McGill University
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Math 346/Math 377 Number Theory
Winter 2015
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Park
Office: Burnside 1242
E-mail: jennifer.park2@mcgill.ca
Office hours: TBA or by appointment
TA: TBA
The math help desk in Burnside 911 is open Monday to Friday, 12pm-5pm.
Marking Scheme
For Math 346:
20% bi-weekly assignments + 40% midterms + 40% final exam, OR
20% bi-weekly assignments + 80% final exam.
For Math 377:
20% bi-weekly assignments + 20% midterms + 40% final exam + 20% course project, OR
20% bi-weekly assignments + 60% final exam + 20% course project.
In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content
and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.
Midterm
There will be an in-class midterm on Friday, February 20. If you are unable to take this
exam for a valid reason (documentation required), your final exam will be worth 80% of your
final grade (for Math 346), or 60% of your final grade (for Math 377).
Course Project
Students enrolled in Math 377 will be asked to write a 10-15 page paper (written in LATEX)
on a topic of your choice. I will post some potential topics on the course website (but you
are free to choose a different topic). The deadlines are as follows:
• January 19: Email me the topic of your choice (suggested). These will be assigned on
a first-come, first-served basis to avoid duplicates. You are, of course, free to change
the topic later on (before February 27), but your choice of topic should be approved
by me before you submit a proposal!
• February 27: Submit a one-page proposal. These will be graded for completeness,
and will make up 2% of the total 20% that the project is worth.
• April 14 (midnight): Final project due. Please email me a pdf copy before midnight.
The project will be graded on its mathematical rigor and on the quality of exposition.
Textbook
The official textbook for this course will be An introduction to Gauss’s number theory
by Andrew Granville. It will be available for free on the course website. Corrections and
comments should be sent to andrew@dms.umontreal.ca.
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There are other books that would be helpful to certain parts of the course; for example,
A classical introduction to modern number theory by Ireland and Rosen, and Elementary
methods in number theory by Nathanson, but these books are not required.
Academic Integrity
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the
meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the
Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/
for more information).
Language Policy
In accord with McGill Universitys Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have
the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.
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