Harvey Yee
This is follow-up course to Promiscuous Mode-Network Protocol Analysis. In this course, we will hone our knowledge and skills in understanding and decoding network traffic, and pragmatics of placement and configuration of network taps.
Come prepared to get a deep dive into network protocol analysis by reviewing a variety of network case study traces in which we will discover the gory details involved in network forensics.
Prerequisites
None, other than a sense of curiosity and adventure!
Come prepared to get a deep dive into network protocol analysis by reviewing a variety of network case study traces in which we will discover the gory details involved in network forensics.
Prerequisites
None, other than a sense of curiosity and adventure!
C11647: Passwords Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Brian Chen
Passwords are the ubiquitous cornerstone of authentication online, but people aren't very good at picking them. Learn about security best practices for picking and remembering passwords, and for keeping your online accounts safe in general. Also learn about other random futuristic forms of authentication and play with some really cool dice.
C12016: PID Motion Control for Robotics
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Aaron Yeiser,
Maxwell Yun
Learn basic robot controls, namely how robots and robot parts move from Point A to Point B smoothly and quickly. We will cover bang-bang control (yes, that's a thing), and progress to proportion, integral, and derivative control.
C11653: How to Data Visuals
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Matthew Farejowicz
You've probably worked with graphs and charts in Excel or Sheets, but how does one go about drawing pretty data visuals for a website? This class takes a look at the fundamentals of good data visualization, and some popular data viz libraries.
Prerequisites
Maybe some understanding of web design, but not really.
Prerequisites
Maybe some understanding of web design, but not really.
C11711: Let's make a video game! (2048)
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Philip Caplan
Did you win at 2048? Well now let's try to program it! You will be given some initial Javascript/HTML code and we will work together, building the programming concepts and filling in the rest of the code so you can have your very own version of 2048! The learning outcomes involve developing some simple programming concepts while picking up some Javascript/HTML along the way.
Prerequisites
Any kind of programming experience would be helpful but not necessary.
Prerequisites
Any kind of programming experience would be helpful but not necessary.
C11993: How to Multiply Quickly
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Arkadiy Frasinich
Computers help us every day by handling computation that is too hard for us to do by hand. One of those things that a computer can do much faster is multiplication. However, using the normal method you learn in school, even computers would find it difficult to multiply really large numbers. In this class, we'll try to be clever and figure out how to multiply really well.
Prerequisites
You should know how to multiply two numbers together, but beyond that I'll explain everything else in class.
Prerequisites
You should know how to multiply two numbers together, but beyond that I'll explain everything else in class.
C11577: What Is A Computer?
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
John Gregg
You may know how to program, but what is a computer such that it needs programming? Everyone knows that computers "think" in 1's and 0's, but why, and what does this even mean? Poets welcome!
C11664: Network Fun 101
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Luis Alvernaz
This class will play out very much like "Fun with Network Friends" from 2600 magazine. The difference is in the fact that I used these attacks against some friends, and I will be going over more than just what 2600 went over:
-Names and a story
-TCP handshake
-OSI model
-switched/unswitched networks
-Man in the Middle
-reading those pcaps you got from MitM
-packet spoofing
(I also would like to use this opportunity to show how to safely use a network as to not be fooled by these attacks)
(yes, I made the title that because it sounded more fun)
*Disclaimer: this class is not meant to teach you to be a "1337 H4X0R", it's just about having fun and doing magic on networks*
-Names and a story
-TCP handshake
-OSI model
-switched/unswitched networks
-Man in the Middle
-reading those pcaps you got from MitM
-packet spoofing
(I also would like to use this opportunity to show how to safely use a network as to not be fooled by these attacks)
(yes, I made the title that because it sounded more fun)
*Disclaimer: this class is not meant to teach you to be a "1337 H4X0R", it's just about having fun and doing magic on networks*
C11675: Introduction to Linux and the Shell
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Matthew Feng
Linux is everywhere. From your phone to the web servers that host the websites you frequent, Linux powers most of the modern computing age. This course will teach you the basics of Linux, using both the graphical interface and command line, so that you can begin to tap into the capabilities Linux offers.
C11645: How to Make the Perfect Button with CSS
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Brian Chen
We'll make fancy, stylish, delightfully clickable buttons with HTML and CSS for no reason except that we can. We'll learn about all sorts of CSS properties you can apply to buttons (and other things), old and new, mundane and bizarre, and see how major websites and CSS frameworks style their buttons.
C11940: Assembling Assembly Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Marcus Boorstin,
Brian Wheatman
How does your computer actually execute instructions? What's the mystical and scary "assembly language"? We'll dive deep into how computers execute low level instructions, and you'll write your own short x86 assembly program.
Prerequisites
A little programming experience will be helpful.
Prerequisites
A little programming experience will be helpful.
C11960: What is a "what if"?
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jason Gross
Say there's a $5 bill and a $10 bill on a table. You can take either one of them.
Which would you take?
The $10 bill, right? What if you took the $5 bill?
This is a surprisingly subtle question, especially when you consider the fact that you are a good decision-maker, and so must have had a good reason to take the $5 bill if you took it. It's subtle enough that many decision theories get it wrong. Come learn about four decision theories (evidential, causal, timeless, and updateless), and about the decision puzzles that demonstrate why none of these is an entirely satisfactory answer to the question "What is a 'what if'?"
Which would you take?
The $10 bill, right? What if you took the $5 bill?
This is a surprisingly subtle question, especially when you consider the fact that you are a good decision-maker, and so must have had a good reason to take the $5 bill if you took it. It's subtle enough that many decision theories get it wrong. Come learn about four decision theories (evidential, causal, timeless, and updateless), and about the decision puzzles that demonstrate why none of these is an entirely satisfactory answer to the question "What is a 'what if'?"
C11827: Foundations of Computer Science: Lambda Calculus
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Angel Alvarez
In this 90 minute class, we will go over some of the core concepts of computability theory through an introduction to lambda calculus. This class will start with the history and context of this discovery, then we will dive right in to building mathematics and logic using lambda calculus.
C11527: Augmented Reality for Beginners
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Meenakshi Sivapriya Manikandaswamy
Looking for easy ways to surprise friends with your nerdiness? Found Pokemon Go interesting? This is the right class for you! We shall start from the basics to build a cool mobile application that lets you alter your reality.
All you need to have is a huge imagination!
All you need to have is a huge imagination!
C11584: Machine Learning: The Big Picture
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Kenneth Wang
A big topic these days is big data, and one way to tackle big data is with machine learning. Machine learning algorithms underlie many modern devices and are responsible for powerful voice recognition, self driving cars, image recognition, and the best Go player/computer in the world. How do computers/machines learn from data sets? How can they use past information in a rigorous way to give off the illusion (or not illusion) of intelligence (artificial intelligence)? We will look to answer these questions through a big picture approach. We will focus on concepts, and not the mathematics. However, probabilistic reasoning is crucial, and it is recommended that you take "Introduction to Probability".
Prerequisites
Knowledge on probability is recommended!
Prerequisites
Knowledge on probability is recommended!
C11714: Practice Coding with CodinGame
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Cory Lynch
CodinGame is a website that gives you little problems to solve, and you try to write code for it as quickly or as efficiently as possible.
Join us as we compete with each other and teach each other new programming techniques!
Prerequisites
Prior programming experience. I'll be using Python, but you can use a different language.
Join us as we compete with each other and teach each other new programming techniques!
Prerequisites
Prior programming experience. I'll be using Python, but you can use a different language.
C11739: How to train your computer to paint like Van Gogh
Difficulty: ***
Join us for a fun, intuitive introduction to machine learning! Learn about how computers can distinguish cats from dogs, write poetry, and even paint like Van Gogh.
C11548: How to Make Video Games
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sanjay Ganeshan,
Caroline Laber-Smith
Want to learn how to make a video game? Come to our learnathon and find out how! We'll be learning how to use an industry game engine (Unity) to make video games, large or small, that can run on anything - a phone, a Nintendo 3DS, a computer, or even a VR headset! After learning about it, you'll get the chance to make your very own game, working in teams!
