Course announcement: Algebraic Geometry, Mat-1.3140, 10 credits

[Engström Alexander]

*** ALGEBRAIC GEOMETRY ***

Mat-1.3140, 10 credits

During Fall 2012, the mathematics department will hold a new algebraic geometry course. It's intended for mathematics, computer science, and physics students in the last half of their bachelor or master studies.

In basic mathematics, we learn how to solve many problems of a geometric nature, for example to decide if a particular 5x5 matrix is of rank two or not. The next step is not further calculations on particular matrices, but understanding the space of all matrices of that rank at once. In algebraic geometry, we study all objects with a certain property at once, rather than one by one.

This is a first course in algebraic geometry. It assumes no prerequisites beyond an aptitude for hard work. Students will learn the basic theory and how to apply it, in part by computer algebra.

The first lecture is Wednesday 10-12, September 12, in room U511 at Otakaari 1M. The course will continue with lectures on Wednesdays 10-12 and problem solving sessions on Thursdays 10-12, both in U511. Help with computer algebra calculations will be provided on Mondays 14-18 in U414. The required course text is Ideals, Varieties, and Algorithms by Cox, Little, and O'Shea. For more information, see math.aalto.fi/~alex/teaching.html.

The course poster, featuring a semi-algebraic set, is attached.

Best,
Alexander