MTH5104: Convergence and Continuity 2011-12

Course Description

Quick Links: Tutorials, Lectures, Lecture Notes, Office Hours, Coursework and Solutions, Midterm Test, Final Exam. Resources.

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Revision Notes

Following a number of requests I have prepared a check-list to help your final revision, similar to that prepared by Dr Walters last year. My check-list of things you should know is rather longer than the 2010-2011 check-list, but this does not mean that all (or indeed any) of the additional topics will necessarily appear in the exam.

Revision Check-List

Revision Lecture Wednesday 25th April 11.00-12.00 Jones Lecture Theatre (Physics)

In this (non-compulsory) lecture I intend to go through the 2011 examination paper, outlining the solutions and answering any queries you may have. If you have any other topics you would like me to talk about, please e-mail me beforehand.

Here are the 2011 exam solutions.

Office Hours for Revison Week

My office hours for Revision Week are 11.30-12.30 Tuesday 24th April and 12.30-1.30 Wednesday 25th April (after the Revision Lecture).

If you want to talk to me about the course at any time after Revision Week please e-mail me for an appointment.

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Lectures

Lectures started on Monday 26th September and are:

TimeRoom
Monday 4-5 Fogg Lecture Theatre (Biology)
Tuesday 10-11Fogg Lecture Theatre (Biology)
Thursday 1-2Law 210

Tutorials

All tutorials are on Mondays. They started on 3rd October, but we added a new one from 10th October. If you can, please come to the class corresponding to your surname:

TimeRoomSurnames
12-1Maths 103 (Maths Bldg)A-G
12-1BR 3.01 (Bancroft Road)H-M
2-3BR 3.01 (Bancroft Road)N-Z

Exercise sheets and solutions.

The exercise sheets are an important part of this course. Each week you should attempt ALL the questions, and hand in your answer to the 'Feedback Question(s)' to the Orange Coursework Box on the ground floor of the Mathematics Building.

Coursework NumberDate given out Date DueSolutions Comments
Coursework 127th September2pm 4th October Solutions 1 Comments 1
Coursework 24th October2pm 11th October Solutions 2 Comments 2
Coursework 311th October2pm 18th October Solutions 3 Comments 3
Coursework 418th October2pm 25th October Solutions 4 Comments 4
Coursework 525th October2pm 1st November Solutions 5 Comments 5
Coursework 61st November2pm 15th November Solutions 6 Comments 6
Coursework 715th November2pm 22nd November Solutions 7 Comments 7
Coursework 822nd November2pm 29th November Solutions 8 Comments 8
Coursework 929th November2pm 6th December Solutions 9 Comments 9
Coursework 106th DecemberNo feedback questions Solutions 10

Coursework 10 has more questions than usual but no feedback questions. There will be exercise classes as usual on Monday 12th December, at which you can discuss the questions on Coursework 10 with tutors and also get back your marked feedback questions from Courswork 9.

Lecture Notes

I will put scanned lecture notes online as soon as I can after each lecture. If you spot any errors please tell me.

Lecture Topics Scanned Notes
1 Introductory Lecture Lecture 1
2 Maximum of a set of real numbers; Demon games Lecture 2
3 Demon games continued; Negations Lecture 3
4 Upper bounds; least upper bound (supremum) Lecture 4
5 Definition of the real numbers; Consequences of the Completeness Axiom Lecture 5
6 Proof there is a real number with square 2 Lecture 6
7 Sequences: convergence to zero (definition) Lecture 7
8 Sequences: convergence to zero (examples) Lecture 8
9 Comparing sequences converging to zero Lecture 9
10 Constant multiples and sums of sequences converging to zero Lecture 10
11 Properties of modulus, and summary of results so far in this section Lecture 11
12 Products of sequences converging to zero Lecture 12
13 Sequences converging to real numbers: sums, products, quotients Lecture 13
14 Uniqueness of limits; behaviour of difference of consecutive terms Lecture 14
15 Proof that increasing sequences, bounded above, converge Lecture 15
16 Examples of bounded increasing sequences; definition of 'tends to infinity' Lecture 16
17 Increasing sequences converge or tend to infinity; Cauchy sequences (not for exam) Lecture 17
18 Series: definition of convergence Lecture 18
19 Basic theorems: geometric series, sums of series etc Lecture 19
20 Proof of Comparison Test; proof that absolute convergence implies convergence Lecture 20
21 Power series; exp(x), sin(x), cos(x). Radius of convergence Lecture 21
22 Radius of convergence (proof). Functions and continuity (definitions) Lecture 22
23 Continuous functions: examples Lecture 23
24 Sums, products and quotients of continuous functions Lecture 24
25 Compositions of continuous functions Lecture 25
26 Images of convergent sequences under continuous functions Lecture 26
27 The Intermediate Value Theorem Lecture 27
28 Applications of the IVT (Brouwer, Sarkovskii etc) Lecture 28
29 General form of IVT. Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem Lecture 29
30 The Boundedness Principle Lecture 30
31 The Interval Theorem. Uniform convergence of sequences of functions Lecture 31
32 Differentiation Lecture 32

Questionnaires

Here is the
Summary of 2011-12 Questionnaires for this module.

