Course News: These will occasionally be posted to the course web site.
Meeting times: Mon, Wed 10:10-11:00, in Lederle 1114.

Instructors: Dr. Farshid Hajir
Office: Lederle 1118
Phone: 545-6015
Email: hajir@math.umass.edu
Office Hours: Current office hours are MW 11-12, subject to change. You are always welcome to set up an appointment to see me by e-mail or phone.

AND

Dr. Michael Bush.
Office: Lederle 1115J
Phone: 545-0982
Email: bush@math.umass.edu
Office Hours: Current office hours are TBA.

Prerequisites: M300, M411, and permission of instructor.

Course Description: This course is the first half of a 2-part sequence for Mathematics Majors in Commonwealth College who wish to write a senior thesis as part of the requirements for graduating with honors. For 2006-2007, the topic for the course will be Coding Theory: this is the science of efficient and error-free transmission of data. Compact discs, cellular phones, satellite communication all rely heavily on results from coding theory. After the first few weeks of the term when the basics of the subject are covered, each student will choose a thesis topic in consultation with the instructors and be assigned background reading from books and articles. Students will take turns presenting this background material in class. Each student will prepare a written summary of his/her presentations as well. Students will then work on writing computer programs to produce examples and data concerning their selected topics. Independent and group learning will be stressed throughout the course. Students should understand that the goal of this course is to prepare them to conduct their own research; thus more so than in other courses, students will do a lot of learning outside the classroom in their own reading/experimenting either individually or in groups.

Text: Go to the Reading List Page.
Additionally, we may post occasional course notes to the course website.

WebCT Bulletin Board: A virtual M499C discussion room will be set up on your webct account. You can use this space to post messages related to the course, such as "A group of us are meeting at 9 tonight in the Science Library to discuss HW 2" or "Does anybody have a clue what the devil Farshid is asking for in Problem 5 of this week's hw?" If you get help with assignments from this bulletin board, do not forget to acknowledge it on your hw (check the hw rules carefully). Please use this service responsibly. We will monitor it semi-regularly, but if you want to direct a question specifically to the instructors, the best way to reach us is by e-mail at the above addresses.

Homework: Homework will be posted on The Homework Page. Late homework will not be accepted and the lowest homework grade will be dropped. Be sure to read and follow the homework rules.

Computers: Students will be given accounts on the mathematics computer cluster. This will give them access to the computer algebra packages MAGMA and GP/PARI. Writing programs in these packages is quite straightforward and MAGMA in particular has hundreds of standard routines for coding theory already built in: this will give the students a powerful experimental paradigm in which to explore codes.

Attendance: Attendance is required during lectures. We consider attendance AND participation important ingredients for your success in the course. Frequent absences will be reflected in your grade.

Grading:
   attendance and participation - 25%
   presentations - 25%
   write-up of presentations - 25%
   computer programs - 25%