We are happy to welcome you at the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. On this page you find a lot of useful information, including the schedule of the first days. Please study this material carefully.
You are cordially invited to our
orientation session
held in our school building,
on January 30th (Friday)
street address: Bethlen Gábor tér 2, Room 102 (LOOK FOR THE SIGNS), and to the
Please note that your participation in the orientation session is absolutely necessary!
During the orientation session we'll briefly cover all
basic information regarding your academic life during the
next semester, while at 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 the last minute, please look for the signs inside the Bethlen tér building
Courses will start in the same building on February 2nd (Monday) morning at 10 o'clock.
Academic Calendar
| First day of classes | Febraury 2nd (Mo) |
| Registration deadline | February 19th (Thu) Noon |
| Last day of classes | May 15th (Fr) |
| Final exams | May 18-20 (Mo-We) |
| Transcripts (drafts) handed out | May 21 (Th) |
| Local math competition: | April 25 (Sa) |
| Spring break | March 28 (Sa) - Apr 6 (Mo) |
| Official holidays (no classes): | April 6 (Mo), May 1 (Fri) |
Comment: Since May 1st is a Holiday, there will be a long weekend on May 1 (Fri) - May 3 (Su).
Course Offerings
We have the recently usual high number of students this semester (about 65 students are expected), so we will offer all the "customary" courses, with the popular ones, such as introductory combinatorics in two different, parallel versions if needed, and several further optional math courses as a reading course. The usual history course, Hungarian language courses (elementary, and intermediate), a course on Hungarian culture, and two other non-math courses, a Mathematical Philosophy - a brand new course - as well as a course on film analysis will also be offered.
We also mention here that there are courses given
by the Budapest branch of 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
cannot take care of 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
or Dezső Miklós or Ágnes Szilárd, the Hungarian directors 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 may not be able to take some of these courses due to the limit
on the number of students in a class (since McDaniel College naturally
will admit their own students first).
The courses "Holocaust and Memory", History of Modern Science and "Film Analysis" are also cross-listed with McDaniel College and therefore they have pre-set meeting times for the semester, and thus we will not be able to change them even if they conflict with some of the other courses you would like to take. However, these courses count as regular BSM courses, and there is no need for special arrangements to sign up for them. Your grade for these courses will be shown on your BSM transcript as a regular BSM course.
Also, since these two courses are cross-listed with McDaniel College, in these courses some of your fellow classmates may be from outside of BSM.
Many of the math courses are of introductory character with prerequisites not going beyond calculus or linear algebra, but some of them (such as AAL, CO2.A, C&P, FUN, GRT, GEO, DIG, RFM, MAP, and the advanced number theory course NUT) are more challenging and may require some experience in the field.
A few semesters ago we introduced another course for mathematical problem solving: an introductory, but not at all easy version of the popular "Conjecture and Proof" course. The new course is called "Mathematical Problem Solving". The course turned out to be exceptionally successful - the problems given in the course are challenging but the mathematical armory one needs to solve the problems does not include advanced algebra or analysis. Therefore, the course by now is a standard BSM course, it is offered every semester, with code MPS.
We have been offering a complimentary make up course in "Classical algebra" during the first three weeks of the program for the last couple of semesters. The reason is that we - the professors at BSM - have experienced earlier serious lack of knowledge in this basic topic, which is a prerequisite for almost all of our courses (and will be listed so in case of some of your other courses). Many of the professors of the more advanced (and sometimes the introductory) courses spent lots of time reviewing these topics, independently of each other, and therefore loosing precious time. Therefore, we have decided to offer this additional make up course, not for credit and not to be counted against your BSM course allowance (in fact, you need not even have to register for it, since it will be over by the registration deadline). Still we urge all of you to attend this "classical algebra course" for your own benefit (even if you believe you thoroughly know it): nobody should claim later at BSM regarding the material presented in that course that they are unfamiliar with it or they have never learnt it. We will do our best to schedule it in such a way that it will not conflict with any other courses. Those successfully completing the course will have that mentioned in their transcript as a NC (non-credit) course. Please note, that though the course is essentially required for all of your BSM studies, it is especially important for those who wish to take Introductory Number Theory, Galois Theory, Introductory (or Advanced, of course) Abstract Algebra and Complex Functions. Nobody should claim in those courses the lack of knowledge of some topic covered by the Classical Algebra course. In the CLA syllabus you will find suggestions on how to decide if you should take this course, or have enough knowledge of the topic to skip it.
Due to the increasing demand for high level courses, we offer two advanced abstract algebra courses: beyond the "traditional," general advanced abstract algebra we offer a Galois theory course as well. A(n almost) brand new advanced combinatorics course has been introduced (Combinatorics of Finite sets) a few semesters ago - and continues - and another relatively new Combinatorial Optimization course will be offered. The usual advance analysis courses: Functional Analysis and Real Functions and Measures are offered as well. There will be an advanced number theory course on the schedule, Topics in Number Theory - Additive Combinatorics. We also offer Algebraic Topology see its description.
The Research Opportunities (RES) course is designed for very advanced students - gives them the opportunity to try their hands on research within a small group setting (or individually) under the guidance of a professor. Problems that they can work on are listed at the end of the syllabus. Important: those interested in doing RES will meet with their professors at the Welcome party, where they should arrange for the weekly meeting times. Please, beware that - just like with other courses - your RES course may not be offered afterall! And - just like with other courses, it may be cancelled after the 3rd week. (See the course description for more details.)
Another set of courses are designed around teaching mathematics for gifted highschool students that Hungary has a great tradition of. These are Discovery learning for gifted students and one of Educating the Mathematically Gifted in Hungary or Classroom Observations in Mathematics. If you are planning to take one of these courses enquire in advance with your home college about credit transfers: if this course will be accepted as a mathematics or education course. Note the unique opportunity to learn first hand how Hungarians became so good in mathematics!
All courses will be scheduled - at least partly - based on your pre-registration info. 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 "regular" math courses (those meeting twice/week) initially. For the "reading course(s)" (meeting only once/week) the interested students and the professor of the course will negotiate the schedule for them either at 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 at or around 4pm.
Please note
Any of the courses AL1, ANT, CO1, CLX, MPS, NU1, SET, C&P, PRO, TOP will be canceled after the shopping period, if the number of registered students in the corresponding class falls below 6. 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, or even start in two versions.
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. Still, in courses the same amount of material should be covered and therefore in the transcript there is no difference between reading and regular courses.
As mentioned above, 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 around January 30th. Please note that we will have most of the time 3 or 4 classes scheduled 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 shopping period of three
weeks, when you can sit in as many classes as you wish. Only after
this you must 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
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO REGISTER ONLY FOR THOSE COURSES WHICH YOU ATTENDED DURING THE WEEK OF THE REGISTRATION, THAT IS, THE THIRD WEEK OF THE SEMESTER
List of courses and instructors, syllabi