Prerequisites
Previous basic experience programming is helpful, but not a must. (If you know what an if statement, for loop, function, and class are, you'll have no trouble)
Prerequisites
Previous basic experience programming is helpful, but not a must. (If you know what an if statement, for loop, function, and class are, you'll have no trouble)
C11943: Computers Doing People Things
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Yilun Du,
Alok Puranik
We'll talk about recent advances in deep learning! We'll cover using deep learning on tasks such as playing the games of Go, Space Invaders, Melee, generating algebraic geometry papers from scratch, automatically captioning images, synthesizing new realistic images of objects, synthesizing new pieces music and speech, translating text between languages, sentiment analysis of documents and more!
Prerequisites
None
Prerequisites
None
[Deprecated] Engineering
E11697: Intro to Fabric-Formed Concrete Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Zach Cohen,
Nitzan Zilberman
Come make weird, amorphous, blobby, chaotic, spectacular, one-of-a-kind forms out of concrete. We will be playing with textiles and getting messy!
E11955: History of Spaceflight
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Keenan Albee
A quick, condensed summary of manned and unmanned spaceflight, from Goddard and Tsiolkovsky to the emerging New Space industry. If you're curious about the origins of spaceflight and the heritage that shapes the space industry today, this is the course for you! No prerequisites needed; this course should be accessible to everyone.
E11764: Rockets!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Andrew Reilley,
Juan Salazar
Feeling weighed down? Blast off with the MIT Rocket Team! Come learn how rockets work, how to build one, and what it takes to reach orbit.
E11600: Egg Drop Challenge
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Kaitlyn O'Donnell
Want to do some hands on problem solving where you can work with and make friends with your peers? Do you like dropping things off of stairwells? Do you like coming up with eggcellent egg puns? Do you like rhetorical questions?
Then this class is for you! The plan is to take some everyday materials and try to protect an egg when we drop it off of a stairwell about a story off the ground. You'll be working in teams of four to complete a protection system in just 30 minutes! Seems like not a long time, but an hour was too easy last year.
I am determined to make this Egg Drop Challenge hard boiled, not over easy.
Then this class is for you! The plan is to take some everyday materials and try to protect an egg when we drop it off of a stairwell about a story off the ground. You'll be working in teams of four to complete a protection system in just 30 minutes! Seems like not a long time, but an hour was too easy last year.
I am determined to make this Egg Drop Challenge hard boiled, not over easy.
E11695: Photovoltaics
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Keith Phuthi
Solar power holds lots of potential as a source of energy for the present and future. This class will help you understand the basics of how photovoltaic cells and other technologies work.
Prerequisites
Basic physics/chemistry
Prerequisites
Basic physics/chemistry
E11930: Materials Around Us!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Mindy Wu
Why do rubbers stretch? Why does wood shear? What makes rain jackets waterproof? Learn about the materials around you and why they behave the way they do!
E11939: Intro to Robotics
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Felipe Depine
This will be an introduction to Robotics class.
We will be covering the basics of actuators, sensors, and computers.
There will be lots of examples and stories....
We will be covering the basics of actuators, sensors, and computers.
There will be lots of examples and stories....
E11840: Design for America Assistive Technology Workshop
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jennifer Lu,
Ananya Nandy
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to have a disability? Do you enjoy being creative and engineering innovative solutions to real problems? Do you like being hands-on and brainstorming? Learn about Assistive Technology and ideate innovative solutions with MIT’s Design for America! Learn more about us at http://designforamerica.mit.edu/.
E11878: Mechanical Madness
Difficulty: *
Ready to drink from a fire hose??? Learn ALLLL the cool mechanical engineering concepts through in class demos!
E11957: Nuclear Physics Seminar
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Jacob Miske
A brief explanation of the importance of the neutron.
Prerequisites
Some differential equations hopefully.
Prerequisites
Some differential equations hopefully.
E11642: Mechanical Engineering 101: Why big chunks of metal break
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Elliot Owen
A desperate ploy to convince the youth to become mechanical engineers by talking about big chunks of metal like combat robots, racecars, and machine tools.
Strength, stiffness, hardness and toughness aren't synonyms! Learn the best of 2.001 in 1 hour instead of a semester.
Prerequisites
Understand free body diagrams.
Strength, stiffness, hardness and toughness aren't synonyms! Learn the best of 2.001 in 1 hour instead of a semester.
Prerequisites
Understand free body diagrams.
E11722: How do airplanes fly and satellites orbit?
Difficulty: **
Have you ever wondered how do airplanes fly? What kind of magic keeps them in the air? What about your LTE internet? How can satellites send internet to your phone (supposedly) everywhere? What kind of force keeps them orbiting around the Earth?
If you have ever found yourself wondering around those questions, this class is for you! We will guide you through understanding how airplanes fly and how satellites orbit!
If you have ever found yourself wondering around those questions, this class is for you! We will guide you through understanding how airplanes fly and how satellites orbit!
E11596: From Molecular Conformation to Nanotechnology, Energy, and Medicine
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Albert Liu
This course surveys a broad range of disciplines (protein folding, nanotechnology, energy, and bio-medicine) that have been tremendously enhanced through accurate control of molecular conformation. We will touch upon specific examples on how a single tweak of something as small as a molecule could result in substantial changes in material function and chemical reactivity, which can lead to fundamentally novel platform technologies for energy generation and medicine.
E11973: Basic of Radio Station Engineering
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jacques-Antoine Jean
This course will introduce participants to the basic of WMBR's (MIT FM Radio station) B Control engineering training.
Prerequisites
None
Prerequisites
None
E11880: BEAM Robotics Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Paul Fucile
Come learn about biologically inspired robotics. BEAM (Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics and Mechanics) robots are within a class that primarily use simple analog circuits to mimic natural behavior in response to environmental stimulus. In a departure from classic BEAM designs, we will use an analog/digital core to provide greater student project flexibility.
Prerequisites
Having some experience with DC motors, solar cells, or programming concepts helps, but will not be required. There will be no soldering involved, though we may need to move our project outside if it is a sunny day. Some note taking and paper and pencil sketching will be required.
Prerequisites
Having some experience with DC motors, solar cells, or programming concepts helps, but will not be required. There will be no soldering involved, though we may need to move our project outside if it is a sunny day. Some note taking and paper and pencil sketching will be required.
E11829: Biomedical Optics: an intro to modern microscopy
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Jungsoo Kim
Recent advancement in imaging technology is revolutionizing biology and medicine. Without getting into equations and too much technical details, we will have a high-level conceptual overview of modern light microscopy instrumentation such as confocal, multi-photon, and superresolution.
After a swift review of the elementary (e.g. what is light and how does lens work), we'll explore modern instrumentation techniques. By following the footsteps of ingenious scientists and engineers, we will catch up on the 400 years of discoveries and innovations in biomedical optics (imaging).
Prerequisites
High school physics
After a swift review of the elementary (e.g. what is light and how does lens work), we'll explore modern instrumentation techniques. By following the footsteps of ingenious scientists and engineers, we will catch up on the 400 years of discoveries and innovations in biomedical optics (imaging).
Prerequisites
High school physics
E11866: Exploring Aerospace
Difficulty: *
Come learn about exciting topics that relate to aeronautics and astronautics. We'll talk about current research, fascinating phenomena, and fundamental principles relating to aerospace engineering. Hosted by MIT's Women in Aerospace Engineering group.
E11614: I Heart Circuits
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sarah Flanagan,
Farita Tasnim
If you've ever wanted to learn how to use a breadboard, or how resistors, capacitors, and op amps work together to make magical circuits, or are just curious about electronics in general, stop your head scratching and take this class! Learn to understand the design of basic circuits through the process of building a heartbeat monitor! And guess what!! You get to take home and keep the heartbeat monitors you built! Take this class and you'll learn to heart circuits just as much as I do.
Prerequisites
Algebra
Prerequisites
Algebra
E11589: 3D Printing, Fabrication, And You!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
William Little
3D printing has grown in popularity over a very short period of time and is one of the most popular pieces of equipment in the maker movement! But wait, what is the maker movement? what is open source? what is all of this about? and apparently lasers and something called "CNC Milling" are involved too? what is all of this?
In this class, I will be talking about all of the above! We'll dive into 3D printing with a live printing demonstration and move into CNC milling and laser cutting. We'll then look at the bigger picture with home manufacturing, independence, and the maker movement! Get ready to smell the smell of progress as we melt some plastic and get creative.
