Program Requirements
The B.Sc.; Honours in Mathematics provides an in-depth training, at the honours level, in mathematics. It gives the foundations and tools needed to explore diverse areas of mathematics such as analysis, number theory, geometry, geometric group theory, and probability. This program may be completed with a minimum of 60 credits or a maximum of 63 credits.
Program Prerequisites
The minimum requirement for entry into the Honours program is that the student has completed with high standing the following courses below or their equivalents.
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MATH 133 Linear Algebra and Geometry (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Systems of linear equations, matrices, inverses, determinants; geometric vectors in three dimensions, dot product, cross product, lines and planes; introduction to vector spaces, linear dependence and independence, bases. Linear transformations. Eigenvalues and diagonalization.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Macdonald, Jeremy; Ayala, Miguel; Branchereau, Romain; Giard, Antoine (Fall) Pinet, Théo (Winter)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour tutorial
Prerequisite: a course in functions
Restriction(s): 1) Not open to students who have taken CEGEP objective 00UQ or equivalent. 2) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 123, except by permission of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
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MATH 150 Calculus A (4 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Functions, limits and continuity, differentiation, L'Hospital's rule, applications, Taylor polynomials, parametric curves, functions of several variables.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Kelome, Djivede (Fall)
Fall
3 hours lecture, 2 hours tutorial
Students with no prior exposure to vector geometry are advised to take MATH 133 concurrently. Intended for students with high school calculus who have not received six advanced placement credits
Restriction(s): 1) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 139 or MATH 140 or CEGEP objective 00UN or equivalent. 2) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 122,except by permission of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
MATH 150 and MATH 151 cover the material of MATH 139, MATH 140, MATH 141, MATH 222
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MATH 151 Calculus B (4 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Integration, methods and applications, infinite sequences and series, power series, arc length and curvature, multiple integration.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Roth, Charles (Winter)
Winter
3 hours lecture; 2 hours tutorial
Each Tutorial section is enrolment limited
Prerequisite: MATH 150
Restriction(s): 1) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 141 or CEGEP objective 00UP or equivalent. 2) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 122, except by permission of the Department of Mathematic sand Statistics.
In particular, MATH 150/MATH 151 and MATH 140/MATH 141/MATH 222 are considered equivalent.
Students who have not completed an equivalent of MATH 222 on entering the program must consult an academic adviser and take MATH 222 as a required course in the first semester, increasing the total number of program credits from 60 to 63. Students who have successfully completed MATH 150/MATH 151 are not required to take MATH 222.
Students who transfer to Honours in Mathematics from other programs will have credits for previous courses assigned, as appropriate, by the Department.
To be awarded the Honours degree, the student must have, at time of graduation, a CGPA of at least 3.00 in the required and complementary Mathematics courses of the program, as well as an overall CGPA of at least 3.00.
Required Courses (45 credits)
45 credits
+ Students who have successfully completed MATH 150/MATH 151 or an equivalent of MATH 222 on entering the program are not required to take MATH 222.
* Not open to students who have taken MATH 354.
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MATH 222 Calculus 3 (3 credits) +
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Taylor series, Taylor's theorem in one and several variables. Review of vector geometry. Partial differentiation, directional derivative. Extreme of functions of 2 or 3 variables. Parametric curves and arc length. Polar and spherical coordinates. Multiple integrals.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Pym, Brent; Tageddine, Damien (Fall) Mazakian, Hovsep (Winter)
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MATH 251 Honours Algebra 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Linear equations over a field. Introduction to vector spaces. Linear maps and their matrix representation. Determinants. Canonical forms. Duality. Bilinear and quadratic forms. Real and complex inner product spaces. Diagonalization of self-adjoint operators.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Przytycki, Piotr (Winter)
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MATH 255 Honours Analysis 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Basic point-set topology, metric spaces: open and closed sets, normed and Banach spaces, Hölder and Minkowski inequalities, sequential compactness, Heine-Borel, Banach Fixed Point theorem. Riemann-(Stieltjes) integral, Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, Taylor's theorem. Uniform convergence. Infinite series, convergence tests, power series. Elementary functions.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Vetois, Jerome (Winter)
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MATH 325 Honours Ordinary Differential Equations (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : First and second order equations, linear equations, series solutions, Frobenius method, introduction to numerical methods and to linear systems, Laplace transforms, applications.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Lessard, Jean-Philippe (Winter)
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MATH 356 Honours Probability (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sample space, probability axioms, combinatorial probability. Conditional probability, Bayes' Theorem. Distribution theory with special reference to the Binomial, Poisson, and Normal distributions. Expectations, moments, moment generating functions, uni-variate transformations. Random vectors, independence, correlation, multivariate transformations. Conditional distributions, conditional expectation.Modes of stochastic convergence, laws of large numbers, Central Limit Theorem.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Asgharian, Masoud (Fall)
