Papers on Abstract Algebra
Heakyung Lee
Students taking Abstract
Algebra are required to write and present three papers on ‘the history of
algebra’, ‘a famous algebraist’, and ‘what is abstract algebra?’ during the
semester. Throughout their papers
students learn to compare algebra in the classical age and modern algebra,
learn what contribution the mathematician students choose to write about made
to Mathematics, especially in Algebra, and learn what algebraic structure is.
In this presentation,
Students’ understanding on Abstract Algebra before and after the assignments
will be discussed.
The first paper should
include the origin of algebra, a brief history of algebra, and what algebra
today is. Students choose a famous algebraist mentioned on their first paper, and
write about his (her) work in algebra in detail on the second paper. On the
third paper, students write about what abstract algebra is, give an example of
a group or a ring other than examples or exercises from the textbook, and prove
that the set is a group (or a ring). Some
of properties of the group (or the ring) may be stated and proved as an extra
credit.