MA261 Policy (Spring 2009)

• Instructor: Dr. Avinash Sathaye email: sohum@ms.uky.edu

web: www.ms.uky.edu/~sohum
• Office: 703 POT (Phone 257-8832)
• Office Hours: MWF 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM or appointment. Typically, I can be found in the Mathskeller.
  Also, you may come by any other time and I will help you if I am free. I mean this!
• Textbook: Elementary Introduction to Number Theory by Calvin T. Long
• Syllabus: I expect to finish the first five chapters of the book together with suitable selections from the remaining four chapters.
• Structure of the course: I will generally lecture on Mondays and Wednesdays, with Fridays dedicated to quizzes and discussion of your homework, including presentation by some of you at the blackboard. This is the first course in Mathematics department where you are required to write precise proofs and explain your reasoning and deduction in mathematical language. I will assign regular homework and expect a well written set of answers. We may use computers as a tool for understanding and guessing, but these are not an integral part of the course. 
• Exams: There will be only two exams, a midterm and a final. As described above, there will be periodic quizzes and homework. In addition, active participation in class is an important part of the course.
• Grades: The two exams shall be worth 100 points each, the homework and quizzes together will be worth 100 points also. Class participation is important and can serve as a makeup for some of the missed homework/quizzes.

The final grade shall be on the usual scale E(0-59), D(60-69), C(70-79), B(80-89), A(90-100). 
• Advice: One of the simplest way to succeed is to know the precise definitions and statements of theorems and concepts. Please make an attempt to ask for, digest and retain these all the time.