University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Math 300 (Section 2)
Fundamental Concepts of Mathematics
Fall 2009

Click here to go the Homework Page


Course News: These will occasionally be posted to the course web site. 9/30/09 The first exam is scheduled for Thursday October 15, 2009, in class. The material on the exam is the same as the material in HW 1, 2, 3 and 4. Here is a sample exam: Sample Exam 1.






Meeting times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-10:45, in Lederle 113. Additionally, during the first week of class, students will be assigned to a one-hour per week TA session. You should make every attempt to attend your own TA session, but if for some reason, you miss your TA session one day, you should feel free to attend another one that fits into your schedule.

Instructor: Dr. Farshid Hajir
Office: Lederle 1118
Phone: 545-6015
Email: hajir@math.umass.edu
Office Hours: Current office hours are Tuesday and Wednesday 2:00-3:00. You are always welcome to set up an appointment to see me by e-mail or phone.


Teaching Assistant and Seminar Leader: Alex McAvoy
E-mail: amcavoy AT student.umass.edu
Office Hours: TBA in 1117 LGRT.

Texts: 1) Gilbert and Vanstone: An Introduction to Mathematical Thinking, Prentice Hall, 2005.
2) I have posted FARSHID'S COURSE NOTES to mywebsite.

Quizzes: Quizzes may be given by the TA during discussion sections or by Farshid during lecture; they will probably not be announced ahead of time. They will consist of one or two very simple questions. Absolutely no make-up quizzes will be given. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped when computing your quiz average score.

Philosophical Remarks: They became so numerous, they lobbied successfully for their own page.

Homework: Homework will be posted on The Homework Page and collected every Thursday, unless otherwise noted, at the beginning of lecture. Late homework will not be accepted and the lowest homework grade will be dropped. Be sure to read and follow the homework rules.

Attendance: Attendance is required both during lectures and at the discussion sections. The instructors of the course consider attendance AND participation important ingredients for your success in the course. Frequent absences will be reflected in your grade.

Extra Credit: Some extra credit problems will be included in the homework assignments, or given during class.  The number of points for each problem will vary, as will the difficulty of the problem. The student with the most points at the end of the semester wins a fabulous prize. You may hand in Extra Credit solutions at any time throughout the term, until the last day of class.

Grading:
   homework, quizzes, participation - 30%
   2 midterms - 20% each
   Final exam - 30%

Grading Scales

A

>= 93%

A-

>= 90%

B+

>= 86% and < 90%

B

>= 82% and < 86%

B-

>= 78% and < 82%

C+

>=74% and < 78%

C

>= 70% and < 74%

C-

>=65% and <70%

D

>=60% and < 65%

F

below 60%
Tentative Class Schedule:

The approximate schedule of topics and readings is as follows.

Note: Readings in Gilbert-Vanstone are in (). Readings from Farshid's notes are in []. Thus, (1.2--1.6) refers to sections 1.1 through 1.6 of Gilbert-Vanstone and [II] refers to Chapter 2 of Farshid's notes.

  • Week 1: Problem Solving, Intro to proofs (1.1) [I]
  • Week 2: Reasoning methods, basic logic, sets (1.2--1.6) [II]
  • Week 3: Functions, injection, surjection, bijection, inverse (6.1--6.5) [III]
  • Week 4: Finite sets (6.6) [IV]
  • Week 5: Equivalence relations, partitions (3.3) [V]
  • Week 6: Review, MIDTERM 1
  • Week 7: Counting Principles [VI]
  • Week 8: Mathematical Induction (4.1--4.3) [VI]
  • Week 9: Elementary number theory, divisibility (2.1--2.5) [VII]
  • Week 10: Congruences (3.1-3.6) [VII]
  • Week 11: Review, MIDTERM 2
  • Week 12: The set of real numbers, countability (5.1--5.4) [VIII]
  • Week 13: Uncountable sets, Cantor's theorem (6.6) [VIII]
  • Week 14: Complex Numbers (8.1--8.4) [IX]
  • Week 15: Complex Numbers (8.5--8.8) [IX]