Math 551
Fall 2005

Course Description

This course is an introduction to abstract algebra at the graduate level.

Instructor

Name Office E-mail Phone Office Hours
Diane Maclagan 240 Hill Center maclagan at math.rutgers.edu 732-445-3481 Monday 11-12 and by appointment

Course Time and Location

MW5 (3:20-4:40), Hill 525

Text

Hungerford Algebra. See also the selection at Abebooks.com (a site that searches thousands of independent and used bookstores - a great resource for math books).

Key Dates

There will be one midterm, in-class on Wednesday, October 19.
There will be a final exam.
A tentative outline of the class is available here

Announcements

Announcements and any handouts will be available here.
A handout on natural transformations is available in PS or PDF.
The midterm is available in PDF.

A handout on rational and Jordan canonical form is available in PS or PDF. (revised 12/22/05 - Thanks to Baxter for corrections).

Homework

There will be weekly homework assignments. Homework assignments and due dates will be posted here. You are encouraged to work on homework together, but you should write up the solutions yourself. Please note on the first page of your assignment the names of people you worked with.
No late home will be accepted under any circumstances. Your lowest two homework scores will be dropped when computing your grade.

Grades

Grades will be based on homework and an in-class midterm and final as follows:
Homework: 35%
Midterm: 25%
Final: 40%