2022–23–A

  1. Introduction: Sets, subsets, permutations, functions, partitions. Indistinguishable elements, multisets, binary algebra of subsets. Rules of sum and product, convolutions, counting pairs. Binomial and multinomial coefficients. Stirling numbers of second kind, definition and a recurrenat formula.
  2. Graphs: General notions and examples. Isomorphism. Connectivity. Euler graphs. Trees. Cayley’s theorem. Bipartite graphs. Konig’s theorem, P. Hall’s theorem.
  3. The inclusion-exclusion method: The complete inclusion-exclusion theorem. An explicit formula for the Stirling numbers. Counting permutations under constraints, rook polynomials.
  4. Generating functions: General notion, combinatorial meaning of operations on generating functions. Theory of recurrence equations with constant coefficients: the general solution of the homogeneous equation, general and special cases of nonhomogeneity. Catalan numbers. Partitions of numbers, Ferrers diagrams. Exponential generating functions, counting words, set partitions, etc.

The goal of the workshop is to accompany first year mathematics majors, and to improve their skills in writing formal proofs. In the course of the workshop, the students will work in small groups on writing proofs, with an emphasis on topics related to the foundational first year courses.

Axioms of the reals. Sequences: limits, monotone sequences, the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem, Cauchy’s criterion, the number e. Limits of functions. Continuous functions: equivalent definitions of continuity, properties of the elementary functions, the exponential function, the Intermediate Value Theorem, existence of extrema in closed and bounded sets, uniform continuity and Cantor’s theorem. Introduction to derivatives: the definition of the derivative and differentiation rules, the derivative of an inverse function, derivatives of elementary functions, Fermat’s theorem, Rolle’s theorem and Lagrange’s Mean Value Theorem.

  • Complex numbers. Fields: definition and properties. Examples.
  • Systems of Linear equations. Gauss elimination process.
  • Matrices and operations on them. Invertible matrices.
  • Determinant: definition and properties. Adjoint matrix. Cramer rule.
  • Vector spaces and subspaces. Linear spanning and linear dependence. Basis and dimension. Coordinates with respect to a given basis.
  • Linear transformations. Kernel and Image. Isomorphism of vector spaces. Matrix of a linear transformation with respect to given bases.
  • The space of linear transformations between two vector spaces. Dual space
  • Groups as symmetries. Examples: cyclic, dihedral, symmetric and matrix groups.
  • Homomorphism. Subgroups and normal subgroups. Quotient groups. Lagrange’s theorem. The isomorphism theorems. Direct products of groups.
  • Actions of groups on sets. Cayley’s theorem.
  • Group automorphisms.
  • Sylow’s theorems. Application: classification of groups of small order.
  • Composition series and Jordan–Hoelder theorem. Solvable groups.
  • Classification of finite abelian groups, finitely-generated abelian groups.
  • Symmetric group and alternating group. The alternating group is simple.
  • Rings, maximal and prime ideals, integral domain, quotient ring. Homomorphism theorems.
  • Multilinear algebra: Quotient spaces. Tensor products of vector spaces. Action of $S_n$ on tensor powers. Exterior and symmetric algebras. Multilinear forms and determinant.
  • Optional topics: group of symmetries of platonic solids, free groups, semidirect products, representation theory of finite groups.

Algebras and sigma-algebras of subsets, the extension theorem and construction of Lebesgue’s measure on the line, general measure spaces, measurable functions and their distribution functions, integration theory, convergence theorems (Egorov’s, relations between convergence in measure and a.e. convergence), the spaces $L_1$ and $L_2$ and their completeness, signed measures, the Radon-Nikodym theorem, measures in product spaces and Fubini’s theorem.

  • An axiom system for predicate calculus and the completeness theorem.
  • Introduction to model theory: The compactness Theorem, Skolem–Löwenheim Theorems, elementary substructures.
  • Decidability and undecidability of theories, Gödel first Incompleteness Theorem.

An introduction to the basic notions of probability theory:

sample spaces limits of events conditional probability independent events sigma algebras, continuous spaces, Lebesgue measure random variables and distributions independence expectation variance and covariance convergence of random variables: almost-sure, in Lp, in probability law of large numbers convergence in law central limit theorem

Number Theory studies the structure of the integers and the natural numbers. In addition to classical topics (prime numbers, congruences, quadratic residues, etc.) there is an emphasis on algorithmic questions and in particular on applications to cryptography.

  • Divisibility and prime numbers
  • Congruences
  • The multiplicative group of $\mathbb{Z}/m$
  • Quadratic residues
  • Continued fractions
  • Algebraic numbers and algebraic integers
  1. Rings and ideals (revisited and expanded).
  2. Modules, exact sequences, tensor products.
  3. Noetherian rings and modules over them.
  4. Hilbert’s basis theorem.
  5. Finitely generated modules over PID.
  6. Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz.
  7. Affine varieties.
  8. Prime ideals and localization. Primary decomposition.
  9. Discrete valuation rings.
  1. The Fourier transform: convolutions, the inversion formula, Plancherel’s theorem, Hermite functions, tempered distributions. The Poisson summation formula. The Fourier transform in R^n.
  2. The Laplace transform. Connections with convolutions and the Fourier transform. Laguerre polynomials. Applications to ODE’s. Uniqueness, Lerch’s theorem.
  3. Classification of the second order PDE: elliptic, hyperbolic and parabolic equations, examples of Laplace, Wave and Heat equations.
  4. Elliptic equations: Laplace and Poisson equations, Dirichlet and Neumann boundary value problems, Poisson kernel, Green’s functions, properties of harmonic functions, Maximum principle
  5. Analytical methods for resolving partial differential equations: Sturm-Liouville problem and the method of separation of variables for bounded domains, applications for Laplace, Wave and Heat equations including non-homogenous problems. Applications of Fourier and Laplace transforms for resolving problems in unbounded domains.

