Math 469-569 Syllabus-Fall 2009

Professor William Menasco
Office: Mathematics Building, Rm. 112, North Campus
Phone: 645-6284 ext.127
e-mail: menasco@buffalo.edu
Web Page: www.math.buffalo.edu/~menasco
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 3-4pm

Text and references:

• Knot Theory, C. Livingston, Carns Mathematical Monographs 24 (1993).

• The Knot Book: An elementary introduction to the mathematical theory of knots, C. Adams, Freeman press (1994).

• Knots and Links, D. Rolfsen, Publish or Perish Press (1976).

• Introduction to knot theory, R.H. Crowell & R.H. Fox, Springer-Verlag (1963).

• Knots, G. Burde & H. Ziechang, Berlin:de Gruyter (1986).

• An Introduction to Knot Theory, W.B.R. Lickorish, Springer (1997).

Knot Theory is the study of knotted and tangled closed loops in 3-dimensional space. As a graduate student, I found that little knowledge of advanced topics was needed to understand a good many of the underlying open research questions. Moreover, in a number of cases all that was needed to attack these open questions was cleverness, insight, determination, and a sense of adventure. It is a subject that is ideally suited for undergraduate research.

Assignments: If you ask a knowledgeable layman "what do research mathematicians do" you might get the close but off the mark reply that "they prove theorems". Research mathematicians attempt to understand...a state of mind that is very hard to rigorously define. So be it. In this course we will cover a number of topics in classical and current Knot Theory. Your grade will be based upon your ability to understand at least one topic-theorem-proof. You will be expected to exhibit your understanding by giving a short talk and writing a short paper.

Dates to remember: Friday, September 11th- Last day to drop the course.
Friday, September 11th- Last day to file Petition to make up an incomplete with the Mathematics Department for Fall 2009.
Friday, November 13th- Last day to resign from the course. An "R" will appear on your transcript.