Class Meetings: TuTh 12:30-1:45 p.m. in EMS E220
[Thanksgiving break November 23-26; Last class December 14]
Instructor: Allen Bell, EMS E449, 229-4233; e-mail adbell@uwm.edu
Office Hours: Tu 3-4:30, Th 2-4:30 (subject to change)
Other times by appointment: don't hesitate to contact me by
phone or e-mail, or to drop in. I teach at 4:30, so don't drop
in too late. I may be available right after class on
Tuesdays.
Web Page:
http://www.uwm.edu/~adbell/ -- then follow the
link for Math 731.
Text and Topics: The ``text'' will consist of notes I
distribute and post on the web. [Please let me know of any
errors or problems in the notes.] Some of the topics are
covered in the Math 631-2 textbook Algebra by
Michael Artin (parts of chapters 6,8,9,13,14), but some are
not. The class is not designed to follow Artin's book.
We will begin by recalling some general definitions (e.g.,
orders, equivalence relations, groups, rings, fields) and some
general constructions (e.g., subobjects and quotient objects).
After that we will cover Group Theory, Group Representations,
and Galois Theory.
Grades: Your grade will be based on the homework and the examination: the grading scale will be determined based on the class performance (i.e., there will be a curve). See comments under Homework and Exams below.
Homework: It is crucial that you do the homework. It
is impossible to really learn mathematics without doing
problems! In addition, your results on the homework will be
far and away the most important factor in determining your
grade.
The notes will contain a number of homework problems, both at
the end of and in the middle of chapters. Some homework will
be collected and graded; you may be asked to present some
problems at the board. Most of the problems will not be
collected or graded, but we will discuss homework in class
whenever you have questions about it, and I encourage you to
come to my office hours to discuss homework problems. You are
free to discuss homework problems among yourselves, but you
must do your own work. Please remember: if you don't
do it yourself, you won't learn it.
Exams: I anticipate that there will be no exams during the regular semester, only homework, but I may change my mind about this. I plan to have a comprehensive final exam. I'm not sure what form it will take: in-class, take-home, or oral. The final exam is scheduled for Monday, December 18 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Other: If you have any special requirements or concerns regarding this course, please let me know as soon as possible. Friday, October 27 is the last day to drop the class (with a W on your transcript) without special approvals.