Bibliography

  1. Stein E. and Shakarchi R., Fourier analysis, Princeton University Press, 2003.
  2. Korner T.W., Fourier analysis, Cambridge University Press, 1988.
  3. Katznelson Y., An Introduction to Harmonic Analysis, Dover publications. 4. John, Partial differential equations, Reprint of the fourth edition. Applied Mathematical Sciences, 1. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991.
  4. Evans Lawrence C. Partial Differential Equations, Second Edition.
  5. Gilbarg D.; Trudinger N. S. Elliptic partial differential equations of second order, Reprint of the 1998 edition. Classics in Mathematics. Springer-Ver lag, Berlin, 2001.
  6. Zauderer E. Partial differential equations of applied mathematics, Second edition. Pure and Applied Mathematics (New York). A Wiley-Interscience Publication. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1989. xvi+891 pp. ISBN: 0-471-61298-7.

Metric and normed spaces. Equivalence of norms in finite dimensional spaces, the Heine-Borel theorem. Convergence of sequences and series of functions: pointwise, uniform, in other norms. Term-by-term differentiation and integration of series of functions, application to power series. Completeness: completeness of the space of continuous functions on a closed interval and a compact metric space. The Weierstrass $M$-test. The Baire category theorem and applications, bounded linear functionals and the Banach-Steinhaus theorem. Compactness in function spaces and the Arzela-Ascoli theorem. Introduction to Fourier series: Cesaro means, convolutions and Fejer’s theorem. The Weierstrass approximation theorem. $L^2$ convergence. Pointwise convergence, the Dirichlet kernel and Dini’s criterion.

Open, closed and compact sets in Euclidean space. Matrix norms and equivalence of norms. Limits and continuity in several variables. Curves and path connectedness. Partial and directional derivatives, the gradient and differentiability. The implicit, open and inverse function theorems. Largange multipliers. Optimization: the Hessian matrix and critical points. Multivariable Riemann integration: Fubini’s theorem and the change of variables formula.

  • The notion of a Dynamical system, background, motivating examples.
  • Limit Sets and Recurrence, Van der Varden’s theorem as an application.
  • Basic notions in topological dynamics: Topological transitivity, minimality, topological Mixing, Expansiveness, Equicontinuity.
  • Circle rotations, homeomorphisms of the circle, rotation numbers and Denjoy’s theorem.
  • Topological entropy.
  • Automorphisms of the torus, automorphisms of compact groups.
  • Shift spaces and shifts of finite type
  • Brief introduction to ergodic theory: Equidistribution, unique ergodicity.
  • Topological manifolds. The fundamental group and covering spaces. Applications.
  • Singular homology and applications.
  • Smooth manifolds. Differential forms and Stokes’ theorem, definition of de-Rham cohomology.
  • Additional topics as time permits.

Aims of the course

  1. to introduce students to the new algebraic structure of Lie algebras, to teach them to recognize examples and to see deep consequences achieved using mostly the technique of linear algebra.

  2. Representation theory is about understanding and exploiting symmetry using linear algebra. The students will study basics of representation theory, that are common for representations of associative algebras or groups. They will see how representation theory is used for the classification of simple Lie algebras.

  3. After taking this course the students will be much better prepared to study Lie groups, or representation theory of groups. Root systems, studied in the course, which is a combinatorial object, and associated Coxeter groups often appear in geometric group theory, as well as in singularity theory.

  4. The students will practice both proving statements and doing explicit computations in matrix algebras, that are the main source of Lie algebras

  5. Motivated students will have a chance to present a topic from the course before their peers, which is an instructive task.

  6. The course is useful for the graduate students in Physics. Their participation is an excellent opportunity for the students of two departments to meet and exchange their views on the topic.

Course topics

  1. Basic concepts and examples
  2. Connection to Lie groups.
  3. Nilpotent and solvable algebras
  4. Killing form and semisimplicity
  5. Weyl’s theorem
  6. Root systems
  7. Classification of simple Lie algebras
  8. Classification of irreducible representations of simple Lie algebra
  9. Additional topics (time permitted)

Banach spaces and Hilbert spaces. Basic properties of Hilbert spaces. Topological vector spaces. Banach-Steinhaus theorem; open mapping theorem and closed graph theorem. Hahn-Banach theorem. Duality. Measures on locally compact spaces; the dual of $C(X)$. Weak and weak-$*$ topologies; Banach-Alaoglu theorem. Convexity and the Krein-Milman theorem. The Stone-Weierstrass theorem. Compact operators on Hilbert space. Introduction to Banach algebras and Gelfand theory. Additional topics as time permits.