Midterm Test

There was a midterm test on Wednesday 9th November 2011 from 11.00 to 12.00 in the Mason lecture Theatre. The test will count 10% towards the final grade. Here are the midterms for the last three years. Solutions for the 2008 and 2009 papers appeared here a week before this year's test.

2008 midterm. 2008 midterm solutions and Dr Walters' comments.

2009 midterm. 2009 midterm solutions and Dr Walters' comments.

2010 midterm. 2010 midterm solutions and Dr Walters' comments.

The test was on all the material in the first two sections of the course, 'Real Numbers', and 'Sequences', that is to say Lectures 1-17 inclusive and Coursework 1-6 inclusive - including the definition of when a sequence tends to infinity and the application of this definition to examples.

Here is the advice I put on this web-page before the test:

Here is a reasonable list of things that you should be able to do for the midterm test. When revising you should look at proofs and examples in your lecture notes as well as problems and solutions on the exercise sheets.

When you are asked in the test to prove something, if you prefer you may give a winning strategy for the corresponding demon game in place of a formal mathematical proof, provided you explain why your strategy always wins the game (in fact a winning demon game strategy, plus justification, is equivalent to a formal mathematical proof).

When you are asked to give a brief justification of a result, you may either quote results from the course by number (e.g. 'by Thm 16(iii) of the course') or by the statement of the result (e.g. 'because lim(x_n.y_n)=lim(x_n).lim(y_n), as proved in lectures').

There will be no exercise classes on Monday 7th November, but there will be a revision lecture on Tuesday 8th November 10.00-11.00a.m. in the Fogg Lecture Theatre. At this I will go through any topics and examples that you ask me to, and in particular I expect to go through the 2010 midterm test. The solutions to the 2010 midterm are now available above.

***** (Monday 14th November) HERE IS THE 2011 MIDTERM TEST AND HERE ARE THE 2011 MIDTERM SOLUTIONS AND COMMENTS. *****

Anyone who has not yet collected their marked paper from me at an exercise class or lecture can do so at one of my office hours.

Final Exam

The final exam (in May/June 2012) will count 90% towards the final grade. Here are the exam papers for the last three years. What is covered in the course varies a little from year to year, so on these past papers there may be some questions, or parts of questions, that we have not covered in this year's course. Conversely there may be some topics covered this year that are not represented in previous years' exams.

2009 exam

2010 exam

2011 exam

I am not going to put 'model solutions' on the web for all these exams. Studying 'model solutions' for the exams of earlier years is not a useful way to prepare for an examination. A much better way is to try to work out your own answers (preferably under exam conditions): the way to understand mathematics is to do it. However here are the solutions to the 2010 exam to give you an idea of what is expected in your answers. Please do not look at them until you have attempted the 2010 exam.

Solutions to 2010 exam

Following the revision lecture on 25th April 2012 here are the solutions to 2011 exam. I am happy to mark your answers to the 2009 paper if you would like me to. E-mail me a scan of your answers and I will return it marked.

Examination Policy on Demon Games

1. Formal proofs are preferred to demon game proofs.

2. For statements with up to two quantifiers (e.g. one 'for all' and one 'there exists') formal proofs are expected and demon game proofs may lose you a mark or two.

3. For more complicated statements, a demon game proof could get full marks, but only if a watertight winning strategy (plus justification) is given.

It's very straightforward to convert a demon game winning strategy to a formal proof. Here is an instruction sheet From Demon Games to Formal Proofs written by Dr Mark Walters.

Resources

Here is a book called Analysis from Scratch written by Professor Peter Kropholler (of the University of Glasgow). He wrote it when he was teaching analysis at Queen Mary some years ago. It covers quite a lot more than we shall cover in MTH5104 but you should find it useful as further reading.

Whether or not you are taking Professor Vivaldi's course 'Mathematical Writing' you should read his web-book for the course, as it contains very good advice on how to write down mathematical reasoning clearly and precisely.

I hope to add further suggestions for additional reading as the semester progresses.

Last updated: 25th April 2012.
Prof Shaun Bullett.