In this class, I will be talking about all of the above! We'll dive into 3D printing with a live printing demonstration and move into CNC milling and laser cutting. We'll then look at the bigger picture with home manufacturing, independence, and the maker movement! Get ready to smell the smell of progress as we melt some plastic and get creative.
E11964: Crazy about Lasers
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Katia Shtyrkova
Intro to the physics and design of lasers and laser systems; overview of various types of lasers, and discuss common and exotic laser applications, such as Airborne Laser and Free Electron Laser.
The first half of the class will be spent on basic laser physics, and understanding what makes lasers different from LEDs and other light sources. The second half of the class will be spent on learning about cool laser applications.
The first half of the class will be spent on basic laser physics, and understanding what makes lasers different from LEDs and other light sources. The second half of the class will be spent on learning about cool laser applications.
E11667: My Journey Into High-Power Rocketry
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Victor Lupi
Growing up, I played around with all sorts of Estes rockets, never knowing there was another level to the hobby. This course chronicles my journey through Level 1, Level 2 and (hopefully) Level 3 certification. Along the way, you will get a chance to see some cool videos and get your hands on a bunch of high-power rocketry components. Theoretical and practical aspects of the hobby will be discussed, and one lucky winner from each section will take home their own rocket kit!
E11758: How Airplanes (Actually) Work
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Chris Eschler
We've all heard the simple explanation for lift based on Bernoulli's principle. But is that really what keeps these 50-ton pressurized metal tubes in the sky? What other properties govern flight? This class will explore the history and engineering of airplanes as well as the science behind the physical laws that govern them. The information will be presented in a lecture format.
Prerequisites
Understanding of basic-level physics (mechanics)
Prerequisites
Understanding of basic-level physics (mechanics)
E11781: Build a Bridge!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Andrew DeShields,
Tiffany Tao
Learn about the engineering principles that go behind making a sturdy bridge that can withstand eminence forces without breaking. After learning about the engineering principles behind making a strong bridge, put your knowledge to the test making your own bridge and see how much weight it can withstand.
E11708: Introduction to Rocket Propulsion
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Catherine Miller
Have you ever wondered how rockets work and how we use them to explore the solar system? This course will cover the basic physics of rocket propulsion using Newton's laws of motion. The physics behind chemical rockets like the Space Shuttle main engine and electric propulsion thrusters such as ion engines will be presented both conceptually and mathematically.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of basic kinematics and Newton's laws of motion is required. Knowledge of basic chemical reactions and electrostatics is recommended. Calculus is not required.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of basic kinematics and Newton's laws of motion is required. Knowledge of basic chemical reactions and electrostatics is recommended. Calculus is not required.
E12010: Kerbal Space Program -- Relax, It's Just Rocket Science
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Srinivas Kaza
Have you ever wanted to design and test rockets, but didn't want to deal with multi-million dollar budgets and years of preparation? Well, this is the game/class for you!
We'll be playing Kerbal Space Program, a perfect middle-ground between brutally realistic rocket sim and space-themed fantasy. We'll be covering some basic rocket-related math and physics, and then play the game.
DISCLAIMER: I do not study anything related to rocket engineering/science.
Prerequisites
If you already know how to play Kerbal Space Program, this class is probably going to be pretty boring.
We'll be playing Kerbal Space Program, a perfect middle-ground between brutally realistic rocket sim and space-themed fantasy. We'll be covering some basic rocket-related math and physics, and then play the game.
DISCLAIMER: I do not study anything related to rocket engineering/science.
Prerequisites
If you already know how to play Kerbal Space Program, this class is probably going to be pretty boring.
Humanities
H11609: Intro to the Philosophy of Action Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Elise Bickford
What is left over if I subtract the fact that my arm goes up from the fact that I raise my arm? What makes an action different from a mere bodily motion? What is the role of desire and belief in action? What is a reason for action?
In this course we'll set out to understand and answer some of these fundamental questions about actions which still continue to puzzle philosophers today.
No philosophy background required!
In this course we'll set out to understand and answer some of these fundamental questions about actions which still continue to puzzle philosophers today.
No philosophy background required!
H11849: What does your mother really mean, or how people use words
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Masa Mocnik
Your mum comes home and asks you: "Did you do the laundry or the dishes?" and you tell her: "Yeah, I did the laundry AND the dishes." She is going to be shining with pride. But if you're out in a fancy restaurant, about to order dessert, and your mum tells you: "The tiramisu is too expensive, but you can have the ice cream or the lava cake." Why does she get mad at you when you tell the waiter: "I'll have the ice cream AND the lava cake." After all, you stayed away from the tiramisu -- but she allowed you to order ice cream and she also allowed you to order the lava cake!
In the class we'll look at the different ways in which sentences mean much more than what they literally say, drawing on the insights from linguistics and philosophy. That way you'll always know what your mother really means.
Prerequisites
None.
In the class we'll look at the different ways in which sentences mean much more than what they literally say, drawing on the insights from linguistics and philosophy. That way you'll always know what your mother really means.
Prerequisites
None.
H11915: How Rational Are We?
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Dexin Li,
Sarah Wang
Why do we like "free" so much? Why do we enter lotteries? Why is plain yogurt the same price as mixed fruit yogurt? Come and find out these answers, and about other biases that people unconsciously commit!
Prerequisites
None.
Prerequisites
None.
H11959: Emotional Sensitivity Training
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jason Gross
One of the most essential ingredients to successful emotional communication is awareness of what you're feeling, what others are feeling, and how these feelings evolve moment-by-moment. Come practice listening and sharing emotions and sensations as they arise moment-to-moment.
Prerequisites
Awareness of physical sensations in your body (heat, cold, the floor against your feet, the chair against your back, your clothes against your skin, your tongue in your mouth, etc.)
Prerequisites
Awareness of physical sensations in your body (heat, cold, the floor against your feet, the chair against your back, your clothes against your skin, your tongue in your mouth, etc.)
H11678: The 44 Sounds of English
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sophie Mori
Why does the 'e' in 'cases' receive an extra syllable when the 'e' in 'capes' does not? Do 'dogs' and 'cats' end with the same sound? Come learn about all the sounds in English, and then we will talk about how they work together.
Prerequisites
None!
Prerequisites
None!
H11771: Metamorphoses (not the Kafka book)
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Elizabeth Parizh,
Nina Plotnikov
So, you think you know about Greek mythology? Maybe you've read over the Odyssey once or twice (extra props for those who read the Iliad). Maybe you've even watched Disney's Hercules and know all the songs by heart. But what if we were to tell you that there is so much more... perhaps even an entire book of myths. In fact, Ovid's Metamorphoses offers us a plethora of myths that we can spend a whole class talking about. We'll cover all your favorite myths (like Theseus and the Minotaur and Jason and the Argonauts) and hopefully teach you about some of your new favorite myths (get ready for Eryschthon)!
H11867: Bubble Tea and Humanity Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Elisabeth Sepulveda
Have you ever wondered how to make Bubble tea? Do ever feel like you live in a bubble, and want to meet people who are different from you? If so, break out of the bubble, and take this class! You'll learn how to make Bubble tea, then share and learn from other students, coffeeshop-style. We'll talk about prejudices and biases, and how to connect with others wherever you are!
H11967: Building Histories for Your Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Dystopia Full!
Difficulty: **
In the year 2150, we've colonized Mars. How did we get from here to there?
On the planet Trzymy, there is a plot to overthrow the Usurper! How did he come to power and what is the heritage of his country?
We're doomed. We know we're doomed. The leaders say so. Has it always been this way? If not, when did things change and how?
Creating a solid history to lean on in your story telling can make the tale a lot easier to craft for an author, or at least a lot easier to follow for a reader!
We will work to understand how histories work and what we need to do to build them!
Prerequisites
Must love one or more of the genres in the title and have a desire to create your own!
On the planet Trzymy, there is a plot to overthrow the Usurper! How did he come to power and what is the heritage of his country?
We're doomed. We know we're doomed. The leaders say so. Has it always been this way? If not, when did things change and how?
Creating a solid history to lean on in your story telling can make the tale a lot easier to craft for an author, or at least a lot easier to follow for a reader!
We will work to understand how histories work and what we need to do to build them!
