Introduction and Advice for Competing this Course  
Last edited 27may13


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Here is the  original 1995 introduction to a
revision of the classical course in Non-Euclidean Geometry, which has 
been taught at Illinois for at least five decades. 

Various lessons on the pedagogy and technology of this course are collected
in the  
Advice  pages. 
All of the General Items are required for this course. They include:
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\item The first lesson in Advice tests your browser on your computer to make sure that
it shows the mathematical symbols correctly. It is also a short self-test to
make sure you remember your logic from the prerequisites.
\item The Infosheet, with its weekly schedule is useful to your intructor to determine feasible times for holding the Virtual Office (online). But it also tests your ability to use common tools on your computer to edit an image file. If you cannot
complete the infosheet electronically, print it out, fill it in, scan it to
a black-and-white image file and submit that. 
\item The most important object for you to create in this course is your 
Journal. Note carefully, only an entirely handwritten, bound journal may 
be used during your tests. 
\item The Filecards are questions inserted into the lessons. (The lessons 
replace oral lectures in an online course.) These questions are quick checks
to see that you have understood what you have just read. Filecard questions
 submitted on time will receive full credit, whether they are correct or
not. Your mentor will read your filecards and provide feedback to you. 
\end{itemize}

Other skills required for this course are discussed in the lessons on 
Mathematical Typesetting. Since this will be new to you, there is 
a grace period in the early part of the course during which you may 
submit your work in other formats without penalty.
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\item The texPad tool for learning LaTeX on your computer work even when 
it is not connected to the internet. Besides using it to learn LaTeX,
texPad is also convenient for writing math in general. It
is an extension of our browser. If your browser works correctly with the 
first lesson, it will work correctly with texPad. 
\item The texWins web utility is a client-server implementation of a  
proper LaTeX implementation. If you know how, you may wish to install a 
free LaTeX utility on your personal computer (e.g. Miktex on a PC, or 
TexShop on a mac). This replaces the need to learn how to use the texWins
web interface. 
\item Before you use some other webbased, online 
LaTeX service for your homework and termpaper, check with your instructor.  It may not be real LaTeX service, like texWins, but an
"imitation" LaTeX utility, such as MathJax and our own texPad.
\end{itemize}

In some course you will learn how to use a geometry construction package,
such as the Geometry Explorer or KSEG. Check with your instructor if you 
would like to use a different, perhaps more familiar package, like Geometer's
Sketchpad or Geogebra. Not all of these are suitable.

The Virtual Office replaces the Elluminate facility, which has been 
discontinued by its vendor (Oracle). So the lesson on Elluminate will 
need to be rewritten.

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