We are happy to welcome you to the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics. On this following page you find a lot of useful information, including the schedule of the coming days. Please study this material carefully.
You are cordially invited to our
orientation session
held in our school building,
on September 7th (Friday) 2:30 PM
street address: Bethlen Gábor tér 2, Room 102 (LOOK FOR THE SIGNS), and to the
Please note that
your participation on the orientation session is very important!
During the orientation session we'll cover
briefly all basic information regarding your everyday and academic
life during the next semester, while on the welcome party you will
have a chance to meet your professors for the first time and
discuss details of the forthcoming classes, or simply ask
questions.
As the room may change in the last minute,
please look for the signs inside the Bethlen tér
building
Courses will start in the same building on September 10th (Monday) morning at 10 o'clock. The schedule of classes will be distributed later, via the Internet during the first week of September, and printed version on or just before the orientation session.
Opening Program
| September 7 (Fr), | 2:30 PM | Orientation session, Room 102, Bethlen Gábor tér 2. |
| September 7(Fr), | 4:00 PM | Welcome Party, Room 224, Bethlen Gábor tér 2. |
| September 10(Mo), | 10:15 AM | classes begin, 2nd floor, Bethlen Gábor tér 2. |
Academic Calendar
| First day of classes | September 10 (Mo) |
| Feedback session | September 27 (Th) 4.pm. |
| Registration deadline | September 28 (Fr) |
| Last day of classes | December 14 (Fr) |
| Final exams | December 17-19 (Mo-We) |
| Transcripts (drafts) handed out | December 20 (Th) |
| Official holidays (no classes): | October 23 (Tue), November 1 (Th), November 22 (Thanksgiving Th) |
Course Offerings
Due to the high number of students, this semester initially we offer 19 core math courses, (introductory number theory in two different versions, with slightly different syllabi, and possibly two versions of introductory combinatorics, in case of high interest), 5 further optional math courses (some offered as reading course, some only if there will be enough interested pre-registering students), two Budapest Mathematical Seminar Series courses (joint with the math programs of Eotvos University, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Central European University, and together with the Renyi Institute), a history course, Hungarian language courses (elementary, intermediate), a course on Hungarian culture, and three other non-math courses, a science history course, a philosophy course, and a course on film analysis. At this moment, there will be several intermediate Hungarian language courses in the offer (with different emphasis) but most probably – depending on the number of students – there will be 2 or 3 finally given. Please consult the syllabi to choose the right one for yourself, and we'll discuss the details on the orientation session. Also, in case of low interest in the elementary level, we might simply cancel the elementary Hungarian language and will dedicate one of the intermediate ones for those who missed the Babilon course.
We also mention here that there are available courses given by the Budapest branch of the McDaniel College (earlier known as
Western Maryland College), which you may wish to attend (without credit). These courses are held in the same building where we have the BSM classes
but we can not take care of the scheduling conflicts — you will be able to audit these courses only if you do not have a BSM course at the same
time. Again, these courses do not come with a BSM credit, unless special arrangements are made. In case you wish to attend any of them (even without
credits), please contact the student coordinators or Dezsõ Miklós, the Hungarian director of the program. If you need a credit for
those courses, you need (and will get) the permission of the local McDaniel office, but you should also check with your home institution if they
accept them.
Please note that you might not be able to take some of these courses due to the limit on the number of students (since McDaniel college naturally
will admit first their own students).
The courses Holocaust and Memory, Hungarian Art and Culture, Historical Aspects of Mathematics, Old World and New World Political Philosophy, and Film Analysis are cross-listed with McDaniel College and therefore they have pre-decided meeting time for the semester, we will not be able to change them even if they conflict with some of the other courses you would like to take. Also, in these courses you will find fellow classmates outside of BSM. (However, these count as regular BSM courses, no need for special arrangements to sign up for them and will be shown on your BSM transcript as regular BSM course).
