Samuel Tripp
Office: 216 Kemeny Hall
Email: samuel.w.tripp.gr@dartmouth.edu
Office Hours: Monday, 9-10:30 AM; Wednesday 12:30-2 PM; Thursday 4-5:30 PM
A Book Of Abstract Algebra by Charles Pinter (Second Edition, ISBN: 978-0-486-47417-5)
This class will be held largely asynchronously, meaning lectures will be prerecorded and posted in advance of when they would be delivered, were we meeting in person. Luckily, we will still have plenty of time to interact, virtually. My office hours can be found above, and on the schedule below. Furthermore, we will have weekly Problem Sessions, on Thursdays from 1:30 to 3. These, to some extent, will replace the x-hours of a traditional class. These will be similar to the office hours, except more focused on specific problem-solving: the particulars of proof-writing, how to put together definitions into the idea of a problem, and practicing! I also am very free to meet with you at other times when you need help.
That said, the schedule of this class will mimic that of a MWF class. The homework due dates will be informed by this.
Lectures can be found on the Daily Materials page.
I strongly recommend you learn to use LaTeX. It makes writing math meaningfully easier, especially when (as in this class) your proofs are expected to be written out in sentences and paragraphs.
5% of your grade comes from participation. Since we will not be in a room together three times per week, this merely means logging on to the optional live Zoom sessions we will have regularly, and asking questions or making any comments. If you participate during one week, you will get 1%; two or three weeks, 2%; four or five weeks, 3%; six or seven weeks, 4%; eight or nine weeks, 5%. You do not need to participate in every session over the course of a week; any appearance counts that week.
5% of your grade comes from what I have termed "Active Learning" activities. We will have an entry survey, two exam wrappers, an opportunity for feedback in the middle of the term, and an exit survey. Each of these will be worth 1%, purely completion graded.
| Daily Homework | 15% |
| Weekly Homework | 10% |
| Midterm Exams | 35% |
| Final Exam | 20% |
| Final Project | 10% |
| Active Learning | 5% |
| Participation | 5% |
The better of your two midterm grades will count for 20% of your grade, and the other for 15%.
Academic integrity is at the core of our mission as mathematicians and educators, and we take it very seriously. We also believe in working and learning together.
On all homework, collaboration is permitted and encouraged. When you write up your solutions, you should not be looking at any other student's work; you are welcome to work through problems with others, but should not be copying their work down off the board or their paper. Your answers should be in your own words. On each assignment, list the names of any student you worked with in any capacity.
Our exams will not be collaborative. Specific resources that can be used on exams will be written in the instructions for the exam; any resource not specifically named cannot be used on that exam.
For more information about the Dartmouth Academic Honor Principle, see here.
Students with disabilities who may need disability-related academic adjustments and services for this course are encouraged to see me privately as early in the term as possible. Students requiring disability-related academic adjustments and services must consult the Student Accessibility Services office (Carson Hall, Suite 125, 646-9900). Once SAS has authorized services, students must show the originally signed SAS Services and Consent Form and/or a letter on SAS letterhead to their professor. As a first step, if students have questions about whether they qualify to receive academic adjustments and services, they should contact the SAS office. All inquiries and discussions will remain confidential.
| First Midterm | Thursday, July 16 |
| Second Midterm | Thursday, August 6 |
| Final Exam | TBD |
If you have a conflict with one of the important dates because of a religious observance, scheduled extracurricular activity such as a game or performance, scheduled laboratory for another course, or similar commitment, please let me know as soon as possible.
This course will provide an introduction to fundamental algebraic structures, and may include significant applications. The majority of the course will consist of an introduction to the basic algebraic structures of groups and rings. Additional work will consist of the development of further algebraic structures and applications of algebraic theory to areas such as coding theory or crystallography. This course may not serve as an adequate prerequisite for MATH 81. Students who contemplate taking MATH 81 should consider taking MATH 71 instead of this course.
MATH 22/24 is a prerequisite for this course. If you're unsure about your preparation, please contact the instructor. In addition, proof writing will be a major component of this course. Some prior experience with proofs will be helpful, but we will spend considerable time developing the necessary skills along the way.