Math 111
Winter 2004

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to computational commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. Topics include Gröbner bases and the algorithms to compute them, and basic algebraic geometry, including the Nullstellensatz.

Instructor

Name Office E-mail Phone Office Hours
Diane Maclagan 380-382K maclagan@math.stanford.edu 723-7824 TBA

Course Time and Location

MWF 2:15-3:05pm in 380-380F.

Text

Cox, Little, O'Shea, Ideals, Varieties, and Algorithms. We will cover chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and as much of 8 and 9 as time allows.

Exams

Midterm: There will be a take-home midterm due in class on Friday, February 13 . It will be handed out at the previous class meeting. If you have any conflicts with that date, you must discuss the problem with me at least a week beforehand.
Here is the midterm in PDF format.
There will not be an in-class exam. Instead, you will be required to complete a substantial final project. Details on this are here

Homework

There will be weekly homework assignments. Homework assignments, due dates, and solutions will be posted here. You are encouraged to work together on the exercises. Any graded assignment, though, should represent your own work. No late homework will be accepted under any circumstances. However, your lowest homework score will be dropped when computing your grade. You can hand in an improved version of any homework later in the quarter; this will not replace your previous homework grade, but will be taken into account for borderline grades.
There will be substantial computational portions to most homeworks. You will need to use the computer program Macaulay 2 for this. More information will be given on this topic in the first week of class.

Grades

Grades will be based on the following percentages.
Homework: 25%
Midterm: 25%
Final Project: 50%