  1. General background: sets and operations on them, Complex numbers: definition (via ordered pairs), addition and multiplication, inverses, adjoint, absolute value. Real and complex polynomials and their roots.
  2. Fields: Definition, properties, examples: Rationals, reals, complex numbers, integers mod p.
  3. Linear equations over fields, matrices and elementary row operations, rank of a matrix, solutions of homogeneous and non homogeneous systems of linear equations and the connections between them.
  4. Vector spaces over fields, subspaces, bases and dimensions, coordinates change of coordinate matrix, row rank as rank of a subspace, sums, direct sums of subspaces and the dimension theorem.
  5. Matrices multiplication, the algebra of square matrices, inverse determinants: properties, Cramer’s rule, adjoint and its use for finding the inverse.
  6. Linerar transformationsbasic propertieskernel and image of a linear trasformationrepresentaion of linear transformations by matrices and the effect of change of bases.linear functionals, dual bases
  1. Lines and planes. Cross product. Vector valued functions of a single variable, curves in the plane, tangents, motion on a curve.
  2. Functions of several variables: open and closed sets, limits, continuity, differentiability, directional derivatives, partial derivatives, the gradient, scalar and vector fields, the chain rule, the Jacobian. Implicit differentiation and the implicit function theorem. Extremum problems in the plane and in space: the Hessian and the second derivatives test, Lagrange multipliers.
  3. Line integrals in the plane and in space, definition and basic properties, work, independence from the path, connection to the gradient, conservative vector field, construction of potential functions. Applications to ODEs: exact equations and integrating factors. Line integral of second kind and arclength.
  4. Double and triple integrals: definition and basic properties, Fubini theorem. Change of variable and the Jacobian, polar coordinates in the plane and cylindrical and spherical coordinates in space. Green’s theorem in the plane.
  5. Parametric representation of surfaces in space, normals, the area of a parametrized surface, surface integrals including reparametrizations
  6. Curl and divergence of vector fields. The theorems of Gauss and Stokes.
  1. Real numbers. Supremum and Infimum of a set. 2. Convergent sequences, subsequences, Cauchy sequences. The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem. Limit superior and limit inferior. 3. Series. Partial sums, convergent and divergent series, Cauchy criterion. Series of non-negative terms. The root and the ratio tests. Conditional and absolute convergence. The Leibnitz test for series with alternating signs. Rearrangements of series (without proof) 4. The limit of a function. Continuous functions. Continuity of the elementary functions. Properties of functions continuous on a closed interval: boundedness and attainment of extrema. Uniform continuity, Cantor?s theorem. 5. The derivative of a function. Mean value theorems. Derivatives of higher order. L’Hospital’s rule. Taylor’s theorem. Lagrange remainder formula.

The aim of the course is to study main principles of probability theory. Such themes as probability spaces, random variables, probability distributions are given in details.Some applications are also considered.1. Probability space: sample space, probability function, finite symmetric probability space, combinatorial methods, and geometrical probabilities.2. Conditional probability, independent events, total probability formula, Bayes formula. 3. Discrete random variable, special distributions: uniform, binomial, geometric, negative binomial, hypergeometric and Poisson distribution. Poisson process.4. Continuous random variable, density function, cummulative distribution function. Special distributions: uniform, exponential, gamma and normal. Transformations of random variables. Distribution of maximum and minimum. Random variable of mixed type.5. Moments of random variable. Expectation and variance. Chebyshev inequality.6. Random vector, joint probability function, joint density function, marginal distributions. Conditional density, covariance and correlation coefficient.7. Central Limit Theorem. Normal approximation. Law of Large Numbers.

  1. Integral calculus in one variable and its application: the integral, Riemann sums, integrability of bounded functions with countably many discontinuity points (the proofs only for continuous functions and monotone functions), antiderivatives and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, change of variables and integrations by parts, partial fractions (without proofs). Applications of integral calculus: computation of areas, volume of the solid of revolution, the length of a smooth curve. Improper integral, and convergence tests for positive functions, application to series.
  2. Functions of several variables: open, closed, and compact sets, level curves and surfaces, vector valued functions, paths and path-connectedness.
  3. Limits and continuity in several variables: arithmetic of limits, Weierstrass theorem, intermediate value theorem.
  4. Multivariable differential calculus: partial and directional derivatives, differentiability and the tangent plane, the chain rule, the orthogonality of the gradient to the level surfaces, implicit function theorem for a curve in the plane and a surface in the space (without a proof), the Hessian, Taylor approximation of order 2, critical points (classification only in dimension 2), Extremum problem, including Lagrange multipliers and gradient descent.
  5. Integration in dimension 2: Reimann integral in dimension 2, change of variables and Fubini theorem (without proofs), changing the order of integration, polar coordinates, computation of volumes. If time permits: integration in dimension 3.

Prerequisites: 20119531 Linear Algebra

Brief syllabus
  1. Operations over sets, logical notation, relations.

  2. Enumeration of combinatorial objects: integer numbers, functions, main principles of combinatorics.

  3. Elementary combinatorics: ordered and unordered sets and multisets, binomial and multinomial coefficients.

  4. Principle of inclusion and exclusion, Euler function.

  5. Graphs: representation and isomorphism of graphs, valency, paths and cycles.

  6. Recursion and generating functions: recursive definitions, usual and exponential generating functions, linear recurrent relations with constant coefficients.

