For a copy of the course syllabus, click here

Ok, I've decided on the office hours. They will be: Tuesday and Friday from 2:00 to 3:00.

Homework 1 (due February 16).

• Page 8-9, #4,8,11.

• Page 16-17, #1,3,9.

• Page 23-24, #1,4,6,7.

• page 35-36, #1,2,6,11,14,21.

• Page 46-49, #2,3,4,5,6,12,13,15,19,38.

• Page 53, #1,2,4,7,12.

• Here are two neat videos about symmetry: The first one is by Marcus du Sautoy , and another one is by Ransom Stephens .

Homework 2 (due March 14).

• *** Your first exam will be Wednesday, March 2. It will cover all material up to and including the definition of automorphisms. ** . To see some old practice exams, go here , here , and here . Your exam will will have 5 questions and you will have 1 hour to complete it.

• Page 64-65, #1, 5, 6, 10.

• Page 70-71, #1, 4, 7 (note the difference in notation from how I explained automorphisms in class), 11, 12, 20 (use semi-direct products).

• Page 75-75, #5, 8.

• Page 80-82, #1, 2, 10, 11, 26.

• Someone recently asked me why scientists do science, and I got the same question from one of the students in our class. So, I decided to write a short note about this (actually I wrote it after the first person asked me and before the student asked me). Go here to see my response. (It is a little sentimental, but substantially accurate.) For another opinion, similar to my own, see this book review by Jason Rosenhouse of the book ``Unscientific America''. And some of Einstein's views on the subject can be found in this euloy of Emmy Noether.

Homework 3 (due with the exam on April 13).

• Page 90, #2, #8, #14.

• Page 101-103, #7, #8.

• Page 108-109, #8, #11, #15.

• *** Second Midterm is April 13. ***

• Here is a very nice essay written by Terry Tao titled ``There is more to mathematics than grades and exams and methods'' that I recommend you read.

Homework 4 (due with the final exam).

• Page 115, #2.

• Page 130, #3, #7, #14.

• Page 135-136, #1, #7, #16, #19.

• Page 142-143, #4, #6.

• Page 149, #3.

• That's all for now... check back later.

• For a sample midterm 2, go here . (prob. 4 had an error that I had corrected while the test was going on. Assume for that problem that q < 1+2p).

• For a copy of the final exam study sheet, click here .

• For a copy of an old final exam (as practice), click here . For another example, click here . And for one last example, click here .

• Your exam will be held in our class room on Monday, May 2 at 2:50pm and will run until 5:40pm.

• I will be holding a review session this Saturday (April 30) at 1:00pm. Stop by my office, and I will see about finding a room to hold it in.