Math 312 - Spring 2014

MATH 312: Concepts of Real Analysis

Spring 2014

Section 1

Instructor: Thomas Barthelmé

Office: 235 McAllister building

Mailbox: 109 McAllister building

Phone: 814-865-1123

Office Hours: F 1:20-2:20pm and 3:20-4:20

Class Time: MWF 2:30-3:20pm

Course Syllabus: click here (includes a list of topics)

Course Websites: https://sites.google.com/site/thomasbarthelme/teaching/math-312---spring-2014

Textbook: Kenneth A. Ross, Elementary Analysis: The theory of Calculus, Second edition, Springer Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics.

Course description: This course is an introduction to rigorous mathematical proofs involving properties of real numbers, continuity, differentiation, integration, and infinite sequences and series. So essentially, what we're going to learn is to write down logical arguments and make nice proofs instead of just computing some stuff and boxing the result. So that should be a welcome change from calculus.

Note: This is a hard course! Moreover, it is of fundamental importance for the rest of Mathematics. You are going to have to put a lot of work into it.

It is very important that you don't let yourself fall behind. If you do not understand a concept, come talk to me!

Exams

There will be 1 midterm exam during regular class time. Tentatively, it will be on:

Monday, March 3

There will be no make up exams. If you have a valid excuse to miss it, we will find a solution (the list of valid excuses will be extremely limited)

Here are some old exams that you can practice on: practice 1, practice 2, practice 3 (to be closer to what the midterm exam will be, in the true-false sections, give a counterexample when you say it is false and prove it when you say it is true)

Here is the solution to the midterm: midterm

The final will be on Monday, May 5, in 119 Osmond, from 4:40-6:30pm

Preparation for the final:

In preparation for the final, I would suggest that you practice on the homework. In addition, you can try to do the following (exams from previous semester at penn state): final_practice1, final_practice2.

You can also try the list of problems given here: final_prep

Note that some questions (for instance the questions on integration) of the practice from previous semesters have not been treated in our class.

Homework

Policies:

- It is a good idea to discuss homework problems with your classmates, however, you will have to write your own solutions to submit. Also, if you did the homework with a friend, I would suggest to make sure that you are able to redo it on your own. A good way of doing that is to go over the method to solve the homework in group, but then write the actual solution on your own.

- Out of the homework exercises, a randomly selected few will be actually graded. However, points will be taken off if you do not attempt all of the homework, regardless of whether a particular question is graded or not.

- An attempt at a question means that you have to show that you tried answering the question, just copying the statement is not enough!

Quizzes