MAT 150 A, Fall 2015

Instructors

Instructor: Eugene Gorsky, egorskiy AT math.ucdavis.edu.
Office hours: MWF 12-1pm at Math 2113
If you have a question and cannot come at office hours, write me an email to schedule an appointment.

Teaching Assistants: Shawn Witte (A01), slwitte AT math.ucdavis.edu, OH: W 2-3pm in Math 3123
John Murray (A02), jdmurray AT math.ucdavis.edu,OH: Thu 2-3pm in Math 3137.

General course information

Textbook

The textbook for the course is "Algebra" by Michael Artin (2nd edition).

Final exam

The final exam will be on Wednesday, December 9, 8:00-10:00 am. It will cover all topics studied in the course: permutations, groups, subgroups, Lagrange`s theorem, homomorphisms, modular arithmetic (Chapter 2); orthogonal transformations, isometries, dihedral group (Chapters 5.1 and 6); orbits, stabilizers, centralizers, conjugacy classes, normal subgroups (Chapters 2, 6 and 7.5).

Practice problems: problems , solutions . You can also use the midterm problems for practice. Weighed average computation:
1. Add all your paper homework grades.
2. Your weighed average is

0.4*(Final grade)+0.2*(1st midterm)+0.2*(2nd midterm)+0.2*(homework grade)/7.


Course grade table:
Letter grade F C C+ B- B B+ A- A A+
Weighted average 0-50 50-60 60-65 65-70 70-80 80-85 85-90 90-100 100-110

Midterm 2

Midterm 2 will be on Monday, November 16. It will cover homomorphisms, isomorphisms, product groups, orthogonal transformations and isometries (including necessary linear algebra background like matrix multiplication).

Practice problems: problems

Midterm 1

Midterm 1 will be on Monday, October 19. It will cover sections 1.5 (permutations), 2.2-2.4 (groups, subgroups), 2.7-2.9 (cosets, Lagrange`s theorem, modular arithmetic). You should know the definitions of the groups Sn,An,ℝ, ℝ*,ℤ,ℤn,ℤ*n.

Practice problems: problems

Final grade and exams

There will be two midterms on Monday, October 19 and Monday, November 16.
The Final will be on Wednesday, December 9, 8:00-10:00 am.
The final grade is based on your grades for the homework, midterms and the final:

Homework Midterm I Midterm II Final Exam
20% 20% 20% 40%

Homework

The homework should be handed in before the start of Friday lecture. It must be legible, and written in connected sentences that explains what you are doing. Just the answer (whether correct or not) is not enough. ease put your name on every page and staple the pages together. Homework should be handed in on time, late homework will not be graded.

Though it is fine to discuss the HW problems with others, you must always write up the solutions in your own words. Copying will be penalized. Of course, in the exams you must work on your own: no calculators, textbooks etc will be allowed.

Week Sections Written
Homework
Sep 25 1.1-1.5 HW 1 , Solutions
Sep 28, 30, Oct 2 2.1-2.6 HW 2 , Solutions
Oct 5, 7, 9 2.7, 2.8, 2.10 HW 3 , Solutions
Oct 12, 14, 16 2.9, 2.11, 2.12, Review
Oct 19, 21, 23 Midterm on Oct 19; 5.1, 6.1 Drop deadline on Oct 21
HW 4 , Solutions
Oct 26, 28, 30 6.2-6.4 HW 5 , Solutions
Nov 2, 4, 6 6.5, 6.7, 6.8 HW 6 , Solutions
Nov 9, 13 6.9, 6.10, review No class on Nov 11
(Veteran's Day)
Nov 16, 18, 20 Midterm on Nov 16; 6.12, 7.2 HW 7 , Solutions
Nov 23, 25 7.5, 7.7, 7.8 No class on Nov 27
(Thanksgiving)
Nov 30, Dec 2, 4 7.9-7.10, review

Disability Services

Any student with a documented disability who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the Student Disability Center (SDC). Faculty are authorized to provide only the accommodations requested by the SDC. If you have any questions, please contact the SDC at (530)752-3184 or sdc@ucdavis.edu.