One Week Down

Well, I've survived the first week. Initial reaction for all my classes??

Complex Variables I think will be a very very good course. I'm really pushing in this one at the moment because in the grand scheme of things, I have a qualifying exam on this combined with Real Variables in May. And, I definitely slacked last semester (although others would argue that I definitely didn't, so I guess that's all debatable), so I need to kick butt in complex and really understand it so I don't fail that qualifying exam. I figure, if I can nail the complex stuff, and at least look like I know what I'm talking about in reals, then I'll have a shot at passing. Plus, the material is actually kind of interesting. We worked mainly with the Cauchy Integral Formula, and the Cauchy Integral Theorem the last class. It's pretty interesting, to be quite honest! And, what's even better, I have an assignment due on Monday, which is DONE! Go me!

Algebraic Topology is going well. There's really nothing new in this course, nothing special to report on. Same as last semester! We covered cohomology yesterday, at least the definition of. I imagine we'll do some examples and proofs with it in the coming weeks, or actually the entirety of the semester (we're only doing Hatcher's chapter (3) on Cohomology, with a few things added if time allows). So far so good though!

And Algebra. I cannot express enough, my disdain for Algebra! (Yet, here I am, thinking of going into Algebraic Topology, go figure.) My professor for this course is, well, interesting. I cannot understand/hear (it bounces between) him most of the class, and I'm not sure he understands this limitation, because unlike my professor last semester who did understand this limitation, he puts nothing really up on the board except for extremely abstract diagrams of field extensions. And, these diagrams, he reuses for other purposes a half hour later in the lecture. So, I'm going to have to read before and after this class, so that I can get an idea in my head for the lecture and then put the diagrams back into the text for a deeper understanding. We'll see how that goes. Algebra is what's on task for this weekend, with an assignment due on Tuesday.

So, there you have it. Much less stress so far this semester, so I hope that keeps up. On to tackle Galois Theory, straight from Lang. I know that all you mathematicians out there are jealous ... (sarcasm).