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MATH 357 Honours Statistics (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sampling distributions. Point estimation. Minimum variance unbiased estimators, sufficiency, and completeness. Confidence intervals. Hypothesis tests, Neyman-Pearson Lemma, uniformly most powerful tests. Likelihood ratio tests for normal samples. Asymptotic sampling distributions and inference.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Khalili, Abbas (Winter)
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MATH 358 Honours Advanced Calculus (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Point-set topology in Euclidean space; continuity and differentiability of functions in several variables. Implicit and inverse function theorems. Vector fields, divergent and curl operations. Rigorous treatment of multiple integrals: volume and surface area; and Fubini’s theorem. Line and surface integrals, conservative vector fields. Green's theorem, Stokes’ theorem and the divergence theorem.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Toth, John A (Winter)
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MATH 454 Honours Analysis 3 (3 credits) *
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Measure theory: sigma-algebras, Lebesgue measure in R^n and integration, L^1 functions, Fatou's lemma, monotone and dominated convergence theorem, Egorov’s theorem, Lusin's theorem, Fubini-Tonelli theorem, differentiation of the integral, differentiability of functions of bounded variation, absolutely continuous functions, fundamental theorem of calculus.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Chen, Linan (Fall)
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MATH 455 Honours Analysis 4 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of point-set topology: topological spaces, dense sets, completeness, compactness, connectedness and path-connectedness, separability, Baire category theorem, Arzela-Ascoli theorem, Stone-Weierstrass theorem..Functional analysis: L^p spaces, linear functionals and dual spaces, Hilbert spaces, Riesz representation theorems. Fourier series and transform, Riemann-Lebesgue Lemma,Fourier inversion formula, Plancherel theorem, Parseval’s identity, Poisson summation formula.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Lin, Jessica (Winter)
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MATH 456 Honours Algebra 3 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to monoids, groups, permutation groups; the isomorphism theorems for groups; the theorems of Cayley, Lagrange and Sylow; structure of groups of low order. Introduction to ring theory; integral domains, fields, quotient field of an integral domain; polynomial rings; unique factorization domains.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Darmon, Henri (Fall)
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MATH 457 Honours Algebra 4 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to modules and algebras; finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain. Field extensions; finite fields; Galois groups; the fundamental theorem of Galois theory; application to the classical problem of solvability by radicals.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Darmon, Henri (Winter)
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MATH 458 Honours Differential Geometry (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : In addition to the topics of MATH 320, topics in the global theory of plane and space curves, and in the global theory of surfaces are presented. These include: total curvature and the Fary-Milnor theorem on knotted curves, abstract surfaces as 2-d manifolds, the Euler characteristic, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for surfaces.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Mutanguha, Jean Pierre (Winter)
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MATH 466 Honours Complex Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Functions of a complex variable, Cauchy-Riemann equations, Cauchy's theorem and its consequences. Uniform convergence on compacta. Taylor and Laurent series, open mapping theorem, Rouché's theorem and the argument principle. Calculus of residues. Fractional linear transformations and conformal mappings.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Hurtubise, Jacques Claude (Fall)
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MATH 470 Honours Research Project (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The project will contain a significant research component that requires substantial independent work consisting of a written report and oral examination or presentation.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Lee, Kiwon; Lin, Jessica; Jakobson, Dmitry; Khadra, Anmar; Darmon, Henri; Nave, Jean-Christophe; Chen, Linan; Correa, Jose Andres; Addario-Berry, Louigi Dana; Norin, Sergey; Neslehova, Johanna (Fall) Kelome, Djivede (Winter)
Fall and Winter and Summer
Requires Departmental Approval
Students are advised to start contacting potential project supervisors early during their U2 year.
Prerequisite: appropriate honours courses with approval of the project supervisor
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MATH 475 Honours Partial Differential Equations (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : First order partial differential equations, geometric theory, classification of second order linear equations, Sturm-Liouville problems, orthogonal functions and Fourier series, eigenfunction expansions, separation of variables for heat, wave and Laplace equations, Green's function methods, uniqueness theorems.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Choksi, Rustum (Fall)
Complementary Courses (18 credits)
3 credits selected from:
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MATH 242 Analysis 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : A rigorous presentation of sequences and of real numbers and basic properties of continuous and differentiable functions on the real line.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Jakobson, Dmitry (Fall)
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MATH 254 Honours Analysis 1 (3 credits) **
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Properties of R. Cauchy and monotone sequences, Bolzano- Weierstrass theorem. Limits, limsup, liminf of functions. Pointwise, uniform continuity: Intermediate Value theorem. Inverse and monotone functions. Differentiation: Mean Value theorem, L'Hospital's rule, Taylor's Theorem.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Hundemer, Axel W (Fall)