Similarly, the two Budapest Mathematical Seminar Series courses will be scheduled separate of the other BSM math courses, but having audience outside of BSM, will have fixed meeting times.
Most of the math courses are of introductory character with prerequisites not going beyond calculus or linear algebra, but some of them (ALG2, COM2, FUN, GRT, GEO, RFM, and the planned DIG, D&B, LOG, BIO and MAP) are somewhat more challenging and may require some experience in the field. Naturally, the Budapest Mathematical Seminar Series are supposed to be the most demanding.
Last semester we introduced Elementary (mathematics) problem solving, an introductory, but not easy at all elementary version of conjecture and proof. The course turned out to be exceptionally successful, apart of it's name, which most students did not like, referring to something "elementary". Again, the course is not elementary at all, only the mathematical armory you need to solve those problems are not advanced algebra or analysis. Therefore, the same course is offered again, with code EPS, but changing the name elementary to mathematical problem solving.Please note that we've introduced a while ago a new interdisciplinary course, a computer science flavored course on Bioinformatics (Stochastic Models in Bioinformatics). Naturally, this is aimed for an audience with good mathematical background (i.e., you), therefore do not be afraid to take it, it will be challenging enough in mathematics (see the syllabus). On the other hand, since a couple of times it was prematurely canceled, this course will only be offered if there will be at least 4-5 students preregistering for it.
The courses will be scheduled later partly based upon your preregistrations. If you wish to take any further math courses/topics, let us know that on the preregistration form and we will try to do our best to help you. Due to time constraints, we will be able to schedule only the core math courses initially. For the remaining (maybe 5) optional courses you (that is, the interested students and the professor of the course) will negotiate the schedule for them either on the welcome party or during the first week of classes.
We plan a series of Colloquium Lectures on various branches of mathematics held by outstanding Hungarian mathematicians and some other related activities. Watch for announcements. These events are (almost) always scheduled Thursdays 4.p.m.
Please note
Any of the courses ANT, CLX, EPS, SET, C&P, PRO will be cancelled after the trial period, if the number of registered students in the corresponding class fall below 6. Also, if the two versions of the Number theory 1 will have their total student number below 15 we might just simply join them. (Please, realize your responsibility: dropping a class of 6 at a later time would cause serious difficulties for the remaining five students.) On the other hand, in case of huge classes some may be split after the final registration. In case of Introductory combinatorics, the number of preregistering students will determine whether one or two (slightly different) versions of it will be offered.
The other courses may continue to work with 2-5 students in the form of a READING CLASS, where instructors meet students for 1-2 hours per week, and the major part of the material must be studied on an individual basis. Also, D&B, DIG, LOG, BIO, MAP will start as reading (if they start at all) and will be changed to regular course only if their audience will exceed 6 permanently.
Other optional elective courses – other than the standard ones above – can also be inserted in the program depending on students' demand and the availability of a suitable instructor. These additional courses may operate on ordinary or on reading basis as well (but most probably on reading basis).
As said above, the schedule of classes will be distributed later, via the Internet the first week of September and the printed version on or just before the orientation session. Still you should know that we would have most of the time 2 or 3 classes parallel to each other, and no matter how hard we try to avoid conflicts, most of you will face the situation of having two or more of your preferred courses scheduled parallel.
The semester starts with a trial period of three weeks, when you can sit in as many classes as you wish. Only after this must you register for the courses you really want to study. In effect from the Fall 2004 semester we introduce an extra tuition fee (payable at the Budapest office) for the 6th and further math courses you would take (that is your tuition paid in the US covers 5 math courses and any number of non-math courses). For any further math course(s) a non-refundable tuition of 350USD/course should be paid by the registration time (i.e., by the end of the third week).
I'd also like to draw your attention to the fact that in case anybody would like to drop a course later (that is, after the final registration), it can only be done by submitting a written request (form will be provided) signed by the instructor of the course to the Budapest BSM office. Failure of doing it will result a "U" (unsatisfactory) grade for the course.
List of courses and instructors, syllabiBack