(For a PDF version of this document, click here.)

Instructor: John Palmieri, Padelford C-538, 543-1785, palmieri@math.washington.edu

Class time and place: MWF 2:30 (missing occasional Fridays), Padelford C-401

Office hours: drop in and by appointment

Web page: http://www.math.washington.edu/~palmieri/Math564/ or
http://faculty.washington.edu/jpalmier/Math564/

Text book: Algebraic Topology by Allen Hatcher. This book is available for free download from Hatcher's web page, http://www.math.cornell.edu/~hatcher/AT/ATpage.html. The book store (and Amazon, etc.) should have bound copies for sale, too. Whether you have a bound or downloaded copy, check Hatcher's web page for a list of corrections.

Homework. There will be occasional problem sets, one every two weeks or so. Feel free to work with other people on the homework. If you find a solution in a book, please provide a reference.

Grading: To get a 4.0, attend class regularly and make a reasonable attempt on half of the homework problems. To get a grade in the range 3.6-3.9, do less than that. If you never show up and do very little homework, I might have to give you a lower grade than that.

Plan for the course. We are going to start with Chapters 0 and 2, but not necessarily in that order. Chapter 0 is background: homotopy equivalence, cell complexes, things like that. I'll cover it as needed. Chapter 2 discusses homology, which is the main topic this quarter.