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Venue:
The class meets in 422 Clapp
Tuesday and Thursday from 1:15 to 2:30,
and Friday from 1:15 to 2:05.
Text:
Niven, Zuckerman, and Montgomery,
An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers
,
fifth edition,
John Wiley & Sons, 1991.
Course description:
We will cover most of Chapters 1, 2, and 3 in the text, along with
parts of Chapters 4, 5, and 7. The material includes solutions of
congruences, public-key cryptography, primitive roots, quadratic
reciprocity, Möbius inversion, Diophantine equations, and
continued fractions. If time permits, we will explore other topics as
well.
Homework:
There will be a problem set each week. Most of the problems will
involve proofs or multi-step calculations. Problem set solutions are
to be written in complete sentences, and will be graded for
presentation as well as correctness.
Quizzes:
There will be a ten-minute quiz at the end of each Tuesday class.
Quiz problems will generally ask you to state definitions
and named theorems, or to carry out simple calculations
related to
material covered recently in class.
There will be no make-up
quizzes, but your two lowest quiz grades will be dropped.
Exams:
There will be two take-home hour exams and a final exam.
Grading:
Your course grade will be computed as follows:
| Problem Sets | 40% |
Quizzes | 20% |
Hour exams | 20% |
Final exam | 20% |
Technology:
We will be using calculators and computers from time to time
in class. When it is helpful to do so, you are welcome to use a
calculator or computer on the problem sets, provided you explain its
use in your write-up.
Occasionally, a problem set problem will specifically require the use
of a computer or calculator.
Resources:
My office hours are listed above; you are welcome to make appointments
to talk with me at other times. You may find some useful information
on the course website,
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/quenell/s2002/ma319/index.html.
The honor code:
You are encouraged to collaborate on problem sets, but only as long as
the information flow goes both ways. Each student must write up
her own solutions independently. Direct copying from another
student's paper will be treated as a violation of the honor code. No
collaboration will be permitted on the
quizzes, the hour exams, or the
final exam.
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