** It is strongly recommended that students take MATH 254.
3 credits selected from:
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MATH 235 Algebra 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sets, functions and relations. Methods of proof. Complex numbers. Divisibility theory for integers and modular arithmetic. Divisibility theory for polynomials. Rings, ideals and quotient rings. Fields and construction of fields from polynomial rings. Groups, subgroups and cosets; homomorphisms and quotient groups.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Sabbagh, Magid (Fall)
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MATH 245 Honours Algebra 1 (3 credits) **
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Honours level: Sets, functions, and relations. Methods of proof. Complex numbers. Divisibility theory for integers and modular arithmetic. Divisibility theory for polynomials. In-depth study of rings, ideals, and quotient rings; fields and construction of fields from polynomial rings; groups, subgroups, and cosets, homomorphisms, and quotient groups.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Goren, Eyal Z (Fall)
** It is strongly recommended that students take both MATH 245 and MATH 254.
0-6 credits from the following courses for which no Honours equivalent exists:
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MATH 204 Principles of Statistics 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The concept of degrees of freedom and the analysis of variability. Planning of experiments. Experimental designs. Polynomial and multiple regressions. Statistical computer packages (no previous computing experience is needed). General statistical procedures requiring few assumptions about the probability model.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Nadarajah, Tharshanna (Winter)
Winter
Prerequisite: MATH 203 or equivalent. No calculus prerequisites
Restriction: This course is intended for students in all disciplines. For extensive course restrictions covering statistics courses see Section 3.6.1 of the Arts and of the Science sections of the calendar regarding course overlaps.
You may not be able to receive credit for this course and other statistic courses. Be sure to check the Course Overlap section under Faculty Degree Requirements in the Arts or Science section of the Calendar.
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MATH 208 Introduction to Statistical Computing (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Basic data management. Data visualization. Exploratory data analysis and descriptive statistics. Writing functions. Simulation and parallel computing. Communication data and documenting code for reproducible research.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Lee, Kiwon (Fall)
Prerequisite(s): MATH 133
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MATH 308 Fundamentals of Statistical Learning (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Theory and application of various techniques for the exploration and analysis of multivariate data: principal component analysis, correspondence analysis, and other visualization and dimensionality reduction techniques; supervised and unsupervised learning; linear discriminant analysis, and clustering techniques. Data applications using appropriate software.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Yang, Archer Yi (Winter)
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MATH 329 Theory of Interest (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Simple and compound interest, annuities certain, amortization schedules, bonds, depreciation.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Winter
Prerequisite: MATH 141
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MATH 338 History and Philosophy of Mathematics (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Indian and Arab contributions to mathematics are studied together with some modern developments they give rise to, for example, the problem of trisecting the angle. European mathematics from the Renaissance to the 18th century is discussed, culminating in the discovery of the infinitesimal and integral calculus by Newton and Leibnitz. Demonstration of how mathematics was done in past centuries, and involves the practice of mathematics, including detailed calculations, arguments based on geometric reasoning, and proofs.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Fortier, Jérôme (Fall)
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MATH 378 Nonlinear Optimization
(3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Optimization terminology. Convexity. First- and second-order optimality conditions for unconstrained problems. Numerical methods for unconstrained optimization: Gradient methods, Newton-type methods, conjugate gradient methods, trust-region methods. Least squares problems (linear + nonlinear). Optimality conditions for smooth constrained optimization problems (KKT theory). Lagrangian duality. Augmented Lagrangian methods. Active-set method for quadratic programming. SQP methods.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 430 Mathematical Finance (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to concepts of price and hedge derivative securities. The following concepts will be studied in both concrete and continuous time: filtrations, martingales, the change of measure technique, hedging, pricing, absence of arbitrage opportunities and the Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kelome, Djivede (Winter)
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MATH 451 Introduction to General
Topology (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : This course is an introduction to point set topology. Topics include basic set theory and logic, topological spaces, separation axioms, continuity, connectedness, compactness, Tychonoff Theorem, metric spaces, and Baire spaces.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 462 Machine Learning
(3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to supervised learning: decision trees, nearest neighbors, linear models, neural networks. Probabilistic learning: logistic regression, Bayesian methods, naive Bayes. Classification with linear models and convex losses. Unsupervised learning: PCA, k-means, encoders, and decoders. Statistical learning theory: PAC learning and VC dimension. Training models with gradient descent and stochastic gradient descent. Deep neural networks. Selected topics chosen from: generative models, feature representation learning, computer vision.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 463 Convex Optimization (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to convex analysis and convex optimization: Convex sets and functions, subdifferential calculus, conjugate functions, Fenchel duality, proximal calculus. Subgradient methods, proximal-based methods. Conditional gradient method, ADMM. Applications including data classification, network-flow problems, image processing, convex feasibility problems, DC optimization, sparse optimization, and compressed sensing.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Paquette, Courtney (Winter)
6-12 credits selected from:
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COMP 250 Introduction to Computer Science (3 credits) ++
Overview
Computer Science (Sci) : Mathematical tools (binary numbers, induction,recurrence relations, asymptotic complexity,establishing correctness of programs). Datastructures (arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists,trees, binary trees, binary search trees, heaps,hash tables). Recursive and non-recursivealgorithms (searching and sorting, tree andgraph traversal). Abstract data types. Objectoriented programming in Java (classes andobjects, interfaces, inheritance). Selected topics.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Alberini, Giulia (Fall) Alberini, Giulia (Winter)
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COMP 252 Honours Algorithms and Data Structures (3 credits)
Overview
Computer Science (Sci) : The design and analysis of data structures and algorithms. The description of various computational problems and the algorithms that can be used to solve them, along with their associated data structures. Proving the correctness of algorithms and determining their computational complexity.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Devroye, Luc P (Winter)
3 hours
Restrictions: (1) Open only to students in Honours programs. (2) Students cannot receive credit for both COMP 251 and COMP 252.
