MATH-4100

Course material at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

MATH-4010

Abstract Algebra

Lectures by Professor M. Zuker, Jan-May, 2008

Information for Winter/Spring 2008

Meets	Tuesday & Friday 10:00 - 11:50 Darrin 236
Instructor	Professor Michael Zuker 331 Amos Eaton Hall X6902 zukerm at-symbol please_no_spam.are-pea-eye.remove_obvious_junk.edyou
Office Hours	TBA Exceptions/changes will be posted here.
Text	A First Course in Abstract Algebra (7^th edition) by John B. Fraleigh Addison Wesley, (© 2003 Pearson Education, Inc.)

Grades

A is 85-100, B is 75-84, C is 65-74, D is 55-64, below 55 is F
Doing homework and and handing in problem sets is worth 25% of the grade. You get the first 5% just by handing in problems.
Two mid-term tests are each worth 25% of the grade. Either in-class or take home.
There will be a formal 3 hour final examination worth 25%.

Fun web pages.

Generating S₄ using transpositions.
A permutation group on five objects. Two interlinked triangles. Can you name the group generated?
The dihedral group on the regular pentagon.
Two interlinked squares. What is the size of the cyclic subgroup generated by ab? By aB?

Compute the gcd of two numbers.

Some notes on computing the gcd of two numbers.

Syllabus and summary of main topics in the course.

Wikipedia information on Quaternions and their relation to rotations (unitary transformations with an eigenvalue of 1) in three dimensional Euclidean space.

Problem set 1.
Problem set 2.
Problem set 3. Solutions
Problem set 4. Solutions

Test 1. Test 1 solutions.
Test 2. Test 2 solutions.

Final examination: May 7, 2008, 15:00-18:00, Amos Eaton 216.
Solutions to final exam.

Michael Zuker
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2008-01-15