MAT2016

Mathematical structures

Dr John Arkinstall

4 points - First semester - Two hours of lectures and one 1-hour tutorial per week - Gippsland and distance - Prerequisites: MAT1085 - Prohibitions MAP2021, GAS2614

Objectives The objectives of this subject are for students to achieve an understanding of, and skill in, the processes of proof and in formal mathematical expression; develop skill in (abstract) mathematical manipulation; categorise examples using the abstract algebraic structures of equivalence relations, orders, mappings, semigroups, groups, rings, integral domains, fields, and interpret properties as those of such.

Synopsis This subject introduces students to the formal mathematics of proof, through an algebraic study of abstract structure in various branches of mathematics; fundamental material on sets, proof and logic. Relations, including equivalence relations, mappings and order relations; binary operations and semigroups; groups including subgroups, cyclic groups, permutation and transformation groups, cosets and Lagrange's theorem; rings and fields, including finite fields and extension fields (quadratic).

Assessment Assignments: 30% - Examination (3 hours): 70%

Prescribed texts

Fraleigh J B A first course in abstract algebra 5th edn, Addison-Wesley, 1993

Back to the 1999 Science Handbook