Prerequisites
Must love one or more of the genres in the title and have a desire to create your own!
H11934: International Relations and Model UN
Difficulty: **
Ever wanted to be the next leader of the free world? Learn more about international relations and Model United Nations!
H11532: Myth Matched: What do Hermes and Hermod have in common?
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
John Bond,
Marianne Olsen
Cultures all around the world developed rich and varied bodies of myth, yet there are often striking similarities and differences. Come compare Greco-Roman, Norse, and other mythologies, discover weird comparisons and speculate about their origin, and consider interesting differences!
H11856: Animal Ethics
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Elise Bickford,
Thomas Byrne
Is testing on non-human animals moral? Should we use animal products? Do non-human animals have rights? What does it mean to be an animal?
In this course, we'll address some tough and important questions about non-human animals and our moral relationships with them.
In this course, we'll address some tough and important questions about non-human animals and our moral relationships with them.
H11972: Asian Culture for Non-Asians (and Asians, too) Full!
Difficulty: *
This is a class for non-Asians and Asians alike to learn all about Asian culture! We'll cover everything from how to use chopsticks and pick a Boba flavor to geography of Asia, all while enjoying some delicious Asian food.
H11720: A Brief History of Brexit and the British Constitution
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Richard Ibekwe
Did you know that the Queen is the only person in the UK who can drive without a license and travel abroad without a passport? Did you know that Britain does not have a written constitution? Have you wondered what led to and has resulted from Britain's decision to leave the European Union? In this class, taught by a British MIT student, we'll explore these and other questions!
Prerequisites
None.
Prerequisites
None.
H11963: Making deep friendships - Circling Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jason Gross
Most of your Splash classes will be about objects and things. Some of your conversations will involve personal history, where you grew up, what you like and dislike. This class will be a third kind of conversation, about what our present experience is, as we're having it.
Access to this level of conversation has a way of facilitating deep connections where you can feel deeply seen and welcomed. Circling is a practice about getting others' worlds, sharing what it's really like to be you, and having that be seen and reflected. Come experience the magic.
Access to this level of conversation has a way of facilitating deep connections where you can feel deeply seen and welcomed. Circling is a practice about getting others' worlds, sharing what it's really like to be you, and having that be seen and reflected. Come experience the magic.
H11729: Philosophical Dilemmas of Computer Science
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Anshula Gandhi
Can computers think? Can they feel? Can they pass as humans? Can they be creative? And what tests should we use to measure whether they are?
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of computers, possibly some knowledge of basic programming can be helpful but is not required
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of computers, possibly some knowledge of basic programming can be helpful but is not required
H11718: Ancient Egyptian Shenanigans
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jingyi Zhao
well they had a super long history. I will talk about some of my favorite stories.
H11965: Magic Systems in Fantasy Stories
Difficulty: **
We'll spend a good chunk of this class exploring how magic is presented in a variety of books and movies, after which we will see about constructung our own, either individually or collectively, as the class prefers.
Prerequisites
Must love fantasy stories!
Prerequisites
Must love fantasy stories!
H11833: Learn Predicate Logic!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Annika Heinold
Are you interested in philosophy, languages, and logic? This course will cover the basics of predicate logic from a philosophical perspective. We will cover truth functionality and connectives as related to predicates, as well as a basic deduction system and some strategies. If you like philosophy of language, logic, and proofs, you'll probably like this class.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of propositional logic and truth functionality. We'll review, but some previous knowledge may help.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of propositional logic and truth functionality. We'll review, but some previous knowledge may help.
H11872: Free Speech in the U.S.: Definitions and Limits
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jessica Shi
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits, among other things, laws "abridging the freedom of speech." This right manifests itself in some pretty wonderful ways (we can publicly criticize our leaders, for example), but where do we draw the line? Should hate speech be protected? Or obscenity? Have you ever heard the phrase, "fire in a crowded theater"? ...Besides, what is speech, anyway? Does flag burning count? Does money?
We will explore and discuss this issue by examining a series of Supreme Court cases, both historic and recent, and determine where we stand on what is free speech, and what isn't.
Prerequisites
A basic understanding of U.S. history and the function of the Supreme Court is helpful, but not required.
We will explore and discuss this issue by examining a series of Supreme Court cases, both historic and recent, and determine where we stand on what is free speech, and what isn't.
Prerequisites
A basic understanding of U.S. history and the function of the Supreme Court is helpful, but not required.
H11760: Redemption Ethics
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Riley Drake
According to Roman Catholic traditions, how is the soul of the sinner saved? What is the role of redemption, penance and repentance in the life and salvation of the believer. We will trace the historical development of repemption theories from Augustine, Aquinas, Lonerghan and other notable theologians.
H11971: Communication in Navigating Relationships, Friendships, Family Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jason Gross,
Alana Lidawer
Do you have questions or uncertainties about how to deal with dating, relationships, friendships, or family interactions? Do you have unmet desires for deeper connections, being more understood, or understanding others better?
Bring your questions, thoughts, and insights, and let's discuss these topics! We may also practice some exercises that I've found especially useful in my ability to communicate, foster emotional safety for myself and others, and resolve conflicts.
Bring your questions, thoughts, and insights, and let's discuss these topics! We may also practice some exercises that I've found especially useful in my ability to communicate, foster emotional safety for myself and others, and resolve conflicts.
H11860: Were all the ancient Greeks and Romans really gay?
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sasha Barish
"Why are so many people calling themselves LGBTQ nowadays when almost everyone was straight in the past?"
"Weren't all the ancient Greeks a little gay anyway?"
"I heard that in the past there was less of a gay/straight dichotomy and it was the norm for everyone to be bi."
"I was reading about this Roman emperor who was trans!"
People say lots of things about gender and sexuality in the ancient world, and in this class we'll be looking at some primary sources (in English translation!) and exploring the topic for ourselves. Together, we'll read ancient Greek and Roman texts ranging from accounts of gender dysphoria to lesbian love poems to the stigma of being a bottom, and we'll discuss questions like: What's going on in these texts? What are the larger frameworks of thought about how gender and attraction work, and how do they differ between ancient and modern societies? Can we make cultural generalizations based on a few documents, or can we only evaluate what the individual writer thinks? Does it make sense to label people in the past as LGBT?
Prerequisites
No preparation necessary: just come in open-minded, and ready to read and talk! Please note that this class will include academic and mature discussion of some sexually explicit texts.
"Weren't all the ancient Greeks a little gay anyway?"
"I heard that in the past there was less of a gay/straight dichotomy and it was the norm for everyone to be bi."
"I was reading about this Roman emperor who was trans!"
People say lots of things about gender and sexuality in the ancient world, and in this class we'll be looking at some primary sources (in English translation!) and exploring the topic for ourselves. Together, we'll read ancient Greek and Roman texts ranging from accounts of gender dysphoria to lesbian love poems to the stigma of being a bottom, and we'll discuss questions like: What's going on in these texts? What are the larger frameworks of thought about how gender and attraction work, and how do they differ between ancient and modern societies? Can we make cultural generalizations based on a few documents, or can we only evaluate what the individual writer thinks? Does it make sense to label people in the past as LGBT?
Prerequisites
No preparation necessary: just come in open-minded, and ready to read and talk! Please note that this class will include academic and mature discussion of some sexually explicit texts.
H11815: Philosophy reading
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
yc yu
Discussion on Aristotle's Politics and some other works.
Please read up to (at least) section 1288b before class:
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&query=Arist.%20Pol.&getid=1
You can also get/borrow a paper copy:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/aristotles-politics/oclc/932784217
Prerequisites
Please sign up only if you can commit to the reading and participate in discussion.
Please read up to (at least) section 1288b before class:
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&query=Arist.%20Pol.&getid=1
You can also get/borrow a paper copy:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/aristotles-politics/oclc/932784217
Prerequisites
Please sign up only if you can commit to the reading and participate in discussion.
H11977: Opera 101
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Gaurav Singh
Have you heard about this thing called opera? Do you want to know more about it? We will talk about a few famous composers, how operas are made, and a bit of the history of them.
H11876: Being Mortal: Ethics at the End
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Bryce Hwang,
Jenny Li
Should physicians provide painful care they are 99% percent sure will not help? Is it irresponsible for physicians to lead on patients with overly optimistic prognoses?And what goals and expectations should we set at the end of our lives, and how do these impact us today? Come and explore these critical questions with us through the lens of Dr. Atul Gawande's book, Being Mortal.
