MATH 319(01)
  SPRING 2002
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Syllabus:

  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.