Math 113 - Introduction to Abstract Algebra
The course hompage for this class is posted here.
Announcements
- ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!
- Good luck on your exam. Hope you have a relaxing summer. Thanks for
a great semester.
- Here are some of the True/False
questions that we talked about in the review session. And here is
the same list, but with some very sketchy solutions. Please be warned
that some of these would NOT be considered a "complete solution" if
you wrote them on your final exam. They're just to give you ideas if
you get stuck.
- I just noticed that the definition of ideal in your textbook is a
little different from the one we were using in discussion section.
Notice, however, that property (i) in the textbook's definition is exactly the
same as saying that I is an additive subgroup of R. (i.e. see Cor 3.2.3)
- My office hours for the last week of the semester
are posted at the bottom of this page.
- I will hold a review session 3:10-5, Wednesday, May 14, in 70
Evans.
- Here are those notes about group actions that I was talking about.
- There will be chocolate in my office hours on Friday, April 18.
- Here are the (long) solutions that I
wrote for the problem about colorings of the vertices of the cube.
If you are using acrobat reader from a slow internet connection, you may
have to wait 30 seconds or so before this loads.
- Here are some very rough notes about the first isomorphism theorem. I think they're worth a look even though there's not much detail in them.
- Here are some brief notes that I have
written about the fundamental homomorphism theorem. They're not very
rigorous, but they may help you think about this theorem in a new way.
- I will try to post some thoughts about the isomorphism theorems too.
- Here is a short example of an equivalence relation, and the complete description of its equivalence classes. This might be helpful for understanding a few of the poblems on Assignment #3.
- The discussion section time and place were announced in lecture on Thursday - it will be held in 17 Evans, every Monday from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.
- If you have suggestions about the structure of the discussion section, or about what material you would like to spend time on in the discussion section, feel free to email me. I am very open to suggestions, and will try to accomodate as many as possible.
Discussion Section
This semester I will hold a discussion section for Prof. Holm's section of Abstract Algebra.
The discussion section will be held every Monday from 4:10 pm to 6:00 pm in 71 Evans Hall. Hope to see you there.
The discussion section will be "voluntary" in the sense that no part of your grade will depend on your attendance, nor will any work be collected there. However, you are strongly encouraged to attend. In section we will:
1) Solve problems similar to those from Prof. Holm's assignment questions.
2) Discuss your questions about the lecture material.
3) Revisit difficult concepts from different perspectives.
Office Hours
My office is 855 Evans Hall.
I will hold office hours throughout the week:
Tuesdays: 12:40 - 2:00
Wednesdays: 2:10 - 4:00
Fridays: 10:10 - 12:00
Please email me to arrange an appointment if you cannot make it to my
scheduled office hours.
Here are my office hours for the week May 12 - May 16:
| Monday, May 12 |
Tuesday, May 13 |
Wednesday, May 14 |
Thursday, May 15 |
Friday, May 16 |
| |
Office Hours
12:40 - 2:00
in 855 Evans |
Office Hours
1:10 - 3:00
in 855 Evans |
Office Hours
12:10 - 2:00
in 855 Evans |
Good Luck
on |
Discussion Section
4:10-6 in 71 Evans |
|
Review Session
3:10-5 in 70 Evans |
|
Your
Exam
12:30-3:30
in 2040 VLSB |
I am always glad to have lots of people come to office hours: it's encouraging to hear so many good questions from so many students. Some people even just come to listen to other students' questions.
Here are some good suggestions about what to do if you are going to come to office hours:
- Try to do as much of each question as you can before you come to office hours.
- Don't be afraid to ask what you think are "dumb questions" - if you have already done (1.), then there's no such thing as a dumb question.
- There are three steps to solving any problem:
- First, you need to understand the problem, and you need to be able to explain it in your own words.
- Then you need to figure out the main tools (theorems, ideas, propositions, algorithms etc.) you will need.
- Finally, you can begin to write down your thoughts, and rewrite them, and rewrite them (etc.!) until they form a coherent argument.
My philosophy is that I am happy to help you with any one of those "problem solving steps", but only one at a time. So if you are having trouble understanding a problem, then I will gladly help you understand what the problem is asking, but then I hope that you will go away and try to come up with some ideas before I help you with those. On the other hand, if you have already figured out what the problem is asking, and you have a couple of good ideas about how you might solve it, but you're stuck trying to piece everything together, then I'll gladly help you put all your thoughts in order and we'll probably come close to a complete solution before you go!
Email
My e-mail address is my first name (in lower case) at math.berkeley.edu
You are welcome to email me questions regarding any difficulties you are having with Abstract Algebra, or to arrange to meet with me if you cannot make it to my scheduled office hours.