What is an octave? Why are there five black notes and seven white notes in each octave on the piano keyboard? What makes a chord sound good or bad? We will answer these questions scientifically using nothing more than high-school mathematics and a little bit of computer programming.

We'll start with the physiological and mathematical foundations of musical harmony: the reasons that only some pitches sound good together. Then we'll write a computer program that searches for sets of maximally harmonious pitches. We'll conclude by "discovering" the twelve-tone scale.

The oscilloscope is perhaps the most powerful tool used in modern electrical engineering. Oscilloscopes allow one to observe events that last only nanoseconds with great precision. We'll learn about the theory behind this amazing instrument and get some hands-on practice taking measurements with an oscilloscope.

We'll start with the physiological and mathematical foundations of musical harmony: the reasons that only some pitches sound good together. Then we'll write a computer program that searches for sets of maximally harmonious pitches. We'll conclude by "discovering" the twelve-tone scale.

We'll start at the bottom and work our way up at ludicrous speed.

We'll start at the bottom and work our way up at ludicrous speed.

An enumerable set of objects is any set of objects that can be counted. In this class, we will consider the interesting properties of various enumerable sets, including: roller coasters, programming languages, mountains, prime numbers, interstate highways, operating systems, and donuts.

A whirlwind tour of railroading, ranging from the dawn of the industrial revolution through the present day. Locomotives, signalling, track structure, bridges and tunnels...plus the engineering behind it all. Whether you're a hardcore train buff or just a curious observer of steel-wheeled things, this is the class for you!

Linux is a free and open-source alternative to commercial operating systems like Windows and Mac OS. It powers diverse systems including Android smartphones, parts of the International Space Station, and much of the Internet. This class will focus on using Linux for day-to-day personal computing tasks. We'll start by exploring basic paradigms of the Linux desktop and then drill deeper to see how things actually work "under the hood".

We'll explore MIT's vast network of subterranean passageways while dicsussing anything and everything you care to mention. Be prepared to walk a mile or two indoors.

We'll discuss the oddities of New York's vast and often incomprehensible network of roads. We will look at the highway system from both historical and practical perspectives, with an emphasis on interesting random facts.

Very few know Emacs, even though it is almost 30. I and many others have used Emacs, and left with a great feeling. Maybe this class will show you why. It's such a pleasure working around an Emacs user. Stop using editors that are confusing and arcane. Bring changes directly to your productivity! Easily kill text as you could with no other editor! There is no way to give Emacs the praise it deserves. Those n00bs who use other editors, especially, should take this class. Edit great text as it was meant to be edited! Relax - this class will tell you which editor to use. g g l C-v G k k $ d C-x h F3 M-d C-d C-f C-k F4 M-d C-a C-x C-k r

Learn about the remarkable engineering behind the North American railroad network. Topics to be covered include train locomotives, train cars, and train tracks.

Arch Linux is a minimalist Linux distribution that provides a very different experience from "mainstream" distributions like Ubuntu. Arch is configured by hand using text files and the command line. It can take a lot of work to set up, but the user is given complete control over their system. In the first part of the course, I'll talk about exactly what makes Arch Linux so powerful and demonstrate the most interesting parts of Arch. The remainder of the class will be a hands-on exploration directed by you.

We'll discuss some roadways of the greater New York City area. I'll talk a bit about the history of the highways and then move on to some tricks -- avoiding the biggest bottlenecks and so forth. Bring laptops or paper maps if you have them (not required).

We will explore the (pedestrian) tunnels of MIT while discussing whatever strikes your fancy. Possible topics include college admissions, high school academics, roller coasters, cold fusion, tiling window managers, spam, complex analysis, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, and spam. Bring your ingenuity.

We will study evasive maneuvers that can be used to successfully run away from a pursuing horde of MIT Campus ...