Math 250A - Groups, Rings, and Fields

Lectures: TuTh 9:30-11:00am, Room 285 Cory

Instructor's Office hours: Tu 11:00-12:00am, Room 909 Evans

Instructor's Email: .

GSIs:

David Berlekamp, . Office hours: Mo 11-12, Fr 9-10m in room 1093 Evans.
Justin Blanchard, . Office hours: MoFr 1:30-2:30 in room 1064 Evans.

Grading and Homework Policies

Your grades will be based on weekly homework, a midterm exam, and a final exam. These will be worth roughly 50%, 17%, and 33% of your grade, respectively.

Homework will be assigned out of the textbook, Algebra (revised 3rd ed.) by Serge Lang.

Late policy: Homework will be due in class on Tuesdays. Homework will be accepted by Wednesday for 80% credit, and by the end of the week for 50% credit.

Collaboration policy: Collaboration on selected homework problems, which will be specified on the assignments, is encouraged. However, the solutions turned in should be in your own words.

Assignments

#	Due Date	Problems
R	2007/08/30	Read: Lang I.1-3
1	2007/08/30	Lang I (p. 75): 1-4, 6 [pdf]
2	2007/09/04	Lang I (p. 75): 5, 9, 11-13, 16, 20-22 [pdf]
R	2007/09/06	Read: Lang I.4-7 and look at Bergman's Companion to Lang
3	2007/09/11	Lang I (p. 75): 24-27, 38, 42-43 [pdf] (Last PDF—get the book!)
R	2007/09/13	Read: Lang I.7-8
4	2007/09/18	See [pdf] (Solution to I.45, for students who have never heard the phrase "snake lemma": [pdf])
R	2007/09/20	Read: Lang I.9-10 (and reread 7-8)
5	2007/09/25	See [pdf]
R	2007/09/27	Skim: Lang appendix 2, I.11. Read: Bergman AC handout & Companion pp. 228, 26-29
R	2007/10/02	Read: Lang II.1-3
R	2007/10/04	Read: Lang II.4-5
6	2007/10/04	Lang II (p. 114) 2-5, 10
R	2007/10/09	Read: Lang III.1-5
7	2007/10/11	Lang II (p. 116) 13-16; Lang III (p. 165) 2-4, 9
R	2007/10/16	Read: The rest of Lang III
PM	2007/10/18	Practice midterm: Attempt these Lang problems, solo, closed book, in 80 minutes: 14a, p. 76; 49, p. 80; 1, p. 114; 10a, p. 168
8	2007/10/18	Lang III: 11-15
R	2007/10/25	Read: Lang IV.1-6 (more emphasis on 1-2, 4, 6?)
9	2007/10/30	Lang IV: 1, 3, 11, 18
R	2007/11/06	Read: Lang V.1-4
10	2007/11/06	Lang V: 1-3, 6, 8, 19
R	2007/11/08	Read: Lang V.5-6
R	2007/11/13	Read: Lang VI.1
11	2007/11/13	Lang V: 10-12, 14, 17, 20
R	2007/11/20	Read: Lang VI.2-4, VIII.1
12	2007/11/20	Lang VI: 17, 18, 27, 28, 35; Lang VIII 1, 3.
R	2007/11/27	Read: Lang VI.5-7
13	2007/11/27	Lang VI: 1abc, 8.
R	2007/11/29	Read: Lang XVII.1-4
-	2007/11/29	Think about Lang XVII.1, 6 (to discuss in class).
F	2007/12/06	Final exam: will be handed out in class on Thursday 11/29!

Announcements

9/23/2007: The PDF of Homework 5 has been updated to clarify the last problem. A typo in the definition of a divisible group has also been corrected.
9/25/2007: The next problem set is due on a Thursday, after a larger than usual amount of reading.
10/14/2007: Thursday's class will be a general review. Please bring questions!
10/24/2007: Midterm solutions available: [pdf]
11/27/2007: The final exam will be handed out in class. Good luck!
12/09/2007: Final solutions available: [pdf] (Blame Justin for errors.)

Last update: 11/27/2007