Reading Assignments

(main course page)

Assignments:

1. For Wednesday August 31 lecture:  Answer the following Introduction questions in a blog entry.
   
   • What is your year in school and major? What do you plan to do after graduating?
   • Which post-calculus math courses have you taken?  (Use names or BYU course numbers.)
   • Why are you taking this class?  (Be specific.) Are there specific topics you look forward to learning about in this class? If so, what are they?
   • Tell me about the math professor or teacher you have had who was the most and/or least effective.  What did s/he do that worked so well/poorly?
   • Write something interesting or unique about yourself.
   • If you are unable to come to my scheduled office hours, what times would work for you?
2. For Wednesday August 31 lecture:  Read and blog about Sections 2.1 and 2.2.
3. For Friday September 2 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.3.
4. For Wednesday September 7 lecture: Review page 21, and read and blog about Section 2.4, through 2.4.1.
5. For Friday September 9 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.4.2.
6. For Monday September 12 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.4.3.
7. For Wednesday September 14 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.4.4.
8. For Friday September 16 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.4.5.
9. For Monday September 19 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.5.1.
10. For Wednesday September 21 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.5.2.
11. For Friday September 23 lecture: Read and blog about Section 2.6.
12. For Monday September 26 lecture: Read and blog about Jacobi symbols on pages 221 and 222.
13. For Wednesday September 28 lecture: Read and blog about Section 3.1.1.
14. For Friday September 30 lecture: As you study for the exam, write responses to the following questions.
• Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
• What kinds of questions do you expect to see on the exam?
• What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out in class on Friday.
Thinking about the answers to these questions can help guide your study. Remember also that the mathematics department's learning outcomes for Math 487 state that students

should know all relevant definitions, correct statements of the major theorems (including their hypotheses and limitations), and examples and non-examples of the various concepts. The students should be able to demonstrate their mastery by solving non-trivial problems related to these concepts, and by proving simple (but non-trivial) theorems about the…concepts, related to, but not identical to, statements proven by the text or instructor.

15. There will be no class on Monday October 3 because of the midterm exam; you are welcome to come ask questions in my office during class time. For Wednesday October 5 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.1.2.
16. For Friday October 7 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.1.3.
17. For Monday October 10 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.1.4 through the first half of page 72.
18. For Wednesday October 12 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of section 3.1.4.
19. For Friday October 14 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.1.5.
20. For Monday October 17 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.2 through 3.2.1.
21. For Wednesday October 19 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.2.2.
22. For Friday October 21 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.2.4.
23. For Monday October 24 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.2.5.
24. For Wednesday October 26 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.3 through the middle of page 110.
25. For Friday October 28 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.6.
    
26. For Monday October 31 lecture: Read and blog about section 3.3 from page 110 through the middle of page 115.
27. For Wednesday November 2 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of section 3.3.
28. For Friday November 4 lecture: Read and blog about section 4.1 and section 4.2 through page 138.
29. For Monday November 7 lecture: Read and blog about section 4.2 through the middle of page 144.
30. For Wednesday November 9 lecture: Read and blog about the rest of section 4.2.
31. For Friday November 11 lecture: As you study for the exam (note: study guide available here), write responses to the following questions.
• Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
• What kinds of questions do you expect to see on the exam?
• What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out in class on Friday.
• Are there topics you are especially interested in studying during the rest of the semester? What are they?
32. There will be no class on Monday November 14 because of the midterm exam; you are welcome to come ask questions in my office during class time. For Wednesday November 16 lecture: Read and blog about section 5.1 and section 5.2 through the top of page 202.
33. For Friday November 18 lecture: Read and blog about section 5.3 up to section 5.3.1.
34. For Monday November 21 lecture: Read and blog about section 5.3.1.
35. For Tuesday November 22 lecture: Read and blog about section 5.3.2.
36. For Monday November 28 lecture: Read and blog about section 5.4 through 5.4.1.
37. For Wednesday November 30 lecture: Read and blog about section 5.4.2.
38. For Friday December 2 lecture: Read sections 6.1 and 6.2 in chapter 6, "Elliptic Curves", of William Stein's book available here.
39. For Monday December 5 lecture: Read section 6.3 of Stein's book.
40. For Wednesday December 7 lecture: Read Section 6.4 of Stein's book. Complete your student ratings for this class. As you study for the exam (study guide available here), write responses to the following questions.
• Which topics and theorems do you think are the most important out of those we have studied?
• What kinds of questions do you expect to see on the exam?
• What do you need to work on understanding better before the exam? Come up with a mathematical question you would like to see answered or a problem you would like to see worked out.

If for whatever reason you are uncomfortable doing a certain assignment on your blog (for instance, if you'd rather not have your answers to specific questions out there on the Internet), you may send me that particular assignment by email.

Instructions:

• Set up a blog for this class and do the first two assignments by 11:59 PM on August 30.
• Complete each reading assignment (listed above) before lecture.
• Write a blog entry for each reading assignment.
  
  The title of the blog entry should be
  (Section Number), due on (Date)
  so, for example, your first blog entry will be titled
  Introduction, due on September 1
  and the second entry will be titled
  Sections 2.1 and 2.2, due on September 1.
  
  A blog entry should have two parts:
  1.  (Difficult)  Answer the question "What was the most difficult part of the material for you?"  Note that "nothing" is not an acceptable answer. If nothing challenges you, then you should think about the material at a deeper level and generate some honest questions.
  2.  (Reflective)  Write something reflective about the reading. This could be the answer to the question "What was the most interesting part of the material?" or "How does this material connect to something else you have learned in mathematics?" or "How is this material useful/relevant to your intellectual or career interests?" or something else.
• The blog posting is due by 11:59 PM on the day before lecture (for example, you should post about the reading for Wednesday’s lecture before midnight Tuesday night).
• Blog posts will be graded according to the following scheme:
  0 points:  No blog submission on time.
  1 point:  Submission of both parts (Difficult and Reflective) on time, but first part (Difficult) is irrelevant or does not sufficiently show that all reading has been done.
  2 points:  Submission of both parts (Difficult and Reflective) on time, demonstrating that you have done all of the reading and thought about it.

Setting up a blog:

Note:  these instructions should only be followed once.  Once you’ve created a blog, just add new posts to it for each reading assignment.

• Open your browser to https://www.blogger.com/start.
• Click on the orange box with “Get started”. If you already have a blog, please create a new one for this class; I’ll be dumping all entries into a feed reader, and would like to see only entries related to the course.
• Follow the instructions.  Make sure you note your account details (username, password, url).
• The default settings are correct, so you don’t have to change anything, although you may if you wish.  Please leave comments and full blog feeds enabled.
• For your first blog post, please answer the Introduction questions above (Assignment 1).
• Once you have made your first blog post, send me an email with the URL for the main page of your blog.  Include your full name in the email message, especially if your name does not appear on your blog.