Math 453, Fall 2005

Instructor: Allen Hatcher

• Office: 553 Malott Hall
• Phone: 255-4091
• Email: hatcher@math.cornell.edu
• Office Hours: 2:30-4 Monday & Friday

TA: Nikolai Dimitrov

• Office Hours: TTh 2:50-3:50 in Malott 218

Textbook: There is no official textbook, but I will be posting lecture notes for the class online here.

• Chapter 1. Basic Definitions. 16 pages. Revised 10/12.
• Chapter 2. Connectedness. 10 pages.
• Chapter 3. Compactness. 12 pages. Revised 10/22.
• Chapter 4. Quotient Spaces. 9 pages. Revised 11/14.
• Chapter 5. Surfaces. Only 5 pages so far.

Grading: Most of the grade will be based on exams: two prelims counting 25% each and a final for 35%. The remaining 15% will be on problems sets which will be assigned approximately once a week and posted here.

Final Exam: This is a take-home exam due by noon on Wednesday December 14. There are 8 problems on two pages, so make sure you have both pages. I will have office hours Monday and Tuesday 2:30-4 this week.

Prelims: Here is the first prelim with solutions.

Here is the second prelim (without solutions). This is finally graded, and can be picked up during office hours this week.

Problem Sets:

• #1. Due Monday September 5. Solutions.
• #2. Due Monday September 19. Solutions.
• #3. Due Friday September 30. Solutions
• #4. Due Friday October 14. Solutions
• #5. Due Monday October 31. Solutions
• #6. Due Monday November 14.

Plan for the Course: First we will develop the basics of point-set topology, standard things including compactness, connectedness, products and quotient spaces. After this we will move into somewhat more geometric topics, including a study of the topology of surfaces.