H11759: History of the Catholic Church
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Riley Drake
Jesus gave "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" to Peter. Many centuries later, the papacy would become a kingdom in and of itself, ruling over the past not only the Papal States but the entirely of Medieval Europe. We'll trace the development of the Catholic Church from Jesus to the second Vatican council.
H11953: Circling - Intersubjective Mindfulness Meditation Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Jason Gross
Most of your Splash classes will be about objects and things. Some of your conversations will involve personal history, where you grew up, what you like and dislike. This class will be a third kind of conversation, about what our present experience is, as we're having it.
There's a kind of magic to being deeply seen, and to being welcomed as you are. Circling is a practice about getting others' worlds, and sharing what it's really like to be you, and having that be seen and reflected. Come experience the magic
Prerequisites
You'll need to agree to practice honoring yourself---doing what you want to be doing, and refusing to do what you don't want to be doing.
There's a kind of magic to being deeply seen, and to being welcomed as you are. Circling is a practice about getting others' worlds, and sharing what it's really like to be you, and having that be seen and reflected. Come experience the magic
Prerequisites
You'll need to agree to practice honoring yourself---doing what you want to be doing, and refusing to do what you don't want to be doing.
H11661: Does God exist?
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Peter Klapes
In this discussion-based course, we will explore the different arguments regarding the existence of God.
H11699: Playwriting Intensive
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jennifer Yoo
You want to write a play, but where do you start? Character? Setting? Structure? This course will provide an overview of the craft of playwriting, ideal for both beginner and advanced writers. Content will include character, language/dialogue, conflict and structure, setting, formatting, and more. There will be brief lectures, writing exercises, and time to share and discuss work.
Come in to class with whatever helps you write (laptop, pen and paper, etc) and be ready to hit the ground writing.
Prerequisites
Please come prepared to write, share, read other people's work aloud, and participate in discussion/giving feedback. Coming with an idea for a play beforehand is not required but you are more than welcome to do so (as is bringing works-in-progress to receive feedback)!
Come in to class with whatever helps you write (laptop, pen and paper, etc) and be ready to hit the ground writing.
Prerequisites
Please come prepared to write, share, read other people's work aloud, and participate in discussion/giving feedback. Coming with an idea for a play beforehand is not required but you are more than welcome to do so (as is bringing works-in-progress to receive feedback)!
H11731: Be you, do you. How to leverage your identity
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Diane Mwizerwa
Have you ever struggled answering the why you question? Do you have trouble finding what makes you special? Then this class is for you.
We will explore what makes one unique. How you can identify parts of your background and experiences that makes you different and special.
We will explore what makes one unique. How you can identify parts of your background and experiences that makes you different and special.
H11834: Introduction to Socionics
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Roan LaPlante
In this class we will review Socionics, a personality typology and branch of Jungian analytical psychology developed by a Lithuanian woman named Ausra Augustinavicitue in the 1970s. Socionics is moderately well popularized in Eastern Europe and almost unheard of in Western Europe or America.
Socionics is an abstract philosophical model and language for describing people and their social interactions, which attempts to answer the question, "How are different people different?" More concisely, it is a system of personality types. In this class, we will simultaneously review the conceptual foundations of this typology, and in doing so, we will address the problem of knowledge and numerous issues in practice. Specifically we will point out the problems and vagueness of the topic of personality types in itself, how it relates to science (socionics is *not* science) and ask what understanding personality types is actually useful for.
Prerequisites
A desire for self-knowledge and a willingness to think critically. Familiarity with MBTI is potentially helpful but also potentially detrimental. Some background in psychology is helpful but not needed.
Socionics is an abstract philosophical model and language for describing people and their social interactions, which attempts to answer the question, "How are different people different?" More concisely, it is a system of personality types. In this class, we will simultaneously review the conceptual foundations of this typology, and in doing so, we will address the problem of knowledge and numerous issues in practice. Specifically we will point out the problems and vagueness of the topic of personality types in itself, how it relates to science (socionics is *not* science) and ask what understanding personality types is actually useful for.
Prerequisites
A desire for self-knowledge and a willingness to think critically. Familiarity with MBTI is potentially helpful but also potentially detrimental. Some background in psychology is helpful but not needed.
H11662: Poetry and Philosophy Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Peter Klapes
In this course, we'll use poetry as a means of discussing a variety of philosophical topics.
Lunch
L12008: Lunch Period
Difficulty: None
Teachers:
Enjoy a break for lunch with your friends! Please register for at least one lunch period on each day of the program.
L12007: Lunch Period
Difficulty: None
Teachers:
Enjoy a break for lunch with your friends! Please register for at least one lunch period on each day of the program.
Mathematics
M11766: Fast Fourier Transforms done Fast
Difficulty: ****
Teachers:
Leo Alcock
Fourier transforms/Fourier series/Discrete Fourier transforms and finally yes, the fast Fourier transform have been a staple of the Splash scene. To continue on with this tradition, I'm going to be talking about FFTs from a computational number theory side (and hopefully a side you haven't seen before). The focus of the lecture will be understanding how computers multiply large integers using the FFT, and it will explore FFTs in (more) arbitrary rings and the three primes approach to integer multiplication.
Prerequisites
EIther having seen the fast fourier transform before in some setting or more usefully some experience with rings/fields would help.
Prerequisites
EIther having seen the fast fourier transform before in some setting or more usefully some experience with rings/fields would help.
M11746: Splitting Cake with Sperner's Lemma
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Nelson Niu
You and your friends have attained a large, multi-flavored cake. You would all like to eat some of that cake, but you each have slightly different preferences about what part of the cake you want. Some of you love the coconut shavings; some will avoid the chocolate icing at all costs. The large scoop of ice cream in the corner is particularly popular. Is there a way to split up the cake fairly amongst yourselves--without losing any friends in the process?
It turns out there is, and we can prove it! All it takes is a cute little theorem about coloring points in triangles called Sperner's Lemma. In fact, not only does our theorem tells us that a fair division exists, it can even tell us exactly how --plus or minus a sprinkle. Come see how it all works here!
Prerequisites
Some experience with proofs is recommended; you should, at the very least, know how to prove a statement by induction. It would also help to know what the graph of $$ x + y + z = 1 $$ looks like.
It turns out there is, and we can prove it! All it takes is a cute little theorem about coloring points in triangles called Sperner's Lemma. In fact, not only does our theorem tells us that a fair division exists, it can even tell us exactly how --plus or minus a sprinkle. Come see how it all works here!
Prerequisites
Some experience with proofs is recommended; you should, at the very least, know how to prove a statement by induction. It would also help to know what the graph of $$ x + y + z = 1 $$ looks like.
M11762: On the Infinitude of the Primes
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Mark Kong
We will prove that the sum of the reciprocals of the primes diverges and then prove that there are infinitely many primes in the sequence 1,5,9,13,...
We will generalize this to give a brief sketch of the proof that this holds in genera.
Then we will switch gears and use polynomials to give another proof that there are infinitely many primes in that sequence and see how far we can generalize this.
Prerequisites
Comfort with complex numbers. Also, a willingness to believe that $$\log(1-x)=-(a+\frac{a^2}{2}+\frac{x^3}{3}+\dots)$$ if $$|x|<1$$ will be necessary for a small portion. Note: I will try to define modular arithmetic in the class, but I have tried to do this in the past and I was not successful.
We will generalize this to give a brief sketch of the proof that this holds in genera.
Then we will switch gears and use polynomials to give another proof that there are infinitely many primes in that sequence and see how far we can generalize this.
Prerequisites
Comfort with complex numbers. Also, a willingness to believe that $$\log(1-x)=-(a+\frac{a^2}{2}+\frac{x^3}{3}+\dots)$$ if $$|x|<1$$ will be necessary for a small portion. Note: I will try to define modular arithmetic in the class, but I have tried to do this in the past and I was not successful.
M11633: The Monty Hall Problem: Or, How To Be a Millionaire
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Emma Krentz
You find yourself on a game show in front of 3 closed doors: behind one is $1,000,000; behind the other two is nothing. How do you tip the odds in your favor and go home a millionaire?
