Instructor's office hours: MWF 1-2 in MS 7919

Teaching Assistant: Kingshook Biswas. His office hours are .

Text: Fundamental Ideas of Analysis by M. Reed. We will cover Section 4.6 and most of Chapters 5, 6 and 9 in 131B. Many of the topics will be familiar from the Calculus sequence, but now the emphasis is quite different. While your Calculus courses were largely computational in nature, this course emphasizes rigor and precision. We will use the Calculus as a vehicle for learning how to construct careful mathematical arguments (also known as proofs).

Discussion sections: The discussion sections are conducted by the teaching assistant, and are an integral part of the course. They provide an opportunity to have your questions answered on a more personal basis and at greater length than is possible in the lecture. Particularly in this course, there will often be aspects of solutions to exercises that you will not have considered. Furthermore, in writing out proofs, it is not merely a question of right and wrong, but also a matter of better or worse. Even though a proof may be technically correct, there are often better and clearer ways of expressing it. You should always strive for the best form of a proof. You should also take advantage of the chance to ask questions that go beyond the particular problems that were assigned that week.

Homework: It is practically impossible to learn mathematics without doing a lot of problems. Therefore, it is extremely important that you do the assigned problems carefully and promptly. Don't get behind! I will assign homework each Wednesday. The homework will be posted on the class web page. It will be due at the beginning of the discussion section the following Tuesday. I expect that graded homework will be returned to you a week later. You may discuss homework problems with other students, the TA, or me before they are turned in. In fact, the right kind of discussion can be quite valuable. I do expect two things, though: (i) you should try seriously to do the exercise yourself before discussing it with anyone, and (ii) you should write up the solution yourself after understanding it thoroughly, without following someone else's written version. Otherwise, the homework does you no good. The point is not merely (or even primarily) to do a problem correctly, but rather to learn how to think precisely and creatively so you can go on to do more sophisticated things.

Examinations: There will be one midterm, probably on Friday, May 4 (covering through Section 5.7), and a final exam on (covering the entire quarter).

Grading: The final grade will be based on the the exams and homework with the following weights: final (50%), midterm (30%) and homework (20%).