Math 456: Abstract Algebra
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Prof. Erin McNicholas Office: Ford 211
emcnicho@willamette.edu
(503)370-6590
Office Hours:
MWF 9-10am (Ford 211)
Tu 9:30-10:30am (Bistro)
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"In the broad light of day mathematicians check their equations and their proofs, leaving no stone unturned in their search for rigor. But at night, under the full moon, they dream, they float among the stars and wonder at the miracle of the heavens. They are inspired." - Michael Atiyah |
Homework https://wise.willamette.edu/access/content/group/MATH-456--15_FA/Math456Homework
Required Course Materials:
Useful and Fun Websites:
Class Objectives:
"Many people who have never had occasion to learn what mathematics is confuse it with arithmetic and consider it a dry and arid science. In actual fact it is the science which demands the utmost imagination. One of the foremost mathematicians of our century says very justly that it is impossible to be a mathematician without also being a poet in spirit... It seems to me that the poet must see what others do not see, must see more deeply than other people. And the mathematician must do the same." -Sofya Kovalevskaya, 1890
Is there an abstraction of the ideas running through a number of disparate areas of mathematics which, when accurately defined, gives greater insight into these individual areas? Does this abstraction allow for discoveries which apply to the whole without consideration of the characteristics which distinguish the parts? By reaching the level of abstraction which Abstract Algebra provides, we will explore some of the most beautiful and unifying results in mathematics. In this course you will learn the fundamentals of groups and rings, continue to develop your mathematical maturity and independence by asking good questions and identify underlying abstract patterns, and hone your stellar proof-writing skills. Your grade will be based on your level of achievement in each of the following student learning outcomes:
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鈥�Tentative Schedule