COMP 252 uses basic combinatorial counting methods that are covered in MATH 240 but not in MATH 235. Students who are unfamiliar with these methods should speak with the instructor for guidance.
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MATH 350 Honours Discrete Mathematics
(3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Discrete mathematics. Graph Theory: matching theory, connectivity, planarity, and colouring; graph minors and extremal graph theory. Combinatorics: combinatorial methods, enumerative and algebraic combinatorics, discrete probability.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Norin, Sergey (Fall)
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MATH 352 Problem Seminar (1 credit)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Seminar in Mathematical Problem Solving. The problems considered will be of the type that occur in the Putnam competition and in other similar mathematical competitions.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Norin, Sergey (Fall)
Prerequisite: Enrolment in a math related program or permission of the instructor. Requires departmental approval.
Prerequisite: Enrolment in a math related program or permission of the instructor.
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MATH 365 Honours Groups, Tilings and Algorithms (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Transformation groups of the plane. Inversions and Moebius transformations. The hyperbolic plane. Tilings in dimension 2 and 3. Group presentations and Cayley graphs. Free groups and Schreier's theorem. Coxeter groups. Dehn's Word and Conjugacy Problems. Undecidability of the Word Problem for semigroups. Regular languages and automatic groups. Automaticity of Coxeter groups.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 376 Honours Nonlinear Dynamics (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : This course consists of the lectures of MATH 326, but will be assessed at the honours level.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Humphries, Tony (Fall)
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MATH 377 Honours Number Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : This course consists of the lectures of MATH 346, but will be assessed at the honours level.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Branchereau, Romain (Winter)
Winter
Prerequisite: Enrolment in Mathematics Honours program or consent of instructor
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 346.
Note: Additionally, a special project or projects may be assigned.
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MATH 387 Honours Numerical Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Error analysis. Numerical solutions of equations by iteration. Interpolation. Numerical differentiation and integration. Introduction to numerical solutions of differential equations.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 397 Honours Matrix Numerical Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The course consists of the lectures of MATH 327 plus additional work involving theoretical assignments and/or a project. The final examination for this course may be different from that of MATH 327.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 398 Honours Euclidean Geometry
(3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Honours level: points and lines in a triangle. Quadrilaterals. Angles in a circle. Circumscribed and inscribed circles. Congruent and similar triangles. Area. Power of a point with respect to a circle. Ceva’s theorem. Isometries. Homothety. Inversion.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 462 Machine Learning
(3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to supervised learning: decision trees, nearest neighbors, linear models, neural networks. Probabilistic learning: logistic regression, Bayesian methods, naive Bayes. Classification with linear models and convex losses. Unsupervised learning: PCA, k-means, encoders, and decoders. Statistical learning theory: PAC learning and VC dimension. Training models with gradient descent and stochastic gradient descent. Deep neural networks. Selected topics chosen from: generative models, feature representation learning, computer vision.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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MATH 480 Honours Independent Study (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Reading projects permitting independent study under the guidance of a staff member specializing in a subject where no appropriate course is available. Arrangements must be made with an instructor and the Chair before registration.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Addario-Berry, Louigi Dana (Fall) Kelome, Djivede (Winter)
Fall and Winter and Summer
Please see regulations concerning Project Courses under Faculty Degree Requirements
Requires approval by the chair before registration
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MATH 488 Honours Set Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Axioms of set theory, ordinal and cardinal arithmetic, consequences of the axiom of choice, models of set theory, constructible sets and the continuum hypothesis, introduction to independence proofs.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Sabok, Marcin (Winter)
all MATH 500-level courses.
++ Students with limited programming experience should take COMP 202 or COMP 204 or COMP 208 or equivalent before COMP 250.
Students may select other courses with the permission of the Department.