Math 103: Complex Analysis, Fall 2007

General Information

Instructor:

My name is Thomas Hunter. My office in the mathematics department is Science Center 157. You can reach me by phone at 328-8244 or by email.

Office Hours:

I've blocked out two big chunks of time on Mondays and Tuesdays for regular weekly meetings. In addition, I've scheduled Thursday 10:30–12:00 and Friday 2:30–4:00 as informal drop-in times. You can be sure to find me in my office during office hours. Other times are often fine, but to be sure that I am available, you should make an appointment with me.

Text:

Complex Analysis, by Theodore W. Gamelin

General Game Plan:

We plan to cover all of the "First Part" (Chapters I–VII) of the text. We also plan to cover about half of the "Second Part" and perhaps selections from the "Third Part". Even after a detailed plan is posted to this site, the topics we cover will be determined in part by the interest and capacity of the participants.

Seminar Meetings:

2:40–6:00 Thursdays in Science Center 149.

Student Presentations:

Each seminar meeting will have several student presentations on topics I will select from the readings. These presentations will be fifteen to forty-five minutes long (depending on the number and scope) and will take the place that would be occupied by lectures were this not a seminar. From time to time I may assign two students to collaboratively prepare one presentation.

Student Conferences:

I will meet individually with each student on Monday or Tuesday each week to discuss how things are going.

Homework:

Each week, I will list some "common" problems. I expect each of you to work through all of these doing as many as you can. If it seems clear to me that the average student may not have enough time to do all of these, I will try to give some indication of the priority that I give them. In addition I each student to do one or more other problems, selected by that student from the text's problems, difficulties encountered in the reading, or any other source. The number of such additional problems will vary from student to student depending on their difficulty and the difficulty the student had that week with the common problems and the reading.

Notebooks:

I ask that each of you keep an organized notebook containing your work for the course. In it, you should keep your notes on the reading and the seminar meetings, your problems and rewrites, your presentation outlines, and anything else pertinent to the course which you choose to include. I reserve the right to inspect your notebooks from time to time during the semester.

Give to me:

I ask each student to give to me the following things for evaluation and comment.

1. By Friday at 2:00pm following each seminar give me a careful write up of two problems or two pages of problems—which ever is more. Choose whatever problem or problems from the week before of which you are the most proud. The delay will give you time to make minor corrections based on your experience in seminar, but you should have most of the work done before the seminar meeting.
2. Before each seminar in which you are to give a presentation, give me a careful outline of the presentation you plan to give.
3. By 9:00am each Thursday, give me a list of all the problems you have attempted—common and uncommon—together with a one or two word phrase describing your perception of your level of success. Don't list a problem unless you have work in your notebook documenting your work. I will use your lists to help me keep the flow of discussion going during our seminar meetings.

Exams:

There will be a final exam, scheduled by the registrar.

Grades:

I will base my evaluation on the exam, the weekly handed-in problems, the presentations (including the handed-in outlines), class participation (including the quality and veracity of your lists of completed problems), and some component based on your overall level of preparation for our weekly meetings.

Late work:

Generally speaking, I will never accept late work and exams may never be taken late. In the case of irreconcilable conflicts you may schedule an exam earlier than the official time, but make up exams will not be given after the regularly scheduled exam except for the most extraordinary circumstances.