Todd Cochrane
Spring 2005, Ref 14960, MWF 9:30 a.m., CW 144                  

Number Theory is the study of the natural numbers 1,2,3,4,....  It is one
of the oldest branches of mathematics and yet  it continues to be an active
area of research today.  Number Theory is rich with beautiful theorems and
elegant patterns.  Its unsolved problems have challenged the greatest
 mathematical minds and given rise to much of modern mathematics.

The class will cover chapters 1-4 and parts of 5, 6 and 7, including
divisibility properties of the integers, primes, unique
factorization of integers, congruences, induction, the
Chinese remainder theorem, crytography,
Pythagorean triples, perfect numbers, the Fibonacci sequence,
multiplicative functions such as the Euler phi-function, Mobius function
and divisor function, and best rational approximation of irrational  numbers.