MATH 19 — Discover the Hidden Math of Modern Life
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Margot Gerritsen
Date(s): Jul 7—Aug 4
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—7:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $370
Refund Deadline: Jul 9
Unit(s): 1
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
Much of what powers our lives runs on mathematics, whether we notice it or not. Each day, mathematical models quietly curate what you encounter online, guide aircraft through turbulence, forecast storms, and even pinpoint your position as your phone guides you home. Beneath search engines, climate simulations, and satellite navigation lies a shared language: computational mathematics. Taught by a recently retired Stanford professor, this course offers a clear, welcoming reintroduction to that language and the ideas that animate it. Through interactive lectures, we examine how algorithms rank information, how models simulate complex systems, and how data becomes prediction. You’ll see how familiar high school concepts —calculus, matrices, vectors, and more—serve as the practical engines of modern computation. Emphasizing insight over technical detail, the course invites you to revisit math you may not have studied in years and to discover its reach across research, business, public policy, and everyday decision-making.
MARGOT GERRITSEN
Professor of Energy Resources Engineering, Emerita, Stanford
Margot Gerritsen’s work spans computational mathematics, energy systems, and sustainability. She received an MS in applied mathematics from Delft University of Technology and a PhD in scientific computing from Stanford. She directed Stanford’s Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering and co-founded Women in Data Science Worldwide, serving as its executive director and podcast host. Her research includes mathematical modeling of energy production, ocean dynamics, and large-scale computational tools, and she has held senior academic leadership roles at Stanford.
Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.