Class Home Page for Groisser section of Advanced Calculus 1
MAA 4211—Section 7222 (17793)
Fall 2019
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information will be available via links or (sub)menus from this page
and/or the syllabus page.
About this course
This course is the first semester of a two-semester sequence (MAA
4211–4212) intended for students who wish to pursue graduate study in
mathematics. It is also suitable for other strong students with a deep
interest in the conceptual side of mathematics, not just the
computational side. But you should not be in this course unless
you love mathematics and want to work hard at it.
The sequence MAA 4211–4212 is best treated as a
one-year course, with a certain body of material to be covered by the
end of the spring, rather than as a course that can be
compartmentalized into semesters. Much of the material covered in the
first semester is intended to develop tools that will be used in the
second, where things will ``come together'' more.
This is a very different course from MAA 4102–4103 (Introduction to
Advanced Calculus for Engineers and Physical Scientists). Our focus
will be on proving theorems, not on applications to the sciences; if
this focus is not to your tastes, you would probably be happier in MAA
4102–4103. However, if you are thinking of doing graduate work in
mathematics, a theorem-proving course would serve you better.
Prerequisites
A grade of at least B in MAS 4105 (Linear
Algebra, not to be confused with MAS 3114, Computational
Linear Algebra) is the intended prerequisite. (Note: The Undergraduate Catalog lists a B in MAS 4105 as a
prerequisite for math majors in the BS track, for whom MAA 4211
is a required course; see
Coursework for the major. This is the math department's
intended prerequisite for MAA 4211 for all students, even
though the course-description section of the catalog still lists a C
in MAS 4105 as the prerequisite. Quite some time ago, the math
department submitted paperwork requesting that the course-description
section list a B in MAS 4105 as the prerequisite for MAA 4211, but for
reasons unknown to me, this change was not made in the catalog. I
strongly advise students who registered for MAA 4211 without having
received at least a B in MAS 4105 to drop this class.) MAS
4105 itself has prerequisites: satisfactory grades in Calculus 3 and
in either MHF 3202 (Sets and Logic) or MAS 3300 (Numbers and
Polynomials).
If you have never taken a class in which writing proofs was a
significant component, or for any other reason are not reasonably
proficient at constructing and writing proofs, this course is not
suitable for you.
Other skills needed
You must have the ability to write in
clear, unambiguous, correctly punctuated, grammatically correct
English sentences. An important goal of this course is to make sure
that you are able to express mathematical ideas precisely
and communicate them clearly to other
people. A factor in your grade will be whether the instructor can
understand your written work without excessive re-reading. If you
do not believe that expressing yourself precisely and clearly is
your responsibility, you should not take this class.