Math 402 - Abstract Algebra II - Fall 2008

Instructor: Mark Meckes (pronounced "MECKess")
Email: mark dot meckes at case dot edu
Office: Yost 211
Phone: 368-4997
Office hours: MWF 11:30-12:30, or by appointment, or by luck.

Class time and location:
MWF 10:30-11:20 a.m. in Yost 102

Web site (this page):
http://www.case.edu/artsci/math/mwmeckes/math402/

Text
The primary textbook is the same as for last semester: Algebra, by Thomas W. Hungerford.

For some topics we will use Algebra: An Approach via Module Theory by William A. Adkins and Steven H. Weintraub, which is on reserve at Kelvin Smith Library. I may also draw on J.S. Milne's Fields and Galois Theory course notes available on his web site.

Course description
From the course catalog:
Basic properties of groups, rings, modules and fields. Isomorphism theorems for groups; Sylow theorem; nilpotency and solvability of groups; Jordan-Holder theorem; Gauss lemma and Eisenstein's criterion; finitely generated modules over principal ideal domains with applications to abelian groups and canonical forms for matrices; categories and functors; tensor product of modules, bilinear and quadratic forms; field extensions; fundamental theorem of Galois theory, solving equations by radicals.

In Math 402 we will cover chapters V, IV, and VII of the book by Hungerford (in that order); and parts of the book by Adkins and Weintraub, especially from chapters 6 and 8.

Grading
Your grade for the semester will be computed on the following basis:
50% homework, 20% midterm presentation (to be discussed in class), 30% final exam (Thursday, May 1, 8:30-11:30 a.m.)

Homework assignments