Math 411A: Algebra for Teachers

Professor Monty McGovern;  TA Rebecca Hoberg
Fall 2013


Instructor:
Monty (or William) McGovern
Office: Padelford C-450
Phone: 206-543-1149
Email: mcgovern@math.washington.edu
Office Hours: TTh 1:30 and by appointment
TA Office: Padelford C-20
Lectures:
Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 9:30-10:20 a.m., Loew Hall 105
Required Text:

An Introduction to Abstract Algebra with Notes to the Future Teacher by Nicodemi, Sutherland, and Towsley (Prentice Hall, 2007)

Prerequisites:
2.0 in Math 205, Math 308, Math 136 or the equivalent. 
Exams:

1st Midterm: Friday, October 18, in class.
2nd Midterm: Friday, November 15, in class.
Final: Wednesday, December 11, 8:30 p.m. (Note: this is one hour earlier than our normal starting time.)

Grading:
Your grade will be based on homework,two midterms, and a final exam (each counting 1/3). The final exam will be comprehensive. If you must miss an exam because of illness or emergency, I would very much appreciate advance notice. n all tests you may use two letter-sized pages (one sheet front and back of notes in your own handwriting). .
Incompletes and Drops:
The grade of Incomplete will be given ONLY if a student has been doing satisfactory work until the end of the quarter and then misses the final exam for a documented illness, religious reason, or family emergency.
What to Expect:
This course is the first of a two-quarter sequence. In the first quarter we will try to get through sections 1.1-4,7, 2.1,4-6, and 3.1-7 of the text, covering eight chapters of the book, covering induction, primes and unique factorization, the Euclidean algorithm, Euler's and Fermat's Theorems, modular arithmetic, complex numbers, and polynomials. This course is the version of abstract algebra taken by students in the teacher preparation major and will be oriented to the needs of future teachers of mathematics.

             Homework

Due:
Problems:
Sep 27
Chicken McNugget Problem, stated in class
Oct 4
Exercises 1.2.1-4,10-11: read through section 1.3
Oct 11
Exercises 1.3.4,7,8; 1.4.2,5: read 1.4, start 1.7 (omit 1.5,6)
Oct 18
study problems, first midterm: ; read
Oct 25
Exercises : read
Nov 1
Exercises : read
Nov 8
Exercises : read
Nov 15
study problems, second midterm: read
Nov 29
Exercises : read
Dec 6
study problems, final:


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