Undergraduate - UnitMTH3150 - Algebra and number theory II

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Organisational Unit	School of Mathematical Sciences
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Ian Wanless

Synopsis

Rings, fields, ideals, algebraic extension fields. Coding theory and cryptographic applications of finite fields. Gaussian integers, Hamilton's quaternions, Chinese Remainder Theorem. Euclidean Algorithm in further fields.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Appreciate advanced concepts, algorithms and results in number theory;

Use Gaussian integers to find the primes expressible as a sum of squares;

Understand Diophantine equations, primitive roots and the quaternions - the best known skew field;

Appreciate many of the links between algebra and number theory;

Understand the most commonly occurring rings and fields: integers, integers modulo n, rationals, reals and complex numbers, more general structures such as algebraic number fields, algebraic integers and finite fields;

Perform calculations in the algebra of polynomials;

Use the Euclidean algorithm in structures other than integers;

Construct larger fields from smaller fields (field extensions);

Apply field theory to coding and cryptography.

Assessment

Examination (3 hours): 70%
Assignments and tests: 30%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Ian Wanless

Contact hours

Three 1-hour lectures and an average of one 1-hour support class per week

Prerequisites

MTH2121 or MTH3121