Theodore ShifrinDepartment of Mathematics
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
(706) 542-2556
Fax: (706) 542-5907
Email: shifrin@math.uga.edu
Office: 444 Boyd Graduate Studies
Office hours:
Department of Mathematics
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
(706) 542-2556
Fax: (706) 542-5907
Email: shifrin@math.uga.edu
Office: 444 Boyd Graduate Studies
Office hours:
Monday 1:30–3:00
Tuesday 3:15–4:45 (3510 only)
Wednesday 2:00–3:00
Thursday 11:00–12:15 [except 1/17 and 4/11], 2:00–3:00
Friday 9:00–10:00, 1:30–2:30
or by appointment
I'm Professor of Mathematics
at 
. I have just
completed my eight-year term as Associate Head
of the Mathematics Department. I have just received the Franklin
College
Outstanding
Academic Advising Award for 2012. I received the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors
Professor Award in 2002
and 2010, as well as
the Honoratus Medal in 1992.
I
was one of five recipients of the 1997 Josiah
Meigs
Award for Excellence in Teaching at The
University of Georgia. I was the 2000 winner of the Award for
Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics,
Southeast section, presented by the Mathematical Association of
America. My research interests are in differential geometry and
complex algebraic geometry. You may consult my current Vita and
Publication List and contact me by email if
you'd like any preprints or reprints.
If you'd like to see the "text" of my talk at the MAA Southeastern
Section meeting, March 30, 2001, entitled Tidbits of Geometry Through the Ages, you may
download a .pdf
file.
I am the Honors
adviser for students majoring in Mathematics at The University of
Georgia. I also advise Honors freshmen and sophomores majoring in
Computer Science, Physics, Physics & Astronomy, and
Statistics. If you would like to see how the Honors Program at The
University of Georgia has recently garnered national attention,
you might try the cover story of the September 16, 1996 issue of U.S. News
& World Report, p. 109. (I have a personal stake in
this, of course.)
Long ago, I wrote a senior-level mathematics text, Abstract
Algebra:
A Geometric Approach, published by Prentice Hall
(now Pearson) in 1996. You might want to refer to the list
of typos and emendations. Please email me if you find
other errors or have any comments or suggestions.
Malcolm Adams and
I recently completed the second
edition of our linear algebra text, Linear
Algebra:A
Geometric Approach, published by W.H. Freeman in 2011.
Our approach puts greater emphasis on both geometry and proof
techniques than most books currently available; somewhat novel is
a discussion of the mathematics of computer graphics. As we find
out about them, we will be maintaining a list
of errata and typos.
My textbook Multivariable
Mathematics:
Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, and Manifolds
was published by J. Wiley & Sons in 2004. The text integrates
the linear algebra and calculus material, emphasizing the theme of
implicit versus explicit. It includes proofs and
all the theory of the calculus without giving short shrift to
computations and physical applications. There is, as always, the
obligatory list
of
errata and typos; please email me if you have any
comments or have discovered any errors. Click here
if you want a list of errata in the solutions manual.
I have written some informal class notes for MATH 4250/6250, Differential
Geometry:
A
First
Course in Curves and Surfaces. They are available in
.pdf format, and, as usual, comments and suggestions are always
welcome. If you're interested in using them as a class text,
please contact me beforehand for permission. I have recently
revised the notes.
I teach a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, but particularly enjoy teaching:
MATH
3500(H)–3510(H) ([Honors] Multivariable Mathematics) —
MWF 11:15–12:05, T 11:00–12:15This is an integrated year-long
course in multivariable calculus and linear algebra. It is now a 4-hour course.
It includes all the material in MATH 2270/2500 and MATH 3000,
along with additional applications and theoretical material.
There is greater emphasis on proofs, and the pace is quick.
Typically the class consists of a blend of sophomores (some of
whom have had MATH 2400(H)–2410(H), others of whom have had MATH
2260 or 2310H and MATH 3200) and freshmen who've earned a 5 on the AP Calculus BC
exam. The text is my book, Multivariable Mathematics:
Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, and Manifolds.
Students who are unsure about what
math class to take should contact me during the summer. Some
students who would like to take MATH 3500(H) but aren't sure
whether they will like it should give it a shot; if your
schedule allows it, we can do a "section change" to MATH 2270
even after two or three weeks. Students who feel like they need
more confidence in writing proofs should consider taking MATH
3200 concurrently in
the fall semester. So far as grades are concerned, students who
master the computational content of the course (the standard
3000 and 2270 material) ordinarily earn at least a B.
Students who would like some
guidance in reading and writing proofs might want to look at a
wonderful new book called How
to Think Like a Mathematician: A Companion to Undergraduate
Mathematics, by Kevin Houston, Cambridge University
Press, 2009. You can get it used for under $25.
MATH
4000/6000–4010/6010 (Modern Algebra and Geometry I, II) —
MWF 10:10–11:00 MATH
3500(H)–3510(H) ([Honors] Multivariable Mathematics)
— MWF 11:15–12:05, T 11:00–12:15
We will cover standard material on Riemannian manifolds (starting with a "review" of curves and surfaces in R3), the basics of the Levi-Civita connection, geodesics, geodesic polar coordinates, submanifolds and the Gauss and Codazzi equations, and the Cartan-Hadamard Theorem. We will incorporate a moving-frames approach along with the standard covariant derivative approach. There will be some general discussion of connections on vector bundles, homogeneous spaces, and symmetric spaces. Depending on the interests of the clientele, we can cover some complex manifold theory or Gauss-Bonnet and Chern classes via differential forms.
This is an undergraduate introduction to curves and surfaces in R3, with prerequisites of either MATH 2270 (2500) and MATH 3000 or MATH 3510(H). The course is a study of curvature and its implications. The course begins with a study of curves, focusing on the local theory with the Frenet frame, and culminating in some global results on total curvature. We move on to the local theory of surfaces (including Gauss's amazing result that there's no way to map the earth faithfully on a piece of paper) and heading to the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, which relates total curvature of a surface to its topology (Euler characteristic). As time permits, we'll discuss either hyperbolic geometry or surfaces of constant mean curvature at the end of the course.
Mathematica Primer Once you have Mathematica on your computer, this should open in Mathematica; if for some reason it doesn't, copy and paste it into a Mathