Course News: These will occasionally be posted to the course web site.
Meeting times: Mon, Wed 10:10-11:00, in Lederle 206.

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: M499C and permission of instructor.

Course Description: This course is the second 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 is 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. Students will write and present the results of their thesis project, begun last semester.

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

Latex Information Go to Latex Page to learn about this typesetting package. Computers: Students have been 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%
   thesis - 50%


Due Dates:
The first draft of the thesis is due on March 15, 2007. The thesis is due on April 13, 5pm. The defense will be scheduled for the week of April 23-28.