  7. (Optional) Modular arithmetics: congruences of integer numbers, $\mathbb{Z}_m$, invertible elements in $\mathbb{Z}_m$.

  1. Fields: the definition of a field, complex numbers.

  2. Linear equations: elementary operations, row reduction, homogeneous and non-homogeneous equations, parametrization of solutions.

  3. Vector spaces: examplex, subspaces, linear independence, bases, dimension.

  4. Matrix algebra: matrix addition and multiplication, elementary operations, the inverse matrix, the determinant and Cramer’s law. Linear transformations: examples, kernel and image, matrix representation.

  1. Complex valued-functions and the complex exponential. Fourier coefficients of piecewise continuous periodic functions. Basic operations and their effects on Fourier coefficients: translation, modulation, convolutions, derivatives.
  2. Uniform convergence: Cesaro means, the Dirichlet and Fejer kernels, Fejer’s theorem. The Weierstrass approximation theorem for trigonometric polynomials and for polynomials. Uniqueness of Fourier coefficients. The Riemann-Lebesgue lemma. Hausdorff’s moment problem. Convergence of partial sums and Fourier series for $C^2$-functions.
  3. Pointwise convergence: Dini’s criterion. Convergence at jump discontinuities and Gibbs phenomenon.
  4. $L^2$-theory: orthonormal sequences and bases. Best approximations, Bessel’s inequality, Parseval’s identity and convergence in $L^2$.
  5. Applications to partial differential equations: the heat and wave equations on an interval with constant boundary conditions, the Dirichlet problem for the Laplace equation on the disk, the Poisson kernel.

Bibliography:

  • Korner, Fourier analysis
  • Stein and Shakarchi, Fourier analysis
Metric spaces:

closed sets, open sets, Cauchy sequences, completeness, compactness, Theorem of Heine–Borel, continuity and uniform continuity of functions, uniform convergence of sequences of functions.

Measure theory:

algebras, measures and outer measures, measurable sets, discrete measure spaces, Lebesgue measure on the real line, measurable functions, Lebesgue integral, dominated convergence theorem, $L_p$-spaces as complete normed spaces. Time-permitting: signed measures and absolute continuity of measures and the Radon-Nykodim theorem.

  1. Counting states. Combinatorics. Distinguishable and indistinguishable particles. Ordered and unordered arrangements. Permutations without replacement and with replacement. Combinations without and with replacement. Multisets. N 1/2 spins. Cell gas. Fermions, para-fermions, bosons.
  2. Repeated experiments, outcomes. Frequentist, Bayesian, and Kolmogorov probability, interrelation. Reproducible and irreproducible experiments. Probability in a finite universe. Expanding universe. Time dependent probability. Laws of probability. Mutually exclusive events/outcomes. Conditional probability. Bayes rule. Geometric probability, Betrand paradox.
  3. Random variables. Discrete random variables. Probability of a random variable. Functions of random variables. Mean, variance, moments in general. Spin 1/2. Paramagnetism. Binomial distribution. Large numbers. Most probable state. Rare events. Radioactive decay. Poisson distribution. Information entropy. Maximum entropy principle without constraints. Uniform distribution. Maximum entropy principle with energy constraint. Boltzmann distribution.
  4. Gas of particles in the velocity space. Continuous random variable. Probability density. Mean, variance, moments. Delta-function. Maxwellian (normal, gaussian) distribution. Localized magnetic moment in a magnetic field. Classical paramagnetism. Fluctuations of magnetization. Other observed distributions: merging black holes. Line width: Breit? Wigner distribution. Entropy. Uniform distribution. Particle size distribution of aerosols and mass distribution in the Universe: log-normal distribution. Collisions in accelerators: from binomial distribution to Poisson.
  5. Multivariate continuous distributions. Joint and marginal distribution. Gas in 3D. Most probable components and most probable magnitude of the velocity. Isotropic and anisotropic distributions. Plasma pressure tensor. Covariance, correlation. Transformation of variables in joint distributions. Beams in plasmas. Cosmic rays: energy spectrum and pitch-angle distribution. Covariance vs independence.
  6. Laws of large numbers. Gaussian as the limiting distribution for the Binomial and and Poisson distributions. Chebyshev’s inequality. Independent random variables. Sum of random variables. Convolution. Convolution of Gaussians. Central limit theorem. Applications and limitations of the theorem: velocity component of air molecules, Coulomb scattering, energy loss of charged particle traversing thin gas layer (Landau distribution).
  7. Statistics in physics: from data to hypothesis. Main sequence: assume theory, devise an experiment, measure relevant parameters, estimate uncertainties, quantify agreement with theory, accept of reject. Examples: search for Higgs in LHC, dark matter in the Universe. More examples: CP violation.
  8. Measurements and errors. Propagation of errors. Measured distribution vs true distribution: convolution with the resolution function (detector). Assumption of normal distribution of measurement uncertainties. Distortion of measured distribution: line width.
  9. Measurements, samples, population, sample statistics. Sample mean and variance. Central limit theorem in statistics. Parameter estimates: frequentist and Bayesian approach. Prior and posterior probabilities. Basic estimators. Maximum-likelihood method: distance from the Sun to the center of the galaxy, mass distribution from LIGO.
  10. LHC experiments: application of Chi-squared. Degrees of freedom. Nuisance parameters. Role of uncertainties (overestimate vs underestimate). Unbiased estimators. Correlation functions.
  11. Hypothesis testing. Simple and composite hypotheses; statistical tests; Neyman?Pearson; generalised likelihood-ratio; Student?s t; Fisher?s F; goodness of fit.
  12. (Optional) Random walk. Diffusion processes.
  13. (Optional) Monte-Carlo methods.

