Math 734 Joel M. Cohen (Spring 2019)

This WEB page is http://www2.math.umd.edu/~jcohen/734 and was last updated: 3/12/19

Title: Algebraic Topology
Instructor: Professor Joel M. Cohen
Office: MTH 2313
Email: jcohen@umd.edu
Telephone: (301)405-5109, Cell phone: ask
Class Time: T-TH 9:30 - 10:40 pm
Location: Math 2400.

Grader:  Daniel Kaufman
Email: dtkauf@math.umd.edu

Prerequisite: Math 730.  In particular, I assume knowledge of Math 730 as taught by Sarah Yeakel in Fall 2018.  See http://www2.math.umd.edu/~syeakel/math730f18.html for contents.  You may have to copy this URL and paste to get it to work or try this:  Math 730

Main Text:  Algebraic Topology, A. Hatcher, Download Version
Auxiliary Text: Topology and Geometry, G. Bredon,  Springer-Verlag, 1993
 

Office Hours: T-TH 11:00 am-12:00 pm. If you cannot see me during those hours, send me email or ask me in class to make an appointment for a different time.
 

Course Contents: Singular cohomology, cup products, Poincaré duality, Eilenberg-Steenrod axioms, Whitehead and Hurewicz theorems, universal coefficient theorem, and other topics to be decided.

Grading: There will be regular homework, a take-home midterm and a  final (possibly take-home).    Approximately once each week there will be a graded homework assignment.  Students may consult one another on homework assignments, but should not write anything they do not understand.  

The components of the final semester grade  are
 

Homework 30%
Midterms 30%
Final Exam 40%

Additional Reading:

W. Massey, Algebraic Topology, An Introduction, Springer-Verlag, 1997.

Greenberg and Harper, Algebraic Topology, A First Course, Benjamin/Cummings, 1981.