MATH 300, Section 2, Spring 2007

MATH 300, Spring 2007

Section 2



Instructor

    Hao Wu

    Office: LGRT 1546
    Office Hours:     Monday and Wednesday 3:30--5pm
    Phone: 545-1709
    Email:
    Class Website: http://www.math.umass.edu/~wu/300S07.html



Teaching Assistant

    Laura Beltis

    Email:



Lecture Notes

    William H. Meeks, III:     Fundamental Concepts of Mathematics.    
    Farshid Hajir: Farshid's Math 300 Notes.    
    Hao Wu: Random notes on Math 300 listed below in the section Basic Material to be covered



Lecture Schedule

Day & Time : Location:
MWF 1:25 - 2:15         LGRT 319        



Discussion Schedule

Small group discussions are held at various times on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in one of a number of smaller classrooms on the higher floors of the Lederle tower. Discussions are an essential aspect of the course, allowing students to meet with the TA (Laura) and talk about mathematics in a small setting. Students are required to choose a discussion section and attend every week. If you miss your discussion for any reason (e.g., school holiday, absence, etc.), you should attend another section. Homework will also be assigned and collected and quizzes will be given in discussion, so particular attention should be paid to attending discussions.

Sec #         Day         Time         Room #        
1         Tuesday         5:05-5:55pm         LGRT 1322        
2         Wednesday         6:10-7:00pm         LGRT 1322
3         Thursday         5:05-5:55pm         LGRT 1322        



Exam Schedule

When: Where: On What: Review Session: Practice Exams:
Midterm 1         Friday, March 02, in class         LGRT 319         Materials covered in class before Friday, Feb. 23         Wednesday, Feb. 28, in class         Practice Exam 1
Midterm 2         Friday, March 30, in class         LGRT 319         Basic principles of counting, combinations and mathematical induction         Friday, March 16, in class Practice Exam 2
Midterm 3         Monday, April 30, in class         LGRT 319         recursion, pigeon-hole principle, complex numbers         Friday, April 27, in class Practice Exam 3
Final Exam         Wednesday, May 23, 8:00-10:00am         LGRC A301         the entire semester         Monday, May 14, in class Final Practice Exam



Homeworks and Quizzes


Grading

Your grade will be made up of the following components:
The total of these scores will be converted into a letter grade by the following scale:


A: 88% - 100%         C: 68% - 72%        
A-: 85% - 88% C-: 65% - 68%
B+: 82% - 85% D+: 62% - 65%
B: 78% - 82% D: 55% - 62%
B-: 75% - 78% F: 0% - 55%
C+ 72% - 75%



Goals for Math 300

I. Get some understanding and perspective on the general philosophy of mathematics from a mathematician's point of view.

II. Learn techniques of proof and the logic behind them.

III. Learn basic material for more advanced classes in analysis and algebra.

IV. Get practice in speaking mathematics and in giving proofs in front of class.


Basic Material to be covered

A. Set Theory and logic:
   1. unions and intersections
   2. sizes of sets (Notes)
   3. countable and uncountable sets
   4. 1-1 and onto functions
   5. equivalence relations
   6. basic logic of truth tables
   7. implications and proofs

B. Elementary Combinatorics:
   1. basic principles of counting (Notes)
   2. combinations (Notes)
   3. well-ordering principle and induction (Notes)
   4. recursion (Notes)
   5. pigeon-hole principle (Notes)

C. Complex numbers: (Notes)
   1. Definition and basic properties of complex numbers.

D. Basic topology: (Notes)
   1. Metric spaces.
   2. Topological spaces.
   3. Continuous functions.

See the official syllabus for more details.


Problem Sets

Due Date         Page Numbers Problems
02/09 17-18 1,2,3,4,5,10,12,14,15
02/16 17-18 6,7,8,9,11,13,16(a,b,c),17
03/09 Problems
03/16 Problems
04/13 Problems
04/20 Problems
04/27 Problems
05/04 Problems
05/14 64-65 1,2,3,4,5

Last updated on May 06, 2007.