2022–23–B

  • Rings. Ring of polynomials and its ideal structure. The prime factorization of a polynomial. Lagrange interpolation.
  • Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of linear operators.
  • Characteristic polynomial and Cayley-Hamilton theorem. The primary decomposition theorem. Diagonalization. Nilpotent operators. Jordan decomposition in small dimension Jordan decomposition in general dimension- time permitted
  • Linear forms. Dual basis. Bilinear forms.
  • Inner product spaces. Orthogonal bases. Projections. Adjoint linear transformation. Unitary and Hermitian operators.
  • Normal operators and the spectral decomposition theorem. Singular value decomposition theorem and applications.
  1. Partially ordered sets. Chains and antichains. Examples. Erdos–Szekeres’ theorem or a similar theorem. The construction of a poset over the quotient space of a quasi-ordered set.
  2. Comparison of sets. The definition of cardinality as as an equivalence class over equinumerousity. The Cantor-Bernstein theorem. Cantor’s theorem on the cardinality of the power-set.
  3. Countable sets. The square of the natural numbers. Finite sequences over a countable set. Construction of the ordered set of rational numbers. Uniqueness of the rational ordering.
  4. Ramsey’s theorem. Applications.
  5. The construction of the ordered real line as a quotient over Cauchy sequences of rationals.
  6. Konig’s lemma on countably infinite trees with finite levels. Applications. A countable graph is k-colorable iff every finite subgraph of it is k-colorable.
  7. Well ordering. Isomorphisms between well-ordered sets. The axiom of choice formulated as the well-ordering principle. Example. Applications. An arbitrary graph is k–colorable iff every finite subgraph is k-colorable.
  8. Zorn’s lemma. Applications. Existence of a basis in a vector space. Existence of a spanning tree in an arbitrary graph.
  9. Discussion of the axioms of set theory and the need for them. Russel’s paradox. Ordinals.
  10. Transfinite induction and recursion. Applications. Construction of a subset of the plane with exactly 2 point in every line.
  11. Infinite cardinals as initial ordinals. Basic cardinal arithmetic. Cardinalities of well known sets. Continuous real functions, all real runctions, the automorphisms of the real field (with and without order).

The derivative as a function: continuously differentiable functions, Darboux’s theorem. Convex functions: definition, one-sided differentiability, connection to the second derivative. Cauchy’s generalized Mean Value Theorem and its applications: L’Hospital’s rule, Taylor polynomials with Lagrange remainder. The Newton-Raphson method. Series: Cauchy’s criterion, absolutely convergent series, the comparison, quotient and root tests, the Dirichlet test, change of the order of summation, the product formula for series, Taylor series, Taylor series of elementary functions. The definition of an analytic function, the radius of convergence of a power series. The Riemann integral. Riemann sums. The fundamental theorem of calculus (the Newton-Leibniz formula). Methods for computing integrals (the indefinite integral): integration by parts, change of variable, partial fractions. Improper integrals. Numerical integration: the midpoint, trapezoid and Simpson’s rules. Stirling’s formula. Introduction to convergence of functions, problems with pointwise convergence. Introduction to ordinary differential equations: the differential equation y’=ky, solution of first order ODE’s by separation of variables, initial value conditions.

Ordinary differential equations of first order, existence and uniqueness theorems, linear equations of order n and the Wronskian, vector fields and autonomous equations, systems of linear differential equations, nonlinear systems of differential equations and stability near equilibrium

Graphs and sub-graphs, trees, connectivity, Euler tours, Hamilton cycles, matching, vertex and edge colorings, planar graphs, introduction to Ramsey theory, directed graphs, probabilistic methods and linear algebra tools in Graph Theory.

Topological spaces and continuous functions (product topology, quotient topology, metric topology). Connectedness and Compactness. Countabilty Axioms and Separation Axioms (the Urysohn lemma, the Urysohn metrization theorem, Partition of unity). The Tychonoff theorem and the Stone-Cech compactification. Metrization theorems and paracompactness.

