Math 113: Introduction to Abstract Algebra Fall 2019

Instructor: David Corwin (dcorwin at berkeley dot edu). In all e-mail correspondence, please include "[Math113]" in the subject line.

GSI: Kentaro Yamamoto

Grader: Anna Shang

Lecture: TTh 5pm-6:30pm in Etcheverry 3107

GSI Office hours: GSI Office hours are listed here

My Office hours: Location: In classroom if after class, otherwise Evans 749.

Final exam: Thursday, December 19, 2019 11:30-2:30pm. Location: classroom.

Prerequisites: If you are not familiar with writing proofs or with deductive logic, please see Notes on mathematical proofs.

Text: The primary text for this course is Notes on Abstract Algebra by Alexander Paulin, with revisions by me [P]. They will be revised throughout the semester. Students should feel free to consult other books for additional exercises and/or alternative presentations of the material. Wikipedia also has lots of great articles on the topics at hand (e.g., see articles on Abstract Algebra, Groups, Rings, Fields, and many of the other concepts we will discuss in class). Students are expected to read the relevant sections of the textbook, as the lectures are meant to complement the textbook, not replace it, and we have a lot of material to cover.

Grading: 20% homework, 2 x 20% in-class midterms (10/1 and 11/5), 40% final exam. The lowest two homework scores will be dropped. No makeups for the midterms will be given except in cases requiring special accommodation. Your exam grade will be computed based on the maximum of the following three schemes: (0.2)MT1 + (0.2)MT2 + (0.4)F; (0.2)MT1 + (0.6)F; (0.2)MT2 + (0.6)F

Website: For now, the only website is this page, http://math.berkeley.edu/~dcorwin/math113.html. I will use bcourses for solutions and other non-public information, such as my phone number.

Course policies:

Additional resources: