email:
itkis+cs235 
cs
buedu
office hours: Tuesday 10:30-11:30am, Thursday 2-4pm (or by appointment)
phone: 353-5285
office : MCS-284
Basic concepts and algorithms for manipulation of algebraic objects, such as residues, matrices, polynomials. Applications to some areas of computer science (cryptography, fault-tolerance). The course emphasizes rigorous reasoning and analysis, and the skills for manipulating abstractions. (Counts as a CS Background course for the CS concentration.)
There are no prerequisites, but CS 113 (Combinatorial Structures) is recommended.
Lectures: KCB 201 Tue,Thu 12:30 - 2pm
Lab: KCB 104 Wed 3-4pm I expect you to come to lectures (on time!) and I encourage you to participate.
There is no perfect textbook for the class, and lectures are your important source of information. Be sure to take good notes.
email: itkis+cs235
office hours: Tuesday 10:30-11:30am, Thursday 2-4pm (or by appointment)
phone: 353-5285
office : MCS-284
TF: Ilir Capuni
e-mail: ilir+cs235
office hours: Monday 3pm-4pm; Friday 3.30pm-4.30pm
phone: (617) 358-1121 (no voicemail!)
office: PSY (64 Cummington St.) room 225.
A number of qualified tutors are available every day to help you with your questions. See the schedule for details. If one tutor's explanations do not click for you, try another one. It is a great resource - use it!
Victor Shoup. A Computational Introduction to Number Theory and Algebra
The link above contains both an on-line version of the textbook and errata as well as other useful supplementary materials.
Also recommended:
- Notes from last year's course taught by Prof. Peter Gacs.
- The following notes are good background for this course and CS (esp. if you did not have cs113), but our lectures on number theory will use the MIT notes (Chapters 4 and 5) as well.
- Notes for MIT's CS 6.042 course, by Eric Lehman and Tom Leighton, 2004
- Notes for MIT course 6.042 - you can view its last semester's page and/or courseware from previous years
- CMU has a very nice course, from which I also plan to borrow: Great Theoretical Ideas in Computer Science
- Also, I highly recommend Computer Science Unplugged (browse the site, esp its available section). This material is suitable even for children, do not be put off by this, rather try it on your younger siblings (or non-CS friends) - there is no better way to understand any material than trying to teach it to others.
The class home page: http://www.cs.bu.edu/~itkis/235.
I will send some announcements by email to the class list. Please sign up by following instructions at "Mailing List" link on the left. I encourage you to ask questions and discuss the relevant subjects on this mailing list (both me and TF will monitor the list and provide the answers/corrections).