This course shared a lot of themes with my previously taken MATH 401 class, but MATH 301 had a greater focus on the patterns that exist in the integers and other number sets. Many of the homework and test questions required recognizing these patterns to find shortcuts or make smart assumptions about the problems posed. Like many of my proof-based math courses, the class expanded my cognitive flexibility, as sufficiently proving properties of infinite sets can be a challenging enterprise. Even if number theory may not often be found in my career, this mode of thinking smartly and flexibly about complex, abstract topics will certainly be ubiquitous.
This image shows a graphical representation of the Guassian primes, demonstrating one of the many intriguing patterns in number theory.