Class Home Page for Section 3045
Most handouts and other information will be available via links or (sub)menus from this page and/or the syllabus page.
David Groisser’s home page, with contact information
- Syllabus and Course Information
- Homework rules and assignments
- Grade scale page. (Will be updated shortly after each assignment or exam is graded.)
- Miscellaneous handouts.
- Dr. Groisser’s schedule (with office hours)
About this course
This course is the first semester of a two-semester sequence (MAA 4211–4212) intended for students who wish to pursue graduate study in mathematics. It is also suitable for other strong students with a deep interest in the conceptual side of mathematics, not just the computational side. The sequence MAA 4211–4212 is best treated as a one-year course, with a certain body of material to be covered by the end of the spring, rather than as a course that can be compartmentalized into semesters. Much of the material covered in the first semester is intended to develop tools that will be used in the second, where things will “come together” more.
This is a very different course from MAA 4102–4103 (Introduction to Advanced Calculus for Engineers and Physical Scientists). Our focus will be on proving theorems, not on applications to the sciences; if this focus is not to your tastes, you would probably be happier in MAA 4102–4103. However, if you are thinking of doing graduate work in mathematics, a theorem-proving course would serve you better.
Prerequisites
A grade of at least B in MAS 4105 (Linear Algebra, not to be confused with MAS 3114, Computational Linear Algebra) is the intended prerequisite. (Note: The 2015-2016 Undergraduate Catalog lists a B in MAS 4105 as a prerequisite for math majors in the BS track, for whom MAA 4211 is a required course; see Coursework for the major. This is the math department’s intended prerequisite for MAA 4211 for all students, even though the course-description section of the catalog still lists a C in MAS 4105 as the prerequisite. The math department submitted paperwork requesting that the course-description section list a B in MAS 4105 as the prerequisite for MAA 4211, but for reasons unknown to me, this change was not made in the catalog. I strongly advise students who registered for MAA 4211 without having received at least a B in MAS 4105 to drop this class.) MAS 4105 itself has prerequisites: satisfactory grades in Calculus 3 and in either MHF 3202 (Sets and Logic) or MAS 3300 (Numbers and Polynomials).
If you have never taken a class in which writing proofs was a significant component, or for any other reason are not reasonably proficient at constructing and writing proofs, this course is not suitable for you.
Other skills needed
You must have the ability to write in clear, unambiguous, grammatically correct English sentences. An important goal of this course is to make sure that you are able to express mathematical ideas in precise terms and communicate them clearly to other people. A factor in your grade will be whether the instructor can understand your written work without excessive re-reading.