LECTURE TIME AND PLACE: MWF 1:30,
CHL 101
INSTRUCTOR: John Palmieri,
Padelford C-538, 543-1785
E-mail:
palmieri@math.washington.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Monday 3:30-4:20, Tuesday
2:30-3:30, and by appointment
TEACHING ASSISTANT: Rebekah Hahn,
Padelford C-404
E-mail: hahn@math.washingon.edu
WEB PAGE: http://www.math.washington.edu/~palmieri/Math412/
TEXT BOOK: Integers, Polynomials and Rings by Ronald S. Irving. This is a set of notes available for purchase at the UW Copy Center in Communications 042.
GRADING: There will be one 50-minute midterm on Monday, February 10, and a final exam on Monday, March 17, 2:30-4:20. The tests will be closed-book, in-class exams. The midterm is worth 20% of the grade and final is worth 30%. There are four homework assignments, due January 22, February 7, February 29, and March 14. The homework is worth 40% of the grade. Class participation is worth 10%.
GOALS OF THE COURSE: There are two main goals for the course. The first is pedagogical: to learn how to learn, teach, and discuss mathematics. The second goal is mathematical: to study the polynomials the way we studied integers in Math 411: we will look at divisibility, irreducibility, and factorization.
PLAN FOR THE COURSE: We will cover four topics this quarter, as described on another handout. We will spend 6 or 7 classes on each topic; there is a homework assignment for each one. The midterm occurs between the second and third topics.
CLASSROOM FORMAT: I will divide the class into groups of 4-6 people. Each group will hand in a joint set of solutions for each assignment. To accomplish this, it's a good idea for each group to divide the assignment among its members, with two people responsible for each problem (in case one gets stuck). Each group member is expected to contribute his or her fair share.
On some days, I may spend part of the class giving a brief lecture on the material. We will use most class time, though, for group meetings. Each of you should read the material and do individual work outside of class; then during class, the members of each group can explain their progress on their problems, find out where they're stuck, re-distribute the work if necessary, and work together on the harder material. During this time, Rebekah Hahn (the teaching assistant) and I will circulate, providing help as needed. Each group will fill out a form at the end of the class hour describing what progress it is making. This gives you a chance to reflect on what you have accomplished and what needs to be accomplished; at the same time it ensures that I'm kept up-to-date on how each group is doing. Groups may not be able to complete their work during class hours alone -- additional meetings outside of class may be necessary.
Learning by working in groups is natural in this course for two reasons. First, the intellectual processes of proof and mathematical communication are best learned by practice. Second, the course is part of your preparation to become a secondary school teacher of mathematics, a career in which you will be communicating mathematical ideas to others and listening to them as they try. By doing so in the class, you will gain an appreciation of the difficulty and the importance of expressing mathematical ideas effectively.
HOMEWORK GRADING: Each group homework assignment will be graded by Rebekah Hahn, and each problem will be scored from 0 to 10. The group totals on the four assignments become each member's homework total. If your score on a problem is less than 7, your group can re-do the problem and hand it in again. I will grade this re-do, and the score you obtain on the re-do will replace the initial score.
You can learn much from reading each other's solutions. For instance, if you have trouble understanding another group member's solution, you may see how to improve the exposition, and this could give a better sense of how to improve your own writing. In order to ensure that this process takes place, I will require that every solution be read by at least one person in the group besides the one who wrote it before the solution is turned in. Each solution should be initialed by a member of the group besides the one who wrote it, signifying that the solution has been read and found to be correct. If you don't find it correct, you should discuss it with the solution-writer or your group as a whole.
TESTS: As mentioned above, there will be one 50-minute midterm, in class on Monday, February 10, and one final exam lasting one hour and 50 minutes, on Monday, March 17, beginning at 2:30. The tests will be closed-book, in-class exams. The midterm is worth 20% of the grade and final is worth 30%.
The class day prior to each exam will be spent on preparation for the exam. On that day, I will hand out a practice exam that will be a near duplicate of the one you will actually see two days later. This will allow you as a group to use that class time to work on the exam material together. You can continue your discussions as part of your studying during the next two days. You will write the exam individually and be graded individually. (The actual exam will differ from the practice one in minor ways.)
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