  • Complex numbers. Analytic functions, Cauchy–Riemann equations.
  • Conformal mappings, Mobius transformations.
  • Integration. Cauchy Theorem. Cauchy integral formula. Zeroes, poles, Taylor series, Laurent series. Residue calculus.
  • The theorems of Weierstrass and of Mittag-Leffler. Entire functions. Normal families.
  • Riemann Mapping Theorem. Harmonic functions, Dirichlet problem.
  • Fields: basic properties and examples, the characteristic, prime fields
  • Polynomials: irreducibility, the Eisenstein criterion, Gauss’s lemma
  • Extensions of fields: the tower property, algebraic and transcendental extensions, adjoining an element to a field
  • Ruler and compass constructions
  • Algebraic closures: existence and uniqueness
  • Splitting fields
  • Galois extensions: automorphisms, normality, separability, fixed fields, Galois groups, the fundamental theorem of Galois theory.
  • Cyclic extensions
  • Solving polynomial equations by radicals: the Galois group of a polynomial, the discriminant, the Cardano-Tartaglia method, solvable groups, Galois theorem
  • Roots of unity: cyclotomic fields, the cyclotomic polynomials and their irreducibility
  • Finite fields: existence and uniqueness, Galois groups over finite fields, primitive elements

Embedded differentiable manifolds with boundary in Euclidean space. The tangent space, normal, vector fields. Orientable manifolds, the outer normal orientation. Smooth partitions of unity. Differential forms on embedded manifolds, the exterior derivative. Integration of differential forms and the generalized Stokes theorem. Classical formulations (gradient, curl and divergence and the theorems of Green, Stokes and Gauss). Closed and exact forms. Conservative vector fields and existence of potentials. Application to exact ordinary differential equations. Introduction to differential geometry: curvature of curves and surfaces in 3 dimensional space, the Gauss map, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem (time permitting).

Ordinary differential equations of first order, existence and uniqueness theorems, linear equations of order $n$ and the Wronskian, vector fields and autonomous equations, systems of linear differential equations, nonlinear systems of differential equations and stability near equilibrium

  1. Preliminaries: floating point arithmetic, round-off errors and stability. Matrix norms and the condition number of a matrix.
  2. Introduction to numerical solutions for ODE’s:initial value problems, Euler’s method, introduction to multistep methods. Boundary value problems.
  3. Numerical solution of linear equations: Gauss elimination with pivoting, LU decomposition. Iterative techniques: Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel, conjugate gradient. Least squares approximation.
  4. Numerical methods for finding eigenvalues: Gershgorin circles. The power method. Stability considerations in Gram-Schmidt: Hausholder reflections and Givens rotations. Hessenberg and tridiagonal forms. QR decomposition and the QR algorithm.
  • Finite Markov chains. Perron-Forbenious.
  • Infinite Markov Chains, Random walks on groups
  • Recurrence-Transience
  • Martingales, stopping times and hitting measures
  • Entropy (Shannon’s entropy, and asymptotic entropy)

The purpose of the course is to provide students with the ability to deal with mathematical problems in a variety of subjects by becoming familiar with common strategies for solving mathematical problems. The course requires active participation of the students during class and includes both group and individual work. The meetings will be conducted as a seminar where initially a classical problem and its solution will be presented. The strategy for solving problems arising from the solution will be discussed and then the participants will be challenged to use this strategy with specific examples. In addition, problems/riddles given as weekly homework will be discussed. We will cover a variety of techniques for solving problems: exploiting parity, pigeonhole principle, checking extreme cases, double counting, the method of geometric transformations in dealing with sophisticated geometric problems, methods of Dynamic programming, the principle of induction and Fermat’s descent method for treating Diophantine equations. The method of generating functions.. Probabilistic considerations and their uses.

  1. Basic Algebraic Structures: rings, modules, algebras, the center, idempotents, group rings

  2. Division Rings: the Hamiltonian quaternions, generalized quaternion algebras, division algebras over $\mathbb{F}_q$, $\mathbb{C}$, $\mathbb{R}$, $\mathbb{Q}$ (theorems of Frobenius and Wedderburn), cyclic algebras, the Brauer–Cartan–Hua theorem

  3. Simplicity and semi-simplicity: simplicity of algebraic structures, semi-simple modules, semi-simple rings, Maschke’s theorem

  4. The Wedderburn–Artin Theory: homomorphisms and direct sums, Schur’s lemma, the Wedderburn–Artin structure theorem, Artinian rings

  5. Introduction to Group Representations: representations and characters, applications of the Wedderburn–Artin theory, orthogonality relations, dimensions of irreducible representations, Burnside’s theorem

  6. Tensor Products: tensor products of modules and algebras, scalar extensions, the Schur index, simplicity and center of tensor products, the Brauer group, the Skolem–Noether theorem, the double centralizer theorem, maximal fields in algebras, reduced norm and trace, crossed products

  • Fundamental theorems and basic definitions: Convex sets, separation , Helly’s theorem, fractional Helly, Radon’s theorem, Caratheodory’s theorem, centerpoint theorem. Tverberg’s theorem. Planar graphs. Koebe’s Theorem.
  • Geometric graphs: the crossing lemma. Application of crossing lemma to Erdos problems: Geometric Incidences, Repeated distance problem, distinct distances problem. Selection lemmas. Counting $k$-sets. An application of incidences to additive number theory.
  • Coloring and hiting problems for geometric hypergraphs : $VC$-dimension, Transversals and Epsilon-nets. Weak eps-nets for convex sets. $(p,q)$-Theorem, Conflict-free colorings.
  • Arrangements : Davenport Schinzel sequences and sub structures in arrangements.
  • Geometric Ramsey and Turan type theorems: Application of Dilworth theorem, Erdos-Szekeres theorem for convex sets, quasi-planar graphs.

See course syllabus and administrative information on the course web page. These pdf files are also uploaded here.

My active web page is this (on Google Drive), not the one you see when you click my name above.

