Questions, due January 28

How long have you spent on the homework assignments? Did lecture and the reading prepare you for them?

Each homework assignment takes me about 2 hours. The lecture and reading lets me know what I'm supposed to do, but I never am really sure how to do it. For example, when proving subrings I know that I'm supposed to prove that it's closed under subtraction and multiplication, but I get stuck on how. The computational problems are usually easy, but the proofs I find very difficult. Very rarely can I do a proof without any assistance. This is usually because I'm not sure what is relevant to that proof and what isn't. I lack that "intuition."

What has contributed most to your learning in this class thus far?

Even though they don't really help me when it comes to proofs, I do think that the lectures have been very helpful. You're very thorough-- always making sure people understand.

What do you think would help you learn more effectively or make the class better for you? (This can be feedback for me, or goals for yourself.)

Well, I REALLY wish there was a math-lab section for 371, because I would like to have a casual place I could to go and be surrounded by other 371 students. I learn best when I can discuss with others. I know you have office hours, but I usually feel really uncomfortable working through a problem (especially a proof) with a professor. It'd be really nice if we could do more proof-ish examples in class. And I don't mean theorem proofs (those are nice, but aren't most in the book?), I mean proofs similar to those in our homework. Then I might know how to do them. I know we do this a little bit, but more couldn't hurt, eh?

Thanks!

What has contributed most to your learning in this class thus far?