The Game of Go Go is the most ancient of all East Asian board games and the most challenging in play. It combines the logic of mathematics with the aesthetic appeal of music and art. Despite this, it is a simple game to learn and is enjoyed by approximately 40 million enthusiasts the world over including over 1000 dedicated professionals. The course will involve playing, recording, analyzing, and critiquing our games and learning about its history and the cultures in which it flourishes. We will also read and write about various related Japanese arts and traditions including the latest AI developments.

Calculus II A continuation of MATH 0121, may be elected by first-year students who have had an introduction to analytic geometry and calculus in secondary school. Topics include a brief review of natural logarithm and exponential functions, calculus of the elementary transcendental functions, techniques of integration, improper integrals, applications of integrals including problems of finding volumes, infinite series and Taylor's theorem, polar coordinates, ordinary differential equations.

Math Circus Each class will entail small group work solving various logic and puzzle problems, mathematical conundrums, and devising winning strategies for various games and challenges.  Students will present their solutions to the class and work on their own puzzles and games pamphlet to be completed by the end of the term.  Elementary mathematical, logical, game theoretic, and probability concepts will be introduced as needed with the goal of increasing everyone's problem solving and analytical thinking skills. The class will meet four days a week (2 hours per class).

Advanced Number Theory A senior tutorial on some topics in advanced elementary number theory and an introduction to analytic number theory.  In this course we will review key areas of elementary number theory and abstract algebra followed by the study of integer partitions, continued fractions, rational approximations of irrationals, primes and primality testing, the average order of magnitude of several number theoretic functions, the Basel problem, Bernoulli numbers, and the Riemann zeta function.

The Game of Go within Traditional Japanese Culture The ancient East Asian game of go will be introduced, studied, and developed within the context of  Japanese history and cultural traditions – especially that of the Edo Period. Game play, careful  analysis, and problem solving will be a key component of the course. Additionally, the art and  aesthetics of Japanese gardens and woodblock prints will be studied by the class as preparation for  individual research and presentation of an East Asian art form or tradition.

Linear Algebra Matrices and systems of linear equations, the Euclidean space of three dimensions and other real vector spaces, independence and dimensions, scalar products and orthogonality, linear transformations and matrix representations, eigenvalues and similarity, determinants, the inverse of a matrix and Cramer's rule.

Complex Analysis An introduction to functions of a complex variable. Mappings of the complex plane, analytic functions, Cauchy Integral Theorem and related topics.

Pete Schumer

Reviews and ratings for Pete Schumer at Middlebury College.Pete Schumer teaches The Game of Go, Calculus II, Math Circus and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Pete Schumer good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

This class is fantastic. From the first day it's very engaging and Professor Schumer was so enthusiastic. I wouldn't recommend any other J-term class this is a must take. Every class was great learning the Game of Go.

the course was super fun. pete schumer did a great job and was always super enthusiastic about class and the game of go. we had 2 writing assignments a presentation and a final, but it was interesting stuff, and the writing was graded really easily because they were really easy assignments. 

The material for this course is inherently difficult in my opinion. The class is hard to catch up in if you have fallen behind, but if you do the work consistently every week it is doable. Exams were fair and graded promptly.