Instructor: Valentin Blomer, office hours: Tue 10-11, 12-1, 1.30-2 and Thr 12-1 in CCIT 3008
TA: Dusan Djukic
Lectures: Tue 11-12 in KN 130, Thu 10-12 in KN 130; tutorial Fri 9-10 in NE268
Textbook: Jones & Jones, Elementary Number Theory, Springer-Verlag.
Another very nice book: Silverman, A friendly introduction to number theory, Pearson 2006
Syllabus: divsibility, congruences, structure theorem of prime residue classes, quadratic reciprocity, arithmetic functions, sums of squares and diophantine equations, cryptographic applications.
There will be many examples and computations, but the underlying mathematics is abstract and requires some experience in mathematical thinking. This course emphasizes rigour.
It is strongly recommended to recapitulate the material after each class, and to work thoroughly on the homework problems.
Marking Scheme: The final exam will be worth 50%. The mid term test will be worth 25%, and will take place on Thursday, Feb 28. Homework Problems will be worth 25%. There will be 10 problem sets the lowest of which will be dropped. All rules and regulations concering missed tests, lateness etc. can be found on the course outline to be handed out in the first class.
Typically, I will hand out a set of homework problem on Tuesday which is due on the following Tuesday and will be discussed in the tutorial on Friday. It is acceptable to work together on homework problems at the early stage of understanding the question and finding ideas. However, every student must work out and write up their final solution independently. Check that your work is clearly your own.
Will it be on the test? It is the official policy of the University of Toronto not to announce exam questions prior to the exam. There will only be topics on the test and the exam that have been covered in class, but not necessarily all of them. Material discussed intensively will be more likely to be on the test than material mentioned briefly.
Problem Sets: Set 1, Set 2, Set 3, Set 4, Set 5, Set 6, Set 7, Set 8, Set 9, Set 10
Announcements: Extra office hours: Monday, April 21, 12-3pm