COURSE: MATH 5410-001, Call # 14993

TIME AND PLACE: 12:45-2:05 TR, Sam Wilson Hall 329.

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Robert Gardner OFFICE HOURS: 3:35-4:00 TR and by appointment

OFFICE: Room 308F of Gilbreath Hall

PHONE: 439-6979 (308F Gilbreath), Math Department Office 439-4349

E-MAIL:gardnerr@etsu.edu
WEBPAGE: http://faculty.etsu.edu/gardnerr/gardner.htm (see my webpage for a copy of this course syllabus, copies of the classnotes in PDF, and updates for the course).

TEXT: Algebra, by Thomas W. Hungerford (1974).

CLASS NOTES: We will use projected digital notes for the component of the lecture consisting of definitions, statements of theorems, and some examples. Proofs of the vast majority of theorems, propositions, lemmas, and corollaries are available in Beamer presentations and will be presented in class as time permits. The white board will be used for marginal notes and additional examples and explanation. Copies of the notes are online at: http://faculty.etsu.edu/gardnerr/5410/notes-groups.htm It is strongly recommended that you get printed copies of the overheads before the material is covered in class. This will save you from writing down most notes in class and you can concentrate on listening and supplementing the notes with comments which you find relevant. You should read the online notes to be covered in class before each class (we may not have class time to cover every little detail in the online notes). Try to understand the definitions, the examples, and the meanings of the theorems. After each class, you should read the section of the book covered in that class, paying particular attention to examples and proofs.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
A First Course in Abstract Algebra, 7th Edition, John B. Fraleigh, NY: Addison-Wesley, 2003.
Abstract Algebra, 3rd Edition, David S. Dummit and Richard M. Foote, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2004.
Visual Group Theory by Nathan Carter, New York: Mathematical Association of America, 2009. I will use this resource for some motivational and geometric examples.
A History of Abstract Algebra, by Isreal Kleiner, Boston: Birkhauser, 2007. As time permits, I will insert some historical comments and this is be a reliable source of such information.

PREREQUISITE: As the ETSU catalog states, the prerequisite for this class is Introduction to Modern Algebra (MATH 4127/5127).

HOMEWORK: YOU MUST SHOW ALL DETAILS ON THE HOMEWORK PROBLEMS!!! Justify every step and claim you make - this is how you convince me that you know what you are doing. You may find some answers online, but these rarely sufficiently justify all steps and are unacceptable as homework solutions.

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT: While I suspect that you may work with each other on the homework problems (in fact, I encourage you to), I expect that the work you turn in is your own and that you understand it. Some of the homework problems are fairly standard for this class, and you may find proofs online or in an online version of the solutions manual. The online proofs may not be done with the notation, definitions, and specific methods which we are developing and, therefore, are not acceptable for this class. If I get homework from two (or more) of you that is virtually identical, then neither of you will get any credit. If you copy homework solutions from an online source, then you will get no credit. These are examples of plagiarism and I will have to act on this as spelled out on ETSU's "Academic Integrity @ ETSU" webpage: http://www.etsu.edu/academicintegrity/ (last accessed 8/29/2017). To avoid this, do not copy homework and turn it in as your own!!! Even if you collaborate with someone, if you write the homework problems out in such a way that you understand all of the little steps and details, then it will be unique and your own work.

GRADING: Homework (H) to be turned in will be assigned regularly. We will have two tests (T₁ and T₂) and your average will be computed as follows:

DESIRE2LEARN: I will not rely on the Desire2Learn ("elearn") website. Instead, I will simply post all material directly on the internet. However, I will post your homework grades on D2L.

NOTE: When we compare the undergraduate and graduate analysis sequences, we see that the material covered in the graduate class consists mostly of generalizations of the undergraduate material (for example, the undergraduate class covers Riemann integration and the graduate class covers Lebesgue measure and Lebesgue integration). This is not the case for the undergraduate and graduate algebra sequences, however. In Introduction to Modern Algebra 1 and 2 (MATH 4127/5127, MATH 4137/5137) you are introduced to the structures of modern algebra (groups, rings, fields, quotient groups, ideals, extension fields, algebraically closed fields, solvable polynomial equations). You elaborate on these structures with many examples and state numerous theorems which illustrate the properties and relations between them. However, there is only enough time to prove a limited number of the results. In this graduate sequence, we assume a familiarity with the structures discussed and go into more depth and many more proofs. In this class, we try to cover all of the material on group theory (sections I.1 through II.8 in the text).

SYLLABUS ATTACHMENT: You can find an on-line version of the university's syllabus attachment (which contains general information concerning advisement, honor codes, dropping, etc.) at: https://www.etsu.edu/reg/academics/syllabus.php (last accessed 3/18/2017).

THE ETSU ABSTRACT ALGEBRA CLUB: As a student in this class, you will be enrolled in the ETSU Abstract Algebra Club. A description of the club is online here. We should have at least one formal meeting per semester.

OTHER SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:

• October 2011 marked the bicentennial of the birth of Evariste Galois, one of the giant figures in modern algebra. To celebrate this anniversary, I prepared a seminar presentation. Details can be found on the seminar and the presentation itself online. A YouTube video of the presentation is here. (accessed 10/25/2016)
• Information on the Nova episode The Mathematical Mystery Tour from 1985 can be found on my webpage http://faculty.etsu.edu/gardnerr/Math-Mystery-Tour/mathematical-Mystery-Tour.htm. The webpage includes a link to the YouTube site which contains the show (last accessed 10/25/2016).
• A more contemporary documentary is The Story of Maths, a BBC production from 2008. This is a four part series and all of this series is available online: The Story of Maths. (In fact, this is posted on an excellent website which includes a number of documentaries and is a "must visit": Top Documentary Films!) Also of interest is the Wikipedia page for The Story of Maths. The series is available from a number of online streaming video sources, as revealed by a Google search. This websites were all active as of 10/25/2016.
• A lighter documentary on the history of math is The Story of One, narrated by Monty Python-er Terry Jones. It is also a BBC production and dates from 2005. If you are involved in teaching, this is a nice documentary which should be accessible by highs schoolers and middle schoolers. It is on TopDocumentaryFilms at: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/story-of-one/ (last accessed 10/25/2016).

WEATHER AND GOLDALERT: Since there is the chance that classes might be cancelled due to weather this semester, in the event of bad weather you should monitor local media (Campus Cable TV, WETS FM89.5 radio, and WJHL Channel 11) to see if ETSU is open or closed. A mass notification system is used to provide email and text messages to members of the campus community. So you will get an e-mail to your ETSU account if classes are cancelled. An easier option is to have a text sent to your phone when classes are cancelled. You can sign up for this service at: GoldAlert registration.

Our tentative schedule for the year is as follows:

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Last updated: October 28, 2018.