Foundations of Geometry

MATH 531 Foundations of Geometry - Fall 2007 Professor Robert Sharpley Meets: TuTh 2:00-3:15 in LeConte College 115 Instructor Information Office: LeConte 313 D. Office Hours: Tu W Th 1:00-2:00 or by appointment.

Course Announcements For Thursday, Nov 8, 2007:

The Geometer's Sketchpad site has a Workshop Guide which is something like a tutorial. Click here for a copy. The Department has copies of the software available for your use in two of its computing labs on the first floor (LeConte 102 and 124, open Mon-Fri 8 am to 5 pm).

Course Announcements For Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007:
Final Exams are being graded and I will notify you by e-mail when the grades are posted.

Course Topics

This course is a study of geometry as a logical system based upon postulates and undefined terms. The fundamental concepts and relations of Euclidean geometry are developed rigorously on the basis of a set of postulates, particularly Euclid's fifth postulate concerning parallel lines. As time allows, some additional topics will be included from non-Euclidean geometry, in particular, projective geometry with applications to robotic vision and computer graphics.

Prerequisites

Math 241 or Math 250 (Math 241/250)

Primary Reference

The Four Pillars of Geometry (Chapters 1-6) by John Stillwell, Springer Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics, 2005.
[ISBN-13:978-0387-25530-9].

Additional References

David Joyce's on-line Euclid Elements with interesting discussions and analysis.

Course Grading

Assigned Homework (10%), Three Tests (20 % each) and Final Exam(30%).

Graduate students will be required to write a term paper on a topic negotiated with the instructor, and their coursework will be graded more rigorously.

Important Course Dates:

August 23 (Thursday) August 29 (Wednesday) September 3 (Monday) September 20 (Thursday) October 4 (Thursday) October 11-12 (Mon.-Tues.) October 23 (Tuesday) October 25 (Thursday) November 20 (Tuesday) November 21-25 (Wed.-Sun.) November 25 (Sunday) November 27 (Tuesday) December 7 (Friday) December 11 (2 pm, Tuesday)	Classes Begin Last Day for Withdrawal w/o penalty Labor Day - no classes Test 1 Last Day for Withdrawal w/o WF grade Fall Break - no classes Review for Test 2 Test 2 Review for Test 3 Thanksgiving Holidays - no classes Take-home Test 3 e-mailed Test 3 due Classes End Final Exam

Homework Assignments & Other Course Materials
Check this Link for homework assignments and other course materials.

For further information, please contact sharpley@math.sc.edu Return to Sharpley's Home Page This page maintained by Robert Sharpley (sharpley@math.sc.edu) and last updated August 28, 2007. This page ©2007-2008, The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina. URL: http://www.math.sc.edu/~sharpley/math531


	Return to Sharpley's Home Page
This page maintained by Robert Sharpley (sharpley@math.sc.edu) and last updated August 28, 2007. This page ©2007-2008, The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina. URL: http://www.math.sc.edu/~sharpley/math531