Math 360, Fall 2021

Course information

• See the syllabus for general information and the schedule of readings.
• Class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m., in W-1-34.
• Textbook: John Fraleigh, A First Course in Abstract Algebra, Seventh Edition.
• Instructor: Steven Jackson.
• Office: W-3-154-27
• Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m., and Wednesdays, 1:00 p.m.-1:50 p.m.
• E-mail: Steven.Jackson@umb.edu.
• Telephone: (617) 287-6469.

Important dates

• Weekly quizzes happen on Tuesdays during the last ten minutes of class. The first quiz is on Tuesday, September 14.
• First midterm: Tuesday, October 19.
• Second midterm: Tuesday, November 16.
• Final exam: Thursday, December 16, 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., in W-1-34.

How to use this page

Below you will find links to the weekly assignment pages. Each of these pages is editable by anyone in the class, so apart from telling you what problems to work on they are excellent spaces in which to ask questions. (If you are very shy you may ask your questions privately, either by email or in person. But we will all work more efficiently if you ask them on the wiki, so that each question only needs to be answered once.) It is also extremely helpful to try to answer questions posed by other students. I will monitor these pages to ensure that no wrong answers go uncorrected.

If you are not already familiar with them, you may wish to read about wiki markup and typesetting mathematics. Also, you may wish to add this page and the assignment pages to your watchlist using the link in the upper right corner of each page, then change your preferences to enable e-mail notifications; this way you will know about page activity without constantly re-checking all the pages.

Scoring rubric

Quizzes and exam questions are all scored on a five-point scale, defined as follows:

5/5 

Response demonstrates substantial mastery of the ideas assessed by the question. May contain small imperfections addressed in comments. Student should move forward and learn new things.

4/5 

Response demonstrates understanding of sound technique, but execution errors lead to wrong answer.

3/5 

Response is generally on the right track; student would probably solve the problem given sufficient time, but is not yet demonstrating full understanding of the ideas assessed by the problem. Student should spend more time in order to achieve full understanding.

2/5 

Response indicates a substantial misconception. Student is unlikely to make progress without first correcting the misconception, and should speak with some other person in order to get back on track.

1/5 

Response employs relevant words and phrases, but does not demonstrate a sound understanding of the question or productive approaches to it. Student should seek assistance.

0/5 

No response, or response not relevant to the question.

Weekly assignments

• Assignment 1, due Tuesday, September 14.
• Assignment 2, due Tuesday, September 21.
• Assignment 3, due Tuesday, September 28.
• Assignment 4, due Tuesday, October 5.
• Assignment 5, due Tuesday, October 12.
• Assignment 6, due Tuesday, October 19.
• Assignment 7, due Tuesday, October 26.
• Assignment 8, due Tuesday, November 2.
• Assignment 9, due Tuesday, November 9.
• Assignment 10, due Tuesday, November 16.
• Assignment 11, due Tuesday, November 23.
• Assignment 12, due Tuesday, November 30.
• Assignment 13, due Tuesday, December 7.
• Assignment 14, due Tuesday, December 14.
• Assignment 15, due before final exam.