MAS 4932

Capstone Experience in Mathematics


|Homework||Handouts||Links|

Instructor: Dan Dreibelbis
Office: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Building 14, Room 2709
Office Phone: 620-3718
Office Hours: MW 10:00-11:00, 2:30-3:45, or by appointment
E-mail: ddreibel@unf.edu
Web site: http://www.unf.edu/~ddreibel/mas4932

Text: 

No text.  Lecture notes will be written in a manner that students can understand.

However, one of my sources is the "elliptic curve" lectures from William Stein's Fall 2001 Number Theory course at Harvard.  His lecture notes are extremely good, and you can download them here.

Technology:

We may use Maple to aid us in some of the computations.  I will also have some examples worked out in Geometer's Sketchpad.  Both programs are availabe in the Math Department Computer Lab.

Pre-requisites:

You should be near the end of your mathematics major.  You should have passed Advanced Calculus I by now.

Homework:

In general, homework will be assigned each Wednesday, and then it will be turned in on the following Wednesday.  However, due to the nature of this course, homework may become a bit more sporadic than that.  Homework will be assigned in class and/or listed on the webpage.

Exams:

There will be one midterm exam.  The date is still tenative, but you should expect it early March..  

Paper and Presentation:
As part of this class, you will be required to write a term paper on a topic of mathematics, and you will be required to give an oral presentation on your topic.  Both paper and oral presentation will be due near the end of the course.  Paper topics can be picked from any field of mathematics that you found interesting.  Early in the course, I will work with you to find an appropriate topic, and milestones for the paper will be set throughout the course.

Grades:
Homework:              25%
Exam:                       25%
Paper/Presentation:   50%

Office Hours:

My office hours are Monday/Wednesday 10:00-11:00 and 2:30-3:45.  In reality though, my office hours are whenever my office doors are open.  In general, I'm here every day except for the hours from 1:30 to 2:30.  You should be coming to office hours for this class.  You need to work with me closely on the paper, so don't be shy.