• Three 1-hour seminars; • One 2-hour applied class (in weeks 2-12) and • 7 hours of independent study per week.
Demonstrate understanding of the classification of finite fields;
Use a variety of proof-techniques to prove mathematical results;
Construct larger fields from smaller fields (field extensions and splitting fields);
Apply field theory to coding theory and understand the classification of cyclic codes.
Demonstrate understanding of different types of rings, such as integral domains, principal ideal domains, unique factorisation domains, Euclidean domains, fields, skew-fields; amongst these are the Gaussian integers and the quaternions - the best-known skew field;
Formulate abstract concepts in algebra;
Generalise known concepts over the integers to other domains, for example, use the Euclidean algorithm or factorisation algorithms in the algebra of polynomials;
Work with the most commonly occurring rings and fields: integers, integers modulo n, matrix rings, rationals, real and complex numbers, more general structures such as number fields and algebraic extension fields, splitting fields, algebraic integers and finite fields;