Please ignore the section “Course Topics” below, if it appears. (I don’t know how to make this text go away – but maybe it did anyhow.)

  1. Review of differentiable manifolds, definition of a Lie group. Quotients in the category of Lie groups, homogeneous manifolds, haar measure, connected components.
  2. Algebraic groups, matrix groups, the classical groups.
  3. Lie algebras and connection to Lie groups.
  4. Nilpotent, solvable and semisimple Lie algebras and Lie groups, Lie theorem, Engel theorem, Levi decomposition.
  5. Cartan-Killing form.
  6. Representation of a Lie algebra over the complex numbers.
  7. Root and weights, root systems, Dynkin diagrams, classication of complex semisimple Lie algebras.

The system of the real numbers (without Dedekind cuts). The supremum axiom. Convergent sequences, subsequences, monotonic sequences, upper and lower limits. Series: partial sums, convergent and divergent series, examples, nonnegative series, the root test, the quotient test, general series, Dirichlet, Leibnitz, absolute convergence implies convergence (without a proof). Limits of functions, continuity, the continuity of the elementary functions, extrema in compact intervals. The derivative of a function, Lagrange’s Mean Value Theorem, high order derivatives, L’hospital’s rules, Taylor’s Theorem, error estimates, lots of examples. The Riemann integral: only for piecewise continuous functions (finitely many points of discontinuity). Riemann sums and the definition of the integral, The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, the existence of primitive functions (anti-derivatives). Integration techniques: integration by parts, substitutions, partial fractions (without proofs), improper integrals, applications of integrals, estimation of series with the aid of integrals, Hardy’s symbols O, o and Omega, approximation of momenta and the Stirling formula.

  1. General background: sets and operations on them, Complex numbers: definition (via ordered pairs), addition and multiplication, inverses, adjoint, absolute value. Real and complex polynomials and their roots.
  2. Fields: Definition, properties, examples: Rationals, reals, complex numbers, integers mod p.
  3. Linear equations over fields, matrices and elementary row operations, rank of a matrix, solutions of homogeneous and non homogeneous systems of linear equations and the connections between them.
  4. Vector spaces over fields, subspaces, bases and dimensions, coordinates change of coordinate matrix, row rank as rank of a subspace, sums, direct sums of subspaces and the dimension theorem.
  5. Matrices multiplication, the algebra of square matrices, inverse determinants: properties, Cramer’s rule, adjoint and its use for finding the inverse.
  6. Linerar transformationsbasic propertieskernel and image of a linear trasformationrepresentaion of linear transformations by matrices and the effect of change of bases.linear functionals, dual bases
  • Rings. Ring of polynomials and its ideal structure. The prime factorization of a polynomial. Lagrange interpolation.
  • Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of linear operators. Characteristic polynomial and Cayley–Hamilton theorem. The primary decomposition theorem. Diagonalization. Nilpotent operators. Jordan decomposition in small dimension. Jordan decomposition in general dimension- time permitting.
  • Linear forms. Dual basis. Bilinear forms. Inner product spaces. Orthogonal bases. Projections. Adjoint linear transformation. Unitary and Hermitian operators. Normal operators and the spectral decomposition theorem. Singular value decomposition theorem and applications.

Optional topics:

  • Quadratic forms.
  • Sylvester theorem.
  • Classification of quadrics in two-dimensional spaces.
  1. Lines and planes. Cross product. Vector valued functions of a single variable, curves in the plane, tangents, motion on a curve.
  2. Functions of several variables: open and closed sets, limits, continuity, differentiability, directional derivatives, partial derivatives, the gradient, scalar and vector fields, the chain rule, the Jacobian. Implicit differentiation and the implicit function theorem. Extremum problems in the plane and in space: the Hessian and the second derivatives test, Lagrange multipliers.
  3. Line integrals in the plane and in space, definition and basic properties, work, independence from the path, connection to the gradient, conservative vector field, construction of potential functions. Applications to ODEs: exact equations and integrating factors. Line integral of second kind and arclength.
  4. Double and triple integrals: definition and basic properties, Fubini theorem. Change of variable and the Jacobian, polar coordinates in the plane and cylindrical and spherical coordinates in space. Green’s theorem in the plane.
  5. Parametric representation of surfaces in space, normals, the area of a parametrized surface, surface integrals including reparametrizations
  6. Curl and divergence of vector fields. The theorems of Gauss and Stokes.
  1. Real numbers. Supremum and Infimum of a set. 2. Convergent sequences, subsequences, Cauchy sequences. The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem. Limit superior and limit inferior. 3. Series. Partial sums, convergent and divergent series, Cauchy criterion. Series of non-negative terms. The root and the ratio tests. Conditional and absolute convergence. The Leibnitz test for series with alternating signs. Rearrangements of series (without proof) 4. The limit of a function. Continuous functions. Continuity of the elementary functions. Properties of functions continuous on a closed interval: boundedness and attainment of extrema. Uniform continuity, Cantor?s theorem. 5. The derivative of a function. Mean value theorems. Derivatives of higher order. L’Hospital’s rule. Taylor’s theorem. Lagrange remainder formula.