The answer, as always, is math.
The answer, as always, is math.
M11909: Simple Models of Computation
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Adam Hesterberg
Almost all programming languages are equally powerful—anything one of them can do, they all can. We’ll talk about two less powerful models of computation—ones that can’t even, say, tell whether two numbers are equal. They’ll nevertheless save the day if you have to search through 200MB of emails looking for something formatted like an address.
This is a math class, not a programming one—we’ll talk about clever proofs for what those models of computation can and can’t do.
This is a math class, not a programming one—we’ll talk about clever proofs for what those models of computation can and can’t do.
M11648: On "Finite Simple Group (Of Order Two)"
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Brian Chen,
Ashley Kim
Take a whirlwind tour of all the mathematics puns in the love song for math nerds *par excellence*. Learn just enough about topology, calculus, set theory, linear algebra, abstract algebra, differential geometry, and category theory to understand the lyrics and impress your friends, if your friends are the type to be impressed by math puns.
Prerequisites
Listen to the song a few times (it's easy to find on YouTube)
Prerequisites
Listen to the song a few times (it's easy to find on YouTube)
M11822: Higher algebra
Difficulty: ****
Teachers:
Mendel Keller
Hold on to your hats, because this is a roller coaster of algebra. I will be rapidly presenting a bunch of complex algebraic concepts, for any students who want a taste of the tougher stuff.
I will be presenting concepts such as local rings, tensor products and the Nullstellensatz.
This class is more a hophodge collection of topics in ring theory than a coherent train of thought, I will be introducing a concept, motivating it, provide an example or two, and then moving on to the next topic.
If you've been exposed to a bunch of abstract algebra (e.g. Artin, Dummit & Foote, Herstein) and would like to see what comes next, this is the class for you. I will be providing a glimpse of number theory and algebraic geometry, and the methods they employ.
Prerequisites
I will be assuming knowledge of the definitions of: group, ring, ideal, module, homomorphism, field, vector space. I will assume familiarity with the concepts: prime ideal, maximal ideal, principal ideal domain, unique factorization, quotient ring. I will also be assuming familiarity with basic properties of primes and polynomials. While it is ok if you don't know a few of these things, you MUST be familiar with more than half. These prerequisites are very strict, in that if you are not familiar with these notions you will understand nothing of what's going on. This course is intended to present a bunch of complex information fairly rapidly, and it's unreasonable to expect to understand it all, even with all the prerequisites. Consider yourselves warned. I will be e-mailing out a refresher sheet about a week before the class to remind you of the definitions I will be using, it is well worth reading this sheet to prepare for this class.
I will be presenting concepts such as local rings, tensor products and the Nullstellensatz.
This class is more a hophodge collection of topics in ring theory than a coherent train of thought, I will be introducing a concept, motivating it, provide an example or two, and then moving on to the next topic.
If you've been exposed to a bunch of abstract algebra (e.g. Artin, Dummit & Foote, Herstein) and would like to see what comes next, this is the class for you. I will be providing a glimpse of number theory and algebraic geometry, and the methods they employ.
Prerequisites
I will be assuming knowledge of the definitions of: group, ring, ideal, module, homomorphism, field, vector space. I will assume familiarity with the concepts: prime ideal, maximal ideal, principal ideal domain, unique factorization, quotient ring. I will also be assuming familiarity with basic properties of primes and polynomials. While it is ok if you don't know a few of these things, you MUST be familiar with more than half. These prerequisites are very strict, in that if you are not familiar with these notions you will understand nothing of what's going on. This course is intended to present a bunch of complex information fairly rapidly, and it's unreasonable to expect to understand it all, even with all the prerequisites. Consider yourselves warned. I will be e-mailing out a refresher sheet about a week before the class to remind you of the definitions I will be using, it is well worth reading this sheet to prepare for this class.
M11825: The Math In a Rubik's Cube
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Emma Krentz
Ever wanted to learn to solve a Rubik's cube? Know the series of steps to solve a cube, but want to know the math behind why it works? In this course, we'll be learning some basic group theory and statistics to teach you how to solve a Rubik's cube from scratch!
M11575: Complex Numbers: Math That Will Freak You Out (at least a little bit)
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
John Gregg
I promise this math will freak you out at least a bit. We will explore the existence or non-existence of nonsensical things called complex numbers, or less scarily, imaginary numbers (aren't they all?). We will end up deep, deep inside a certain blob called the Mandelbrot set, which is made of these "imaginary" numbers.
M11999: Generating Functions
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Arkadiy Frasinich,
Tara Liu
The Fibonacci sequence looks like 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,... You get it by starting with two 1s and getting the next number by adding the two previous ones. What is the millionth number you get? Rather than working it out, we'll find a quicker way to figure this out using generating functions, a really fun tool in math.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar and comfortable with adding and multiplying polynomials.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar and comfortable with adding and multiplying polynomials.
M11861: Mens et Manus in STEM and Music
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Sophia Kioulaphides
The growth of a STEM-focused culture has unfortunately made many people believe that music and math/science are completely different subjects that do not intertwine. I believe that this is completely incorrect, and that music uses math and science principles all the time. From counting beats in a measure to measuring the frequency of a pitch to actually playing an instrument, this class will show that MIT's motto, Mens et Manus, applies to music just as as much as it applies to engineering.
Prerequisites
Some knowledge in physics (particularly in optics) and generally being comfortable with math is a plus. Most of all, an interest in the subject matter.
Prerequisites
Some knowledge in physics (particularly in optics) and generally being comfortable with math is a plus. Most of all, an interest in the subject matter.
M11682: Ordinals and Hydras
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Della Hendrickson,
Jordan Hines
What happens when you start counting and don't stop? Can a hydra be beaten? What do hydras even have to do with math? Come to this class to find out!
Prerequisites
You should be able to write numbers in different bases. Prior experience with proofs and set theory would be helpful.
Prerequisites
You should be able to write numbers in different bases. Prior experience with proofs and set theory would be helpful.
M11583: Introduction to Probability
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Kenneth Wang
Randomness is all around us! In this course, we explore a framework to deal with randomness, namely probability. We will talk about a rigorous definition of probability, as well as a couple of cool examples of it in action. We'll discuss random variables and how they can be used to characterize real life situations. This class will be good preparation for "Machine Learning: The Big Picture".
Prerequisites
Algebra and enthusiasm!
Prerequisites
Algebra and enthusiasm!
M11817: Proofs of the Infinitude of Primes with Intermittent Zumba
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Lily Jordan,
Olivia Siegel
There's no limit to how many numbers have no integer factors except themselves and one. There's also no limit to the fresh juicy rhythms and sizzling moves we'll be breaking out. This is the two-hour math class for people without a two-hour attention span.
M11933: That's So Random
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Josh Alman,
Gregory Bodwin
What does it mean to be "random"? Is the world inherently deterministic or random? Many fields of study including statistics, physics, computer science, and philosophy have tried to answer these questions in many different ways. While randomness is frequently viewed as a source of uncertainty, are there ways we can leverage randomness to our advantage? In this course, we will survey various attempts to answer these questions and more, discussing definitions of randomness, algorithmic and cryptographic applications of randomness, and the existence of randomness in the real world.
M11628: Solving the "Good Will Hunting" Problem
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Emma Krentz
Have you ever watched Good Will Hunting? Have you ever wanted to pull a Matt Damon and solve, in two hours, the problem that left MIT mathematicians baffled for months (but not really)? Come out to this crash course on solving one of the most famous math problems in popular culture and learn about graph theory, linear algebra, and more!
Prerequisites
Some basic series and matrix understanding is suggested, but not required.
Prerequisites
Some basic series and matrix understanding is suggested, but not required.
M11601: Infinite dimensional topology
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Mendel Keller
Topology is the abstract study of shape. We will be covering some point-set topology. In particular, we will start by looking at the real line, generalize to higher dimensional real space, and then consider the infinite case.
In doing so, we introduce topologies, as simple structures that can be given to sets. We study some basic operations that can be done on topologies, and focus on metric topologies, or rather metric spaces. Wherin we use a notion of distance to give a type of shape.
We will then consider how to close a set. Which essentially looks like adding the things on its boundary. And using closures we will consider which topology on infinite dimensional space is most satisfying.
