Math 332: Abstract Algebra, Spring 2015
MTWF 10-10:50am, Library 389Office Hours: TW 11-noon, θ 2:30-3:30pm, Library 313
Textbook: Abstract Algebra, 3rd edition, by Dummit and Foote.
Compiled course notes: notes.pdf. Click on a day of the week to get notes for that day.
Week 1: Jan. 26 - 30
- Monday: Review the syllabus. Groups: definitions and examples.
- Tuesday: Read pp.16-27. Dihedral groups.
- Wednesday: Symmetric groups. Matrix and quaternion groups.
- Friday: Read pp.29-39. Homomorphisms, isomorphisms, monomorphisms, epimorphisms, endomorphisms, and automorphisms.
Homework due Monday, Feb. 2
Week 2: Feb. 2 - 6
- Monday: Read pp.41-52. Group actions.
- Tuesday: Read pp.54-64. Subgroups generated by subsets.
- Wednesday: Read pp.73-85. Quotients and cosets.
- Friday: Reread pp.73-85. More on quotients and cosets.
Homework due Monday, Feb. 9
Week 3: Feb. 9-13
- Monday: Read pp.89-95. Cosets and Lagrange's theorem.
- Tuesday: Read pp.97-100. Isomorphism theorems.
- Wednesday: Read pp.101-105. Composition series and the Hölder program.
- Friday: Read pp.106-110. The alternating group.
Homework due Monday, Feb. 16
Week 4: Feb. 16-20
- Monday: Read pp.112-121. Group actions redux (faithful actions, orbit decomposition).
- Tuesday: Read pp.122-129. The class equation.
- Wednesday: Conjugacy in Sn.
- Friday: Read pp.133-137. Automorphisms.
Homework due Monday, Feb. 23
Week 5: Feb. 23-27
- Monday: Read pp.139-142. The Sylow theorems.
- Tuesday: Read pp.142-146. More Sylow.
- Wednesday: Party tricks with small groups.
- Friday: Read pp.149-150. The simplicity of An. Handout on other proofs of An's simplicity by Keith Conrad.
Homework due Monday, March 2
Week 6: March 2-6
- Monday: Read pp.152-165. Direct products, categorical products.
- Tuesday: Read pp.169-173. Commutators and abelianization.
- Wednesday: Functors and adjunctions. Recognizing direct products.
- Friday: Test review.
Review exercises
Week 7: March 9-13 (guest instructor: Dave Perkinson!)
- Monday: 120-minute take-home exam: exam1.pdf / exam1.tex. (DO NOT LaTeX your exam, please.)
- Tuesday: Read pp.175-184. Semi-direct products.
- Wednesday: Read pp.215-218. Free groups.
- Friday: Read pp.218-220. Presentations.
Homework due Monday, March 16
Math 332 concepts we have covered or [will cover] explicitly mentioned at Oberwolfach this week:
- groups, fields, [rings], cyclic groups, dihedral groups, symmetric groups, A5, direct products, semi-direct products, torsion subgroups, group actions, orbits, isotropy, categories, adjunctions, free groups, [ideals], [modules], [Galois extensions], [nilpotence], and much much more!
Week 8: March 16-20
- Monday: Read pp.223-237. Rings.
- Tuesday: Read pp.239-247. Ring homomorphisms and quotients.
- Wednesday: Read pp.251-256. Ideals.
- Friday: Read pp.265-267. The Chinese Remainer Theorem.
Homework due Monday, March 30
Spring Break: March 21-29
- Start contemplating your final project. Topic proposals are due via email by Friday, April 3.
Week 9: March 30 - April 3
- Monday: Read pp.270-277. Euclidean domains.
- Tuesday: Read pp.279-282. Principal ideal domains.
- Wednesday: Read pp.283-294. Unique factorization domains.
- Friday: Sums of squares.
Homework due Monday, April 6
Week 10: April 6-10
Announcement: Brunch for gender minorities in math and physics, April 11. RSVP to rhokaner@reed.edu or nuxolla@reed.edu by Monday, April 6.
- Monday: Read pp.295-298. Polynomial rings.
- Tuesday: Read pp.299-306. When is R[x] a UFD?
- Wednesday: Read pp.307-311. Irreducibility in polynomial rings.
- Friday: Read pp.313-315. Roots and factors.
Homework due Monday, April 13
Week 11: April 13-17
- Monday: Read pp.337-343. Modules.
- Tuesday: Read pp.345-349. Quotients and hom groups.
- Wednesday: Read pp.351-355. Direct sums and free modules.
- Friday: Read pp.359-375. Tensor products.
Homework due Monday, April 20
Week 12: April 20-24
- Monday: Tensor products, continued.
- Tuesday: Read pp.456-468. Modules over a PID.
- Wednesday: Proof the fundamental theorem (and donuts). Draft of final paper due in class.
- Friday: Read pp.472-488. Modules over polynomial rings.
Homework due Monday, April 27
Week 13: April 27 - May 1
- Monday: The Cayley-Hamilton theorem.
- Tuesday: Read pp.4491-499. Jordan canonical form.
- Wednesday: Next steps, I. Course evals.
- Friday: Next steps, II. Final paper due at the start of class.
Recommended exercises
- From Dummit & Foote: 12.2.3, 12.2.4, 12.2.7, 12.2.14, 12.2.20 (bonus), 12.3.5, 12.3.6, 12.3.10, 12.3.23, 12.3.31, 12.3.32
- These exercises will not be collected or graded, but you are encouraged to do them and discuss your solutions with the instructor.
Review session: Wednesday, May 5, 1-3pm in Library 389.
Three-hour take-home final: Monday, May 11
Pick up a paper copy of the final from the bin outside my office (Library 313) any time after 6am on Monday, May 11. Return the test before 10pm by sliding it under my office door. Three-hour time limit. Closed notes, closed book, closed internet, closed everything except for one 8.5" x 11" (two-sided) page of notes you've prepared in advance.
Final papers
Send a pdf to ormsbyk@reed.edu if you'd like yours posted.
The LaTeX document preparation system
Poor handwriting? Love escape characters? Too much free time? Try LaTeX!
- LaTeX at Reed.
- A short guide [pdf] to writing mathematics with LaTeX.
- Sample LaTeX input/output: sample.tex/sample.pdf.
Kyle M. Ormsby