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Group Theory

Group theory is the study of symmetry. Objects in nature (physics, chemistry, music, etc.) as well as objects in mathematics itself have beautiful symmetries, and group theory is the algebraic language we use to unlock that beauty. Group theory is the gateway to abstract algebra and tells us (among many other things) that you can't trisect an angle with a straightedge and compass, that there are finitely many perfectly symmetric tiling patterns, and that there is no closed formula for solving a quintic polynomial. In this class we will get a glimpse of the mathematics underlying these famous questions. This course will focus concretely on building groups from other groups, exploring groups as symmetries of geometric objects, and using the tools of group theory to construct fields. The overarching goal of the course is to learn how modern mathematicians understand a topic as general and seemingly fuzzy as “symmetry”.

14 weeks

Diagnostics

ARE YOU READY?

Documents

SYLLABUS
14 weeks ARE YOU READY? SYLLABUS  

Schedule

Sunday
Jun 16 - Sep 22
7:30 - 9:30
PM ET
Jun 16 - Sep 22
7:30 - 9:30 PM Eastern
6:30 - 8:30 PM Central
5:30 - 7:30 PM Mountain
4:30 - 6:30 PM Pacific
Click here to see more time zones
$545 (~$39/week)
$545 (~$39/week)
ENROLL

AoPS Holidays

There are no classes May 25 ‐ 27, July 4, August 30 ‐ September 2, November 25 ‐ December 1, and December 21 2024 ‐ January 3, 2025.

Who Should Take?

This class is aimed primarily at students who have mastered the standard high school curriculum and do not have access to a strong post-secondary curriculum. We assume fluency with modular arithmetic, the complex numbers, and basic combinatorics, and also a good background in forming mathematical arguments and writing proofs. The class will be on the level of the most difficult Art of Problem Solving courses. We will not assume any calculus, but we will rely on precalculus, number theory, and counting extensively.

Lessons

Lesson 1 Symmetry
Lesson 2 Examples of Groups
Lesson 3 Subgroups
Lesson 4 Abelian Groups
Lesson 5 Group Actions
Lesson 6 Orbits and Stabilizers
Lesson 7 Burnside and Beyond
Lesson 8 Quotients
Lesson 9 Functions from Groups to Groups
Lesson 10 Geometry and Group Theory
Lesson 11 Fields
Lesson 12 Field Extensions
Lesson 13 Constructions and Automorphisms
Lesson 14 Groups and Fields

Group theory was definitely a wildly new and unexplored branch of mathematics to me, but thanks to AoPS's problem-solving approach to the subject, I gained a very firm foundation in this daunting subject. I appreciated the thoughtful clarity in the teaching in the class, and the knowledgeable, thorough instructor and teaching assistant really made this a great course. Thank you very much for this unique tour through advanced mathematics!