Math 496A---Topics in Algebra: Matrix Groups,  Fall 2020

Instructors

• Xiang Tang, Cupples I, 112B, xtang@math.wustl.edu

Text

• Matrix groups for undergraduates (2nd edition) by Kristopher Tapp
  

Office Hours

• Thursday 1-3 p.m. or by appointment.
  

Course Webpage

• http://www.math.wustl.edu/~xtang/Fall2020-matrix.html
  

Prerequisite

• Math 233, 309, and 310.
  

Lectures

• We will have synchronous zoom lectures at the scheduled class time. You are strongly suggested to attend the lectures. Information about materials covered and homework assigned every week will be updated on the course website. The zoom lectures will be recorded and available to watch on Canvas.
  

Homework

• You will have graded homework turned in every two weeks on Thursday by 4 p.m.  Late homework will not be accepted! The homework collected is to be considered a bare minimum of homework that you should do. "A" students will generally do nearly every problem in the exercise sections.

• We will use an online system called CrowdMark to collect and distribute homework, https://app.crowdmark.com/sign-in/wustl, which you can sign in with your Canvas account. Only PDF and JPEG format files will be accepted by CrowdMark. You will need to upload your work for each problem separately. Simply drag and drop your files to the upload areas under the questions or browse to locate them. You can drag between questions, and add or delete pages under each question. Please make sure your pictures are sharp enough to be graded. And please ensure the uploaded pages are in order and rotated correctly if  your solution is written on several pages.
  

• Homework is graded according to the following distribution. Each homework set consists of 5 problems. Each problem counts for 10 points and the total score of a homework  is 50 points. 
  

Exam

• There will be one take-home exam and a final presentation. The exam is on November 6th, and the final exam is a presentation.
  

Grading scale

• Homework: 50%, Exam: 20%, Final: 30%. The grades are assigned according the percentage you are in the class. 
• You are expected to take the exams at their scheduled times. If you are away because of a  university sporting event or field trip, then you may arrange for your coach or professor to administer the exam. Excused absences may be granted in the case of illness or bereavement. All excused absences must be granted before the exam is taken. The final exam date cannot be changed for reasons of traveling convenience.
• Letter grades will be given based on your overall score. The cutoffs for the various letter grades will be no higher than the following:

A-	85
B-	75
C-	60
D	50

• In total, we will collect 6 homework sets. You are allowed to drop the lowest homework score.

Homework assignments

Assignment 1(due 10/08) Ex. 1.1, Ex. 1.5, Ex. 1.15, Ex. 2.6, Ex. 2.8.
Assignment 2 (due 10/22) Ex. 2.9, Ex. 2.10, Ex. 3.6, Ex. 3.9, Ex. 3.16.
Assignment 3 (due 11/5) Ex. 4.10, Ex. 4.14, Ex. 4.22; Ex. 5.5, Ex. 5.6
Aissgnment 4 (due 12/3) Ex. 6.3, Ex. 6.4, Ex. 6.7; Ex. 7.1, Ex. 7.18.