495 syllabus 2008

SENIOR SEMINAR I (MATH495)

FALL 2008

Meets: 2:00 - 2:50 MW Room: Madeleva Madeleva 231E

Instructor: Charles Peltier

Office:214 Madeleva Phone 4498 (H: 232-4951) email cpeltier@saintmarys.edu

Office Hours: TBA M 10-11 T 11-12 W 3-4 TH 2-3 F 10-11 or see/call me for an appointment

Texts:

Brown and Churchill, Complex Variables and Applications,8th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2009.
Peltier and Snow, The Proseminar and the Senior Comprehensive Project in Mathematics: Student Guide, Saint Mary's College, 1998.(revised 2007)

The Proseminar and the Senior Comprehensive Project are intended to give you experience in learning mathematics independently and in presenting to others the material you have learned (see the Student Guide). This syllabus gives dates and references specific to this year's seminar.

Brief description of procedure:

Pairs of students will work as teams to present three-day blocks of material from the text. In these presentations they will cover the main points of the material, with explanations, examples, etc. going beyond those of the text. Outside references should be used in preparing these presentations, since amplification and interpretation of the text presentation is required (Brown & Churchill alone will not contain sufficient detail for preparation); a number of books are available in the library.
Each student should speak the same amount of time. While the actual format is left to the students (in consultation with the instructor), each student should include some theory or proof in her presentation; that is, it is not advisable to have one student present all the theorems and the other present all the examples.
Each team will assign problems from its block of material; these problems should go beyond calculations into development of the theory. All students will hand in the problems at the class meeting after the block is completed. The team assigning the problems will hand in an answer key. There will be two dates on which each student will be expected to present a problem or block of problems (chosen from the assigned problems) to the seminar. These presentations will October 13 and December 8.
Each team will be expected to meet with the instructor (having read the material) at least a week prior to the beginning of their presentation to discuss their plan; they should meet again with instructor at least three days before beginning their presentation to deal with any questions or difficulties that might arise. It is the team's responsibility to contact the instructor to schedule these meetings.
Students will choose their partners for the first round of presentations; the instructor will make the assignment for subsequent rounds.
On the days she is not presenting, each student is required to be an active participant in the seminar: by reading the text material; by asking questions (to assist the presenters in communicating effectively); by participating in discussion prompted by questions (including any asked by the presenters); by recall of her own section of material when it is relevant; by discussing, completing, and handing in the assigned problems; and by completing the student response form for each team. The response forms are available on the Blackboard site and should be submitted electronically within 24 hours of the completion of the presentation. The instructor will prepare a summary of the responses for each presenter.
Preparatory work for the Senior Comprehensive Project is also a part of this course. Each student must arrange with an advisor for direction of her work and submit the Advisor agreement form by the stated deadline (see below). There will be several opportunities for presentation of preliminary talks for a student who wishes to complete the project early. Any student who is student teaching during the Spring semester is expected to complete both of her preliminary talks during the Fall semester.

Some important points and clarifications:

Teams must begin preparing early.
Written problems and critiques of presentations [response forms] must be turned in on time by all students
Every student must read the text material before the presentation, and is expected to ask questions and participate in the discussion on all topics.
Every student must turn in the response forms for all presentations (including her own) on time.
Deadlines for determination of Senior Comprehensive topics and advisors will be taken seriously - failure to meet them will affect your grade.
You cannot receive a grade for this course or any other course in the fall of your Semior year until your Advanced W portfolio is completed through the Junior level (Sophomore and Junior papers completed) except with an explicit exception.

Some other matters (related to preparation for second semester):

You must develop a topic and sign up with an advisor for your Senior Comprehensive Project (see dates below). Faculty members will be limited to two advisees; note that some faculty members are already advising comprehensive projects during the Fall semester.
There are three time schedules for work on the comprehensive project: September 15 – February 1, October 15 – March 1, January 15-April 15. Students intending student teaching in the second semester must complete the comprehensive project on the September 1 – February 1 schedule. The agreement with the advisor covers this period. If the project is not completed by the end of this time the student may have to seek another advisor and project, which will almost certainly prevent her from graduating on schedule.
Presentation dates for the Senior Comprehensive project will be set by mid-September – the completed and corrected version of the paper must be in the hands of the readers a week before the presentation date..

Schedules for Senior Comprehensives:

First Group [F]

September 15: Begin work with advisor
October 1 - 6: Presentation of the first Seminar talk on the Comprehensive topic
November 17 - 19: Presentation of the second Seminar talk on the Comprehensive topic
December 10: Paper must be written and given to advisor
February 4: Corrected paper must be in the hands of the readers
February 11-15: Formal Comprehensive Presentation

Second Group [S]

October 15: Begin work with advisor
November 17 – 9: Presentation of the first Seminar talk on the Comprehensive topic
January 14 – 24: Presentation of the second Seminar talk on the Comprehensive topic
February 2: Paper must be written and given to advisor
February 23: Corrected paper must be in the hands of the readers
March 2 - 6: Formal Comprehensive Presentation

Third Group [T]

December12: Begin work with advisor
January 26 – February 2 : Presentation of the first Seminar talk on the Comprehensive topic
February 9 – 16 : Presentation of the second Seminar talk on the Comprehensive topic
March 6: Paper must be written and given to advisor
March 24: Corrected paper must be in the hands of the readers
April 1 – 9 : Formal Comprehensive Presentation

Blocks & dates for material in Brown & Churchill

Block	Dates	Sections	Topics
0/Ins	8/25-9/2	1-7	Complex nos.& arithmetic, algebraic properties, representations
1	9/4-9/15	8-15	Roots, regions in the plane, complex functions, limits
2	9/17-9/29	16-22,24-25	Limit properties, continuity, derivatives, analytic functions
3	10/13-10/29	27,29-35	A special property, definitions & properties of elementary functions
4	11/3-11/12	37-45	Integral – of functions of a real variable, contour integrals, antiderivatives
5	12/1-12/10	46,48-54	Integral theorems and applications

Calendar

August	25 Introduction and scheduling	27 Block 0: Instructor
September	1 Block 0: Instructor	3 Comp Advisors Block 1:
	8 Block 1	10 Block 1
	15 Block 1:	17 Block 2
	22 Block 2:	24 Block 2
October	29 Block 2	1 Comp 1-1
	6 Comp 1-2	8 Problem Day
	13 Block 3	15 Block 3
	27 Block 3	29 Block 3
November	3 Block 4	5 Block 4
	10 Block 4	12 Block 4
	17 Comp 2-1	19 Comp 2-2
	24 Problem Day	26 - T-Day No Class
December	1 Block 5	3 Block 5
	8 Block 5	10 Block 5

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Last update8/18/2008