Timetable

Lectures:

• Tuesday 09:00, Bancroft Road 4.02;
• Thursday 14:00, Physics (G. O. Jones) UG1
• Friday 09:00, Bancroft Road 4.02. (No lecture 30 March.)

• Thursday 12:00, Bancroft Road 3.01;
• Friday 12:00, Bancroft Road 3.01.

• Thursday 9:30–10:30, M157.

Lecture notes

• Notes 1: Overview and revision
• Notes 2: Algebraic numbers
• Notes 3: Finite continued fractions
• Notes 4: Infinite continued fractions
• Notes 5: Periodic continued fractions
• Notes 6: Lagrange and Pell
• Notes 7: Modular arithmetic
• Notes 8: Quadratic residues and non-residues
• Notes 9: Sums of squares
• Notes 10: Quadratic forms

Coursework

This year, coursework will be for formative assessment only; that is, you will receive comments on your work but no numerical marks will be given. Coursework sheets (and, subsequently, solutions) will be available from this page.

Coursework should be placed in the GREEN box on the GROUND floor. Hand-in time is 16:00 Fridays.

• Coursework 0 (not for assessment)
• Coursework 1 (due 20 January) and solutions
• Coursework 2 (due 27 January) and solutions
• Coursework 3 (due 3 February) and solutions
• Coursework 4 (due 10 February) and solutions
• Coursework 5 (due 17 February) and solutions
• Coursework 6 (due 2 March) and solutions
• Coursework 7 (due 9 March) and solutions
• Coursework 8 (due 16 March) and solutions
• Coursework 9 (due 23 March) and solutions
• Coursework 10 (not for assessment)

Here is a set of revision problems covering the whole course.

Resources

Some recent exam papers: 2009, 2010, 2011.

Here are some lecture notes for Introduction to Algebra, a prerequisite for this course. If you feel unsure about proof by induction, the definition of a group, or the relation of congruence, you may find some help in these notes.

Here is some advice about study (lectures, coursework, classes, and exams).

Here are links to some Theorems of the Day on number theory. You may have seen some of these on the screens in the Mathematics building. You might also like to read about the Congruent Numbers problem here.

Administrative matters

The syllabus and learning outcomes for this course can be found here.

The rubric for this year's exam paper is here. Please read it now, so you won't have to waste time reading it during the exam. [New version posted 16 March.]

Thank you for filling in the questionnaires. There is one substantial comment which was made by several people: a request for a mid-term exam in the course. I will forward this recommendation to the Teaching and Learning Committee for consideration for next year. In fact, there will be an evaluation of how formative assessment is working, and there may be some changes which would affect the assessment for the course.

Peter J. Cameron
Maths 157
x5477
p.j.cameron(AT)qmul.ac.uk
4 April 2012