Instructor: Kunjakanan Nath (knath [at] illinois [dot] edu).
Lectures: Section E13/E14: MWF 1:00-1:50 pm in 147 Altgeld Hall (starting Monday, January 22); the backup room is 327 Gregory Hall.
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday 2-3 pm and Friday 3-4 pm in 165 Altgeld Hall or 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 two 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: 20%,
Two midterm exams: 25% for the best one, and 15% for the lowest one,
Final exam: 30%,
In-class activity/worksheet: 5%
Quiz: 5%
Academic Integrity: See the policy and procedure of student code here.