Instructor: John Perry
Office: Southern Hall, 317C
Office Hours: MWF 10-11a, 5-6p
Office Phone: 601⋅266⋅5505
Email: john.perry@usm.edu
Instructor's web page: http://www.math.usm.edu/perry/
Class web page: http://www.math.usm.edu/perry/mat423fa11/
Class meeting time and location: MW 3·30-4⋅45p SH 303
Course Description: Elementary notions in groups, Fundamental Theorem of Finitely Generated Groups, permutation groups, quotient groups, isomorphism theorems, and applications of transformation groups, and monoids.
Prerequisite: MAT 326 (Linear Algebra I) and MAT 340 (Discrete Mathematics). These prerequisites constitute necessary preparation for the course; if you lack either you are at a tremendous disadvantage.
Grading: The semester grade will be determined by a weighted average, according to the weights listed below.
| Tests (there will be two; the final includes an oral component) |
40% of total |
| Homework (problems are graded randomly) |
50% of total |
| Team projects (to be explained in due course) |
10% of total |
The Major Field Test: In 2010, the mathematics department voted to make the Major Field Test in mathematics a component of MAT 423. You will receive a grade for this test. We will discuss the details later in the semester.
Late Assignments: Any assignment turned in past the specified due date and time will receive a grade lowered by ten percent for each school day late.
Makeup work: I do not give makeup tests/quizzes/etc. without an excused absence. If you must miss class, then you must also produce documentation of the reason for your absence. If you were sick, you can show me the receipt from the hospital or doctor; if you had a sports event, you can show me the schedule; if someone died, you can show me an obituary notice; if the tire on your car blew out, you can show me the receipt from the mechanic.Homework:
I generally collect the homework for
grading, but I will grade only a few random problems, not the entire
assignment. It is important for you to understand every problem on the
assignment, and I will provide some homework solutions to help
you study.
Important note on homework:
Many math majors see the purpose of homework as a "verification"
that they have learned the material that was presented in class, or as "practice".
This course is different: the homework is neither verification nor practice, but exploration.
It is an extension of the class lectures. It is not unusual for a one-line
question to take an hour or two, or even more, where you spend most of
the time trying to figure out where
to start! It is vitally important that you struggle with
the problems, consult other students and the professor, and generally
consider finding the solutions more important than pretty much anything
else.
A word about tests: Tests will consist of problems that you have not seen in class or in the homework. You should be able to solve them based on what you learned in the course. A good study guide for your tests will consist of (1) reviewing the homework and making sure you understand it, and (2) studying additional problems in each chapter.
Tutoring and study groups: I encourage you to work together on homework assignments, to look at each other's solutions, and to explain answers to each other. I may even assign study groups to work on homework assignments together. This is not the same thing as copying each other's homework.
Final Exam Date:Wednesday 14 December 2011, 7-9⋅30p.
The exam has two parts: a written, in-class section and an oral section. You must schedule an appointment during the week prior to the exam in order to take the oral section.
Mobile phones are not merely useful for business, they are by now necessary. For personal use, however, they have become a curse on the human race. We lived for thousands of years without them and never once felt a pressing need to interrupt a class, worship service, or business meeting so as to remind someone of our undying love.
Imagine: lovers once waited days or even weeks before a letter arrived from one's beloved. They caressed the paper in their hands, breathed the aroma of a drop of perfume left on the page, glanced at the postmark, and anguished over why the Post Office took so long to deliver such a precious package. They waited days or even weeks to send and receive replies — and they only lived down the street from each other!
We once considered it a vice to answer quickly! After all, an intelligent answer requires one to think before speaking. By contrast, modernity considers a silent pause following a question to be a mark of ignorance, dishonesty, even mental deficiency. As the enemy of elegant speech and intelligent conversation, mobile phones, popular music, and television have contributed more to the decline of discretion, intimacy, and privacy than any common gossip, media outlet, or government surveillance program could hope to do.
Please, turn off your phone before entering the classroom. Text messaging, wearing an earpiece, etc. are prohibited and will lead to expulsion.
Note: The last day to drop a full-semester course without academic penalty is Wednesday, 5 October.
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ADA Syllabus Statement If a student has a disability that qualifies under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and requires accommodations, he/she should contact the Office for Disability Accommodations (ODA) for information on appropriate policies and procedures. Disabilities covered by ADA may include learning, psychiatric, physical disabilities, or chronic health disorders. Students can contact ODA if they are not certain whether a medical condition/disability qualifies.
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