Math 321: Real Analysis (Fall 2023)

Instructor

Office hours
WF 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Library 390

Grader
Solis McClain (mmcclain@) and Elle Wen (welle@) have undertaken the arduous task of grading for the course; they are your first points of contact in the event of a homework grading dispute. Regrettably, there is no teaching assistnat for this course.

Exams
One in-class midterm on Wednesday, October 11
One in-person final exam on Wednesday, December 13, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Bio 19

Homework
Expect weekly assignments. Work must be typeset with $\rm\LaTeX$ and submitted on GradeScope (entry code: 6GVPEV).

Collaboration, being a nontrivial part of learning and of scholarship in general, is highly encouraged. But, in accordance with the honor principle and basic human decency, you must submit your own write-up with an acknowledgment of collaborators.

Game Plan
We will use the first three or four chapters of [Ru] for properties of real numbers, metric topology, sequences and series, differentiability and Riemann integrability; and the first few chapters of [SS] for measure theory, Lebesgue integration, and Hilbert spaces.

Here is a syllabus with all the legalese.

Resources
Math Help Center/Drop-in Tutoring: SuMTTh 7:00–9:00 p.m. at Library 204 (schedule).
Individual Tutoring: Reed offers one hour per week of free, one-to-one tutoring. Details here.

Week
Date
Topics covered and suggested readings
1
8/28
Intro: limits in analysis, set-theoretic foundations of the number system
Review [Ru, pp. 1–8] on your own: field axioms, order axioms, ordered field axioms
[Ru, pp. 4–5, 8–11]
 
8/30
Least upper bounds, Archimedean property
A set-theoretic construction of $\mathbf{R}$ by way of Dedekind cuts is nicely explained in [Ru, pp. 16–21].
[Ru, pp. 8–11]
 
9/1
Review [Ru, pp. 24–30] on your own: basic set theory, cardinality
Consequences of the Archimedean property, Distance functions and metric spaces
[Ru, pp. 30–36]
Homework 1 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, September 8
2
9/4
Labor Day, no class
 
9/6
Metric topology
NB: I will use $B_r(p)$ in place of Rudin's $N_r(p)$ to denote a neighborhood (i.e., a ball) or radius $r$ centered at the point $p$. You are free to use either notation.
[Ru, pp. 30–36]
 
9/8
Metric topology comtinued, compactness
[Ru, pp. 30–36]
Homework 2 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, September 15
3
9/11
Compactness: several examples (purely topological by way of open covering), compact sets and closed sets, the finite intersection property
[Ru, pp. 36–38], see also notes on the finite intersection property
 
9/13
Nested interval property, Heine–Borel theorem
[Ru, pp. 38–39]
 
9/15
Cantor set, sequences in a metric space
Those of you shaky on $\epsilon$-$\delta$ proofs should carefully review the proof or Theorem 3.3. David Perkinson's notes (linked further up on this webpage) may also be helpful.
[Ru, pp. 40–42]
Homework 3 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, September 22
4
9/18
Sequences, subsequences
[Ru, pp. 47–52]
 
9/20
Cauchy sequences and completeness, monotone convergence theorem
[Ru, pp. 52–55]
 
9/22
limsup and liminf (à la Rudin), some special sequences
[Ru, pp. 55–58], see also notes on equivalent definitions of limsup
Show comments
Homework 4 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, September 29
5
9/25
Cauchy criterion for series, test for divergence, comparison test, Cauchy condensation test, $p$-series, geometric series
[Ru, pp. 58–63]
 
9/27
The number $e$, root test, ratio test
[Ru, pp. 63–69]
 
9/29
Summation by parts, alternating series test, absolute convergence, Riemann's theorem on rearrangements
[Ru, pp. 70–72, 75–78]
Homework 5 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, October 6
6
10/2
Power series, addition and multiplication of series, the exponential function
[Ru, pp. 72–75, 178–180]
 
10/4
Continuity in metric spaces
[Ru, pp. 83–87]
 
10/6
Continuity in relation to compactness (extreme value theorem) and to connectedness (intermediate value theorem)
[Ru, pp. 89–95]
No homework due Friday, October 13
In-class midterm (solutions) on Wednesday, October 11
OH for midterm week: M 12:30–2:30, T 12:00–2:00 p.m. at Lib 390
Mock midterm, mock midterm solutions
7
10/9
Derivatives, the mean value theorem, Taylor's theorem
[Ru, pp. 103–108, 110–111]
Show comments
 
10/11
In-class midterm
 
10/13
The Riemann integral
[Ru, pp. 120–125]
Show comments
Fall break
No homework due Friday, October 27
9
10/23
The Riemann integral continued, the fundamental theorems of calculus
[Ru, pp. 125–129, 133–134]
 
10/25
Uniform convergence and shortcomings of Riemann's theory of integration, overview of Lebesgue's measure theory
[Ru, pp. 143–154], [SS, pp. xv–xix]
Show comments
 
10/27
Lebesgue outer measure
[SS, pp. 10–16]
Homework 6 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, November 3
10
10/30
Outer measure, measure, and measurable sets
[SS, pp. 16–19]
 
11/1
Measure and measurable sets continued
[SS, pp. 16–19]
 
11/3
Countable additivity, continuity of measure, approximation of measurable sets by open and closed sets (Littlewood's principle), invariance properties of the Lebesgue measure
[SS, pp. 19–22]
Homework 7 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, November 10
11
11/6
$\sigma$-algebras of measurable sets and of Borel sets, approximation of measurable sets by Borel sets
[SS, pp. 23–25]
 
11/8
Construction of a nonmeasurable set, measurable functions
[SS, pp. 27–30]
 
11/10
Approximation of measurable functions by simple and step functions
[SS, pp. 30–32]
Homework 8 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, November 17
12
11/13
Lusin's and Egorov's theorems (Littlewood's principles)
[SS, pp. 33–34]
 
11/15
Integration of simple fuinctions and of bounded functions with finite support (cf. the Riemann integral)
[SS, pp. 49–55]
 
11/17
Integration of measurable functions, Fatou's lemma, monotone convergence theorem
[SS, pp. 56–65]
Homework 9 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, December 1 Wednesday, December 9
Due date not a typo. This is a long but important homework; start early.
13
11/20
Lebesgue's dominated convergence theorem, the space $L^1$ of integrable functions
[SS, pp. 65–69]
 
11/22
$L^1$ as a Banach space (the Riesz–Fischer theorem), invariance properties of the integral, modes of convergence
[SS, pp. 70–74]
 
11/24
Thanksgiving break
Thanksgiving break
Homework 9 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, December 1 Wednesday, December 9
14
11/27
$L^1$: several examples
[SS, pp. 70–74]
 
11/29
Fubini–Tonelli theorem, integration in polar coordinates
[SS, pp. 75–86]
Show comments
 
12/1
Crash course on abstract measure theory
[SS, pp. 262–281]
Homework 10 (pdf, tex, solutions) due Friday, December 9
Some additional exercises for the final exam
15
12/4
Abstract measure theory continued
[SS, pp. 262–281]
 
12/6
Review
Some additional exercises for the final exam
In-person final exam takes place on
Wednesday, December 13, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Bio 19

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