Math 3150 Real Analysis, Fall 2013

Course Information

A printable pdf version of the syllabus is here.

Basic Information

Instructor: Chris Kottke

Office: 463 Lake Hall

Email: c.kottke@neu.edu

Office hours: Mon 1:30-2:50, Wed 11-12:30

Text: Elementary Classical Analysis, by Marsden and Hoffman. 2nd Ed (ISBN 0-7167-2105-8). There are an unfortunate number of typos in the book. If you are confused by something, make sure to check the erratta in case it might be a mistake.

Exams:

Final Grade:

Description:

Analysis is one of the three pillars of modern mathematics, along with algebra and geometry. Broadly speaking, it is concerned with the study of functions, usually of one or more real or complex variables, and their properties such as continuity, differentiability and integrability. In this course, we will build up the foundational elements of real-variable analysis: the completeness and topology of the real numbers and Euclidean space, continuous functions on this space, and the classical theorems of single variable calculus.

While some of the results will be familiar from your basic calculus courses, our treatment will be entirely rigorous. You will get to see how mathematics is 'done' by mathematicians, and will develop the ability to write rigorous mathematical proofs. The course will be challenging -- you will be expected to spend time studying the text and solving difficult homework problems, many of which you will not be able to solve right away. Learning to do modern mathematics is not something which can be done passively, but rather requires active practice, perseverance, and patience.

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