18.904: Syllabus

18.904: Syllabus


Course Materials

The primary book for the course is Massey's introductory text. Beware! There are two other books in the GTM series (GTM 70 and GTM 127) by Massey, which are different. I have also put a link above for Allen Hatcher's FREE online book. The material covered in this course is also contained in the beginning of Hatcher, which is an excellent text with many examples and pictures. I've decided to go with Massey's text as our primary source because it spends more time on the material we plan on covering, and gives a very careful exposition.

Course Format

This course is of the "seminar format": you, the students, will be giving all of the lectures. We will (ideally) have two lectures per class meeting. Because of the intimate nature of the class there will be very little in the way of formal homework. There will be a final project. There are no exams. At least for your first lectures, you will arrange a meeting outside of class with me to do a practice lecture.

Grading

your grade will be determined by:

70% - lectures/class participation
30% - written work (mainly your project)

Your class participation grade will be determined by both the quality, and the degree of improvement, of your lectures, and your attendance.

Final project

There will be a final project where you will read and write about a topic in topology that is not covered in class. I will give you more details, examples, and ideas as the semester approaches. The final project will be at least 10 pages in length, and you will be required to write it in TeX. If you are not yet acquainted with the joys of TeX, don't worry - you'll learn!