Instructor: Kunjakanan Nath (knath [at] illinois [dot] edu).
Lectures: Section B13/B14: MWF 9:00-9:50 am in 241 Altgeld Hall.
Office Hours: MWF 10-10:50 am in 165 Altgeld Hall and by appointment.
Moodle:
Students can check the Moodle course page for most of the course information. This includes lecture notes, homework assignments/solutions, exam dates, and other details.
Prerequisite:
Although the official prerequisite for this course is MATH 241 or equivalent, this course does expect that students are familiar with writing proofs. In particular, students should be familiar with standard proof techniques, such as proofs by contradiction and induction.
Course contents:
This course is a basic introduction to the theory of numbers, in particular, integers. We will explore topics like divisibility, primes and factorization, modular congruence, arithmetic functions, quadratic residues and quadratic reciprocity, primitive roots and orders. Additionally, we will cover topics like sums of two squares, Diophantine approximations, and continued fractions depending upon the availability of time.
Textbook:
Elementary Number Theory by James Strayer.
Assignments:
There will be in-class activities/worksheets and weekly homework assignments, details on Moodle.
Exams:
There will be three midterm exams and a final exam. The midterm will take place in class. For more information, check Moodle.
Grading:
Your final grades will be computed based on the following percentages:
Homework: 15%,
Three midterm exams: 15% each for the best two, and 10% for the lowest one
Final exam: 35%,
In-class activity/worksheet: 10%.
Academic Integrity: See the policy and procedure of student code here.