I’ve heard so much about this course, but I can’t seem to find any actual materials from the class. I’d like to see a midterm or some problem sets, just for the sake of curiosity. Is there a reason why Harvard is making these documents so hard to find?
Wow. You must have tried really hard. I used Google.
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic92739.files/ps9.pdf
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~elkies/M55a.02/pdflatex/pp.pdf
@JHS I’m looking for a full course, similar to MIT OCW. I’ve noticed that MIT, Stanford, etc. have their full courses online. Do you know why Harvard doesn’t?
My understanding is that Math 55 isn’t necessarily a standard course from year to year. It varies with the instructor, and to a much lesser extent the interests and skills of the students once the class reduces itself down to its usual seminar size. All the material in it is covered in other courses, and probably covered more systematically and in greater depth. It’s a special kind of elite boot-camp experience, like Green Beret or Navy SEAL training, not designed to be self-studied or taught as a MOOC.
Your understanding is correct. Unlike many other STEM courses at Harvard, the Math 55 instructor varies from year to year, and the course focus varies as well.
That said, it looks like Noms Elkies is teaching the class again next year. Here are the PSets from this past year.
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~elkies/M55a.16/index.html
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~elkies/M55b.16/index.html
There are many kids who enrolled higher than math 55, but they are far and few in between them
About 3 kids a year skip math 55 and go into something higher