This page will be devoted to information about a new course to be given next Spring, called Mathematics From Language. The official number of the course is X385, and it will be at the junior-senior level. This class will be offered as an experimental class through the Mathematics Department. It will be for 3 credit hours.

The course is intended to introduce mathematics to people who are students in English, foreign languages, cognitive science, linguistics, etc. The idea is that large parts of mathematics can be motivated using examples taken entirely from linguistics. For example, we can study the mathematics of grammar, leading to abstract algebra. In another direction, we could learn the basics of statistics by looking at statistical work on texts. Finally, computational linguistics can be the entrance point for some areas of both computer science and linguistics. We will be using a computer program designed for helping to work with formal grammars. This will give students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with concepts that are usually taught in the abstract. One of the first topics in the class will be categorial grammar. Click here if you would like to see a short introduction to the baisc ideas of categorial grammar. The only prerequisite is M118 - Finite Mathematics - or some equivalent background in discrete mathematics. The class will be taugh MWF 11:15-12:05 and is for 3 credit hours.

The instructors are Larry Moss, e-mail: lmoss@indiana.edu of the Mathematics Department and Hans-Jörg Tiede, e-mail: htiede@indiana.edu of the Linguistics Department. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

The course is part of the initiative called Mathematics Throughout the Curriculum that is organizing many interesting interdisciplinary courses, both here and on other IU campuses.