Prerequisites
There are few specific prerequisites for the course, but mathematical maturity is going to be extremely helpful. I will be introducing all the basic notions used in topology, and so exposure to college-level theoretical mathematics is key. Exposure to topology is not necessary, but will definitely be helpful.
In doing so, we introduce topologies, as simple structures that can be given to sets. We study some basic operations that can be done on topologies, and focus on metric topologies, or rather metric spaces. Wherin we use a notion of distance to give a type of shape.
We will then consider how to close a set. Which essentially looks like adding the things on its boundary. And using closures we will consider which topology on infinite dimensional space is most satisfying.
Prerequisites
There are few specific prerequisites for the course, but mathematical maturity is going to be extremely helpful. I will be introducing all the basic notions used in topology, and so exposure to college-level theoretical mathematics is key. Exposure to topology is not necessary, but will definitely be helpful.
M11992: I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Ordinals!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Arkadiy Frasinich
What's the highest you can count? Is there any way to make $$\infty^\infty$$ make any sense at all? Could Hercules ever actually kill the hydra? It turns out that all of these questions can be answered using ordinal numbers. In this class, we'll define these numbers and look at some of the things we can do with them.
Prerequisites
To get the most out of this class, it would be useful to know what a set is, as well as how to take unions of sets. You should also know what induction is and how to use it in proofs.
Prerequisites
To get the most out of this class, it would be useful to know what a set is, as well as how to take unions of sets. You should also know what induction is and how to use it in proofs.
M11919: Quirky Quarternions: Steering your spacecraft with non-commutative algebra
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Lizhou Sha
$$ab = ba$$: You may have learned about this seemingly universal truth in grade school. However, in this class, we'll throw the commutative law of multiplication out of the window, and go back to the drawing boards to define an algebra of numbers with three imaginary units.
We will begin the class with a short introduction of complex numbers, their geometric representation as points on the complex plane, and the geometric meaning of their multiplication. We will then introduce the fundamental multiplication law for quaternions, $$i^2 = j^2 = k^2 = ijk = -1$$, and show how everything about quaternions falls into place following this formula. You will also learn about why you might want use quaternion multiplication to steer your spacecraft.
Prerequisites
Geometry, Algebra 2 and trigonometry. Preliminary knowledge of complex numbers and vector dot and cross products is a plus.
We will begin the class with a short introduction of complex numbers, their geometric representation as points on the complex plane, and the geometric meaning of their multiplication. We will then introduce the fundamental multiplication law for quaternions, $$i^2 = j^2 = k^2 = ijk = -1$$, and show how everything about quaternions falls into place following this formula. You will also learn about why you might want use quaternion multiplication to steer your spacecraft.
Prerequisites
Geometry, Algebra 2 and trigonometry. Preliminary knowledge of complex numbers and vector dot and cross products is a plus.
M11679: Lambda Calculus
Difficulty: ****
Teachers:
Della Hendrickson
λf.(λx.f(x x))(λx.f(x x))
What does that mean? Come to this class to find out!
Lambda calculus is a minimal, inefficient, and hard-to-read, but still interesting and useful, programming language.
What does that mean? Come to this class to find out!
Lambda calculus is a minimal, inefficient, and hard-to-read, but still interesting and useful, programming language.
M11806: There are 10 types of people in this world... Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Kevin Chen,
Rachel Zhang
Those who are coming to this class and those who aren't.
Prerequisites
Familiarity with binary
Prerequisites
Familiarity with binary
M11843: Axioms of Z
Difficulty: *
Teachers:
Rikhav Shah
What is a number? How do we know there aren't any integers in between 0 and 1? Does the commutative property have to be true? Come find out if AXIOMS hold the answer to all these questions and more!
M11717: Geometry of Surfaces
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jingyi Zhao
If there are two points $$p$$ and $$q$$, what is the shortest path between them in $$\mathbb{R}^3$$. What if they are on a sphere and you path has to be on the sphere? Any random surface? Hopefully you can walk out of this class knowing the fastest way to go to your next class.
Prerequisites
calculus
Prerequisites
calculus
M11651: Mathematical Modeling
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Jessica Oehrlein
Math modeling is how we use mathematics to study open-ended questions about real-world phenomena. What's the best location for a food truck? How does an invasive species affect an ecosystem? How do we clean up space debris? These are all questions that we can start to answer with math modeling. The goal of this class is to introduce you to the modeling process. By the end, you'll have developed models to answer questions about a couple of different scenarios, and you'll know about some of the tools you can use to tackle more significant modeling problems.
Prerequisites
Comfort with algebra and a willingness to tackle very open-ended problems.
Prerequisites
Comfort with algebra and a willingness to tackle very open-ended problems.
M11768: Introduction to Graph Theory
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Brin Harper
We will define graphs, discuss their properties, and learn about various ways to represent them. Then, we'll delve into some of the problems that graph theory allows us to solve! You will learn why graph theory is a key tool in so many different fields, including computer science, physics, and social sciences. You'll also get to make some pretty drawings :)
M11936: Banana Math
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Vicky Lee
Admit it. Math classes usual teach math like it's some sort of mystic process that gets you a magic answer. The philosophy for this class is that if you can't explain math using bananas then you don't understand it. This class will cover a variety of notoriously difficult math topics including vector calculus and show that they're really not that hard as long as you have bananas.
Prerequisites
Basic math skills: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division A love/fear of math/bananas
Prerequisites
Basic math skills: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division A love/fear of math/bananas
M11658: Spies, Goats, Cars, and Bayes
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Joseph Elsherbini,
Joy Yang
This is a module out of a course that was roughly intended to be a teaser for probability and statistics. Other modules will also be offered as part of Splash (M11663: The Correlations Funhouse; M11660: Taste Testing and Statistics), but do not have to be taken concurrently.
We will start this module with a discussion about the meaning of randomness and priors, lead into an activity that dives a bit further into conditional probabilities and Bayes rule, and finally play the Monty Hall game. The focus will be on building intuition, and no previous experience with probability is required.
We will start this module with a discussion about the meaning of randomness and priors, lead into an activity that dives a bit further into conditional probabilities and Bayes rule, and finally play the Monty Hall game. The focus will be on building intuition, and no previous experience with probability is required.
M11683: Turing Machines!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Jordan Hines
A Turing machine is a simple machine that can do everything that your favorite programming language can! Come learn about what Turing machines are, things they can do, and things they can't do!
M11814: Complex Numbers
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Anton Cao
Learn the basics of imaginary numbers, find out what $$i^i$$ is, and prove a cool geometry theorem!
Prerequisites
Calculus AB or BC
Prerequisites
Calculus AB or BC
M11935: Games of Math
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Josh Alman,
Gregory Bodwin
You might think that you don't need to know any math in order to beat your friends at games. But, you're wrong! Come learn everything you need to know to win at every game.
M11595: Intro to Computability Theory
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Della Hendrickson
Computers can do a lot of things. If you've ever programmed, you might think you can theoretically write a program that does anything. But it turns out there are things you can't program, no matter how clever you are! You'll see some examples of these functions and learn more about what computers are actually capable of.
Prerequisites
You should have seen programming at least a bit, though we won't use any detailed knowledge of it.
Prerequisites
You should have seen programming at least a bit, though we won't use any detailed knowledge of it.
M11786: Conceptual Calculus
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Aaron Dunbrack
Learn what it means to take the limit, the derivative, or the integral! Also learn how to apply these concepts in some pretty cool ways. Note: this class will be almost entirely conceptual - very few actual derivatives will be taken, although some of the more interesting ones may be used.
Prerequisites
Understand basic algebraic manipulations. Familiarity with polynomial functions, exponentials and trigonometry will help with understanding examples, but are not required for basic understanding.
Prerequisites
Understand basic algebraic manipulations. Familiarity with polynomial functions, exponentials and trigonometry will help with understanding examples, but are not required for basic understanding.
M11770: Surface Area and Volume of a sphere Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Mark Kong
We will derive the formulas for the surface area and volume of a sphere in n dimensions by following the Gaussian Integral approach on the Wikipedia page. We will also talk about some digressions that come up.
