Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Fall and Spring semesters comprise 13 weeks of teaching plus one week of exams. Each course usually meets three to four times per week for a total of 56 contact hours per semester. The summer program is eight weeks long, meets two hours per day, four days a week with the expectation that students will take two full-credit courses. Normally, one Budapest Semesters in Mathematics course transfers either as 3 or 4 semester hours depending on an evaluation of course material done by the home institution.
BSM classes are held at the College International, a Hungarian-based educational institution. Classes are taught in English by eminent Hungarian scholars, most of whom have had teaching experience in North American universities. In keeping with Hungarian tradition, teachers closely monitor each individual student’s progress. Considerable time is devoted to problem solving and encouraging student creativity. Emphasis is on depth of understanding rather than on the quantity of material. Courses may be taken Audit or Graded.
The imprint of the Hungarian tradition is particularly prominent in some of the courses.
“Combinatorics” concentrates on combinatorial structures and algorithms, a stronghold of Hungarian mathematics. The courses, along with “Theory of Computing”, are a valuable introduction to Theoretical Computer Science.
“Conjecture and Proof”, even more than other courses, introduces the student to the excitement of mathematical discovery. Concepts, methods, ideas, and paradoxes that have startled or puzzled mathematicians for centuries will be reinvented and examined under the guidance of enthusiastic and experienced instructors. The topics covered range from ancient problems of geometry and arithmetic to 20th century measure theory and mathematical logic.