The aim of the course is to study main principles of probability theory. Such themes as probability spaces, random variables, probability distributions are given in details.Some applications are also considered.1. Probability space: sample space, probability function, finite symmetric probability space, combinatorial methods, and geometrical probabilities.2. Conditional probability, independent events, total probability formula, Bayes formula. 3. Discrete random variable, special distributions: uniform, binomial, geometric, negative binomial, hypergeometric and Poisson distribution. Poisson process.4. Continuous random variable, density function, cummulative distribution function. Special distributions: uniform, exponential, gamma and normal. Transformations of random variables. Distribution of maximum and minimum. Random variable of mixed type.5. Moments of random variable. Expectation and variance. Chebyshev inequality.6. Random vector, joint probability function, joint density function, marginal distributions. Conditional density, covariance and correlation coefficient.7. Central Limit Theorem. Normal approximation. Law of Large Numbers.

  1. Complex numbers, open sets in the plane.
  2. Continuity of functions of a complex variable
  3. Derivative at a point and Cauchy–Riemann equations
  4. Analytic functions; example of power series and elementary functions
  5. Cauchy’s theorem and applications.
  6. Cauchy’s formula and power series expansions
  7. Morera’s theorem
  8. Existence of a logarithm and of a square root
  9. Liouville’s theorem and the fundamental theorem of algebra
  10. Laurent series and classification of isolated singular points. The residue theorem
  11. Harmonic functions
  12. Schwarz’ lemma and applications
  13. Some ideas on conformal mappings
  14. Computations of integrals
  1. Integral calculus in one variable and its application: the integral, Riemann sums, integrability of bounded functions with countably many discontinuity points (the proofs only for continuous functions and monotone functions), antiderivatives and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, change of variables and integrations by parts, partial fractions (without proofs). Applications of integral calculus: computation of areas, volume of the solid of revolution, the length of a smooth curve. Improper integral, and convergence tests for positive functions, application to series.
  2. Functions of several variables: open, closed, and compact sets, level curves and surfaces, vector valued functions, paths and path-connectedness.
  3. Limits and continuity in several variables: arithmetic of limits, Weierstrass theorem, intermediate value theorem.
  4. Multivariable differential calculus: partial and directional derivatives, differentiability and the tangent plane, the chain rule, the orthogonality of the gradient to the level surfaces, implicit function theorem for a curve in the plane and a surface in the space (without a proof), the Hessian, Taylor approximation of order 2, critical points (classification only in dimension 2), Extremum problem, including Lagrange multipliers and gradient descent.
  5. Integration in dimension 2: Reimann integral in dimension 2, change of variables and Fubini theorem (without proofs), changing the order of integration, polar coordinates, computation of volumes. If time permits: integration in dimension 3.
  1. The Riemann integral: Riemann sums, the fundamental theorem of calculus and the indefinite integral. Methods for computing integrals: integration by parts, substitution, partial fractions. Improper integrals and application to series. 2. Uniform and pointwise convergence. Cauchy criterion and the Weierstrass M-test. Power series. Taylor series. 3. First order ODE’s: initial value problem, local uniqueness and existence theorem. Explicit solutions: linear, separable and homogeneous equations, Bernoulli equations. 4. Systems of ODE’s. Uniqueness and existence (without proof). Homogeneous systems of linear ODE’s with constant coefficients. 5. Higher order ODE’s: uniqueness and existence theorem (without proof), basic theory. The method of undetermined coefficients for inhomogeneous second order linear equations with constant coefficients. The harmonic oscillator and/or RLC circuits. If time permits: variation of parameters, Wronskian theory.
  1. Fields: the definition of a field, complex numbers.

  2. Linear equations: elementary operations, row reduction, homogeneous and non-homogeneous equations, parametrization of solutions.

  3. Vector spaces: examplex, subspaces, linear independence, bases, dimension.

  4. Matrix algebra: matrix addition and multiplication, elementary operations, the inverse matrix, the determinant and Cramer’s law. Linear transformations: examples, kernel and image, matrix representation.

  1. Fields: the definition of a field, complex numbers.

  2. Linear equations: elementary operations, row reduction, homogeneous and non-homogeneous equations, parametrization of solutions.

  3. Vector spaces: examplex, subspaces, linear independence, bases, dimension.

  4. Matrix algebra: matrix addition and multiplication, elementary operations, the inverse matrix, the determinant and Cramer’s law. Linear transformations: examples, kernel and image, matrix representation.

Metric spaces:

closed sets, open sets, Cauchy sequences, completeness, compactness, Theorem of Heine–Borel, continuity and uniform continuity of functions, uniform convergence of sequences of functions.

Measure theory:

algebras, measures and outer measures, measurable sets, discrete measure spaces, Lebesgue measure on the real line, measurable functions, Lebesgue integral, dominated convergence theorem, $L_p$-spaces as complete normed spaces. Time-permitting: signed measures and absolute continuity of measures and the Radon-Nykodim theorem.

Notes

  • Courses marked with (*) are required for admission to the M.Sc. program in Mathematics.
  • The M.Sc. degree requires the successful completion of at least 2 courses marked (#). See the graduate program for details
  • The graduate courses are open to strong undergraduate students who have a grade average of 85 or above and who have obtained permission from the instructors and the head of the teaching committee.
  • Please see the detailed undergraduate and graduate programs for the for details on the requirments and possibilities for complete the degree.