Prerequisites
Single variable calculus is necessary. Also be at least somewhat comfortable with the idea that $$\int_{a}^{b}\int_{c}^{d}{f(x,y)dxdy}$$ is the integral of $$f$$ over the rectangle with boundaries $$x=c,x=d,y=a,y=b$$, and its generalization to more dimensions (we will not be too rigorous with this, so don't worry about technical details of this).
Prerequisites
Single variable calculus is necessary. Also be at least somewhat comfortable with the idea that $$\int_{a}^{b}\int_{c}^{d}{f(x,y)dxdy}$$ is the integral of $$f$$ over the rectangle with boundaries $$x=c,x=d,y=a,y=b$$, and its generalization to more dimensions (we will not be too rigorous with this, so don't worry about technical details of this).
M11550: Integer Partitions
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Jordan Hines
How many ways can you break up the number 19 into a sum of positive integers (for example, 18+1 or 10+5+1+1+1+1)? What does the number of ways to break up a number into odd parts have to do with the number of ways to break up a number into distinct parts?
In this class, we'll study these ways of breaking up positive integers, called integer partitions. But rather than just listening to a lecture, you'll be making the discoveries for yourself! You'll work with other students to find patterns, make conjectures, and prove things about integer partitions. I'll introduce a few important concepts and help you along the way.
Prerequisites
Familiarity with proofs is strongly recommended. If you're familiar with generating functions, this class will probably be too easy for you.
In this class, we'll study these ways of breaking up positive integers, called integer partitions. But rather than just listening to a lecture, you'll be making the discoveries for yourself! You'll work with other students to find patterns, make conjectures, and prove things about integer partitions. I'll introduce a few important concepts and help you along the way.
Prerequisites
Familiarity with proofs is strongly recommended. If you're familiar with generating functions, this class will probably be too easy for you.
M11603: Fun with groups
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Mendel Keller
We will be investigating some examples of groups and playing around with them.
Some of the things we will investigate are the symmetries of squares, pyramids and other shapes. We will look at permutation groups, and fiddle a bit with matrix groups and isometries.
If you like algebra, you'll love groups. It's a more visual type of mathematics that focuses on balance and symmetry. We will be looking at groups inside groups and groups that are similar and different to each other.
If you're somehow not yet sold, I'd remind you that the Rubik's cube is a group, and that groups can be applied to a wide variety of problems, for example to examine the deeper properties of polynomials.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites, but we will be touching on a variety of topics. Including for example linear algebra. Affinity for shapes, and some exposure to higher mathematics, will be helpful
Some of the things we will investigate are the symmetries of squares, pyramids and other shapes. We will look at permutation groups, and fiddle a bit with matrix groups and isometries.
If you like algebra, you'll love groups. It's a more visual type of mathematics that focuses on balance and symmetry. We will be looking at groups inside groups and groups that are similar and different to each other.
If you're somehow not yet sold, I'd remind you that the Rubik's cube is a group, and that groups can be applied to a wide variety of problems, for example to examine the deeper properties of polynomials.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites, but we will be touching on a variety of topics. Including for example linear algebra. Affinity for shapes, and some exposure to higher mathematics, will be helpful
M11882: Random Probability Paradoxes
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Kristian Georgiev
Can you solve the following question? On average, how many times must a die be thrown so that one gets a 6? Yes? Nice. No? It's fine, you can still come. We will just play around with some fun probability puzzles and paradoxes.
M11845: How to Properly, and Physically, Throw away Infinities
Difficulty: ****
Teachers:
Patrick Ledwith
While in simple mechanics all answers are finite, even in classical electrodynamics one encounters perilous infinities that seem to plague the mathematical consistency of our physical world. In this class we will explore the different infinites arising in thermodynamics, quantum field theory, and string theory. We'll show you how to get rid of them when they're bugging you, but we'll also develop an intuition for why they occur and give a precise meaning to why some people claim the seemingly false identity $1+2+3+4+... = \frac{-1}{12}$. If we have time we'll also take detours to talk about how quantum mechanics takes away our symmetries and why physicists like to work in dimensions really close to 4, but not 4.
M11922: Winning Dots-And-Boxes, Nim, and Other Games
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Laura Pierson,
Julian Wellman
Dots-And-Boxes is a paper-and-pencil game most popular among small children, but the strategy behind it is anything but simple. We’ll play some example games, and then quickly start analyzing a general strategy to win almost every time. In the process, we’ll need to do a whirlwind tour of combinatorial game theory, including games like Nim, and time permitting, Kayles, Dawson’s Chess, and any other games of interest.
M11842: Mods and Primes
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Rikhav Shah
When does 11+4=3? When isn't 5 a prime number? How do prime numbers keep our bank accounts safe? What is Fermat's Little Theorem? Come learn about mods and primes to find out!
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of imaginary numbers
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of imaginary numbers
M11891: Integration Bee!
Difficulty: ***
Come participate in an integration bee (YES, A CONTEST), similar to the one held at MIT annually, and then learn some calculus from us afterwards!
Winner of the bee (the GRAND INTEGRATOR) gets a prize TBD.
Prerequisites
Basic integration knowledge required, knowledge of slick integration techniques helpful.
Winner of the bee (the GRAND INTEGRATOR) gets a prize TBD.
Prerequisites
Basic integration knowledge required, knowledge of slick integration techniques helpful.
M11988: Demockracy
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Ziv Scully
Having a fair election with two candidates is pretty simple: everyone votes for their favorite candidate and whoever gets the most votes wins. However, as anyone who was around for the presidential elections in 2000 (or 1912... or 1860) will tell you, things get complicated with three or more candidates. It's sometimes the case that you should vote for a candidate you think is likely to win instead of a fringe candidate you agree with more. We can think of different voting systems that try to get around this and other problems, but as we'll explore in class, no voting system avoids all potential flaws. You might ask: is there a "perfect" voting system out there?
Actually, it turns out there is one. It's called a dictatorship. And unless you have an infinite number of voters, no other system is "perfect". Come find out why!
Prerequisites
If you know how to prove there are infinitely many primes, you're definitely ready. Even if you can't, just come ready to think hard about voting :).
Actually, it turns out there is one. It's called a dictatorship. And unless you have an infinite number of voters, no other system is "perfect". Come find out why!
Prerequisites
If you know how to prove there are infinitely many primes, you're definitely ready. Even if you can't, just come ready to think hard about voting :).
M11680: Ramsey Theory
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Della Hendrickson
How many people do you need to put in a room to make sure four of them are either all friends or all not friends?
Why does anyone care about numbers like Graham's Number, which way are too big to have any physical relevance?
Ramsey theory is the study of how particular structures always emerge in sufficiently large clusters of randomness. Learn the answers to these questions and more!
Prerequisites
Be comfortable with exponents. For example, you should know what $$2^{2^{2^2}}$$ is, and how it's different from $$((2^2)^2)^2$$.
Why does anyone care about numbers like Graham's Number, which way are too big to have any physical relevance?
Ramsey theory is the study of how particular structures always emerge in sufficiently large clusters of randomness. Learn the answers to these questions and more!
Prerequisites
Be comfortable with exponents. For example, you should know what $$2^{2^{2^2}}$$ is, and how it's different from $$((2^2)^2)^2$$.
M11816: From Rational Approximation of $$\sqrt{2}$$ to Pell's Equation
Difficulty: ***
Teachers:
Yuan Yao
We know that $$\sqrt{2}=1.41421...$$ is not a rational number, but $$\frac{99}{70}=1.41428...$$ comes pretty close. The class will cover how to get this number, and how to get closer using various methods, and introduce Pell's Equation as a powerful tool for approximating other radicals.
M11772: Transformations and Complex Numbers
Difficulty: **
Teachers:
Brin Harper
Come learn about transformations, complex numbers, trig identities, and how all of these things are related! We will talk about different ways of representing and visualizing transformations, as well as what complex numbers are and why they are cool! Then, we'll bring together pieces of these two concepts to prove some trig identities.
M11990: The Banach-Tarski Paradox: Speed Run!
Difficulty: ****
Teachers:
Ziv Scully
Have you ever found yourself with a sphere, a very sharp knife and an Axiom of Choice when all you wanted was a second sphere? Have you ever wondered why everyone's favorite anagram of "Banach-Tarski" is "Banach-Tarski Banach-Tarski"? Come learn about and prove this surprising theorem: a ball ca