18.904 - Seminar in Topology - Spring 2005

Instructor:	Shelly Harvey
Email:	sharvey@math.mit.edu
Office:	2-173
Phone:	x32685
Office Hours:	M 12-1, W 2:30-3:30 or by appt

Course Information:

Time and Place:	TR 11-12:20 in 2-102
Text:	(Chapters 0 and 1) Algebraic Topology by Allen Hatcher (available online)
Prerequisites	18.901
Grader:	Matjaz Konvalinka (konvalinka@math.mit.edu)

This course is a student seminar in Topology. We will cover Chapters 0 and 1 of Hatcher's Algebraic Topology with emphasis on Chapter 1; covering spaces and the fundamental group. You, the students, will present ALL of the material covered in the class. Each class meeting, one student will present a 50-60 minute lecture. After this, we will have some class discussion or work on some problem related to the lecture. I will let you know what material you are to cover in class. However, you are required to prepare your own lecture and then present the lecture to the class. Because of the format of the class, class participation and attendance will be a large part of the grade. An attendance sheet will be passed around during each lecture. There will be a short homework assigment due each week until we start the projects (see below). I will post these assignments on this website. Additionally, there will be an expository paper in Topology due in the last week of course. I will help you find a subject later in the term. I hope that this course will be a lot of fun!

Grading Policy:  The quality of your presentations (and how much your presentations improve during the course) along with attendance and class participation will be worth 50% of your grade. The homeworks will be worth 30% of your grade. The project will be worth 20% of your final grade.

Homework and Lecture Schedules

Tuesday	Thursday	Tuesday	Thursday
February 1  organizational meeting	February 3  Lecture 1 (Chris and Collin)	February 8  Lecture 2 (Greta)  Homework 1 (due 2-15)  Solutions	February 10  Lecture 3 (Shelly)
February 15  Lecture 4 (Chris)  Homework 2 (due 2-24)  Solutions	February 17  Lecture 5 (Shelly)	February 22  no class  (Mon. classes held on Tues.)  Homework 3 (due 3-1)  Solutions	February 24  Lecture 6 (Collin)
March 1  Lecture 7 (Fethi)  Homework 4 (due 3-8)  Solutions	March 3  Lecture 8 (Greta)	March 8  Lecture 9 (Shelly)  Homework 5 (due 3-29)  Solutions	March 10  Lecture 10 (Chris)
March 15  group work  (see instructions on Hw 5)	March 17  group work  (see instructions on Hw 5)	March 22, 24    Spring Break!
March 29  Lecture 11 (Fethi)	March 31  Lecture 12 (Collin)	April 5  Lecture 13 (Shelly)	April 7  Lecture 14 (Greta)
April 12  Lecture 15 (Fethi)	April 14  Lecture 16 (Chris)	April 19  no class  Patriots Day	April 21  Lecture 17 (Shelly)
April 26  Lecture 18 (Collin)	April 28  Lecture 19 (Fethi)	May 3  Lecture 20 (Greta)	May 5 Topic: The Poincare Homology Sphere
May 10 Topic: Graphs and Free Groups/Cayley Complexes	May 12  last day of classes  projects due