General Announcements

• The first test will be Friday, Feb. 8 in class.  It will cover the material that was covered in class and on the assignments; this roughly corresponds to Judson 16.1 - 16.4, 17.1 - 17.2 and 18.1 and Dummit and Foote, 7.1 - 7.6 and 9.1 - 9.2 although D&F covers some material that we didn't cover in class.
• Instead of my Friday, Feb. 8 office hour this week, I will have an office hour at 12:30 on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
• Here are some practice problems from Judson.  Additionally you should be familiar with the lecture notes from class up until Feb 1: Judson, chapter 16, all problems except #13 - 15; chapter 17 #3, 5, 6, 7, 13, 16, 17, 24, 25, 26; chapter 18 #4, 6, 7, 8, 10.
• IT'S A SNOW DAY!  The test will have to be rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 11 in class.  See you then.
• Here is the Test 1 and solutions.
• Here is a link to a paper by Kathleen Iwancio and Michael Singer on Grobner bases and an application.
• The second test will be Friday, Mar. 15 in class.  It will cover the material covered in class in weeks 5 through 8.  This roughly corresponds to Judson, sections 17.3, 18.2, chapter 20 and section 21.1 and Dummit and Foote, 9.2 - 9.6, 11.1 and 13.1.
• I will have an office hour on Wednesday, Mar. 13 at 12:30 instead of my office hour on Friday.
• For the second test, here are some practice problems: Judson, chapter 17, #8-28; chapter 18, #17, 18; chapter 20, #1 - 10; chapter 21, #1 - 2.  D&F, section 9.6, #3, 7, 17.
• Here is Test 2 and solutions.
• The best guide to what will be covered on the final exam are my lecture notes but roughly they correspond to the sections of Judson or Dummit and Foote mentioned in the course schedule.  Specifically they include: Judson, Chapter 16, 17, 18 (except the material on PIDs, UFDs and Euclidean domains), 20, 21 (except for splitting fields) and 22 (except for codes); Dummit and Foote, Chapter 7.1 - 7.5, 9.1 - 9.6 (but not 9.3), 11.1, 13.1- 13.3 (except splitting fields), 14.3 and the appendix on Zorn's Lemma.
• I will have office hours on Wednesday, Apr. 10, 12:30 - 1:30, Thursday, Apr. 11, 10:30 - 12:30 and Friday, Apr. 12, 12:30 - 2:30.
• Review problems: Judson, Chapter 16, 1 - 41; Chapter 17, 1 - 28; Chapter 18, 1 - 19 except those that explicitly mention UFDs or Euclidean domains; Chapter 20, 1 - 18; Chapter 21, 1 - 27 except for those that explicitly mention splitting fields; Chapter 22, 1 - 29 except those problems which mention codes; Dummit and Foote, section 9.6, 10 - 12 and if you want to see how Grobner bases are used in "practice", look at 45; Zorn's Lemma appendix, pg. 924, 1-4.
  

Course Outline

Lecture schedule

Assignments

Instructor:

Bradd Hart
Office: Hamilton Hall 420
Office hours: Th F 11:30 or by appointment
Tel. extension: 23411
E-mail: hartb@mcmaster.ca 

Course meeting time:  MW 8:30 - 9:20 and F 10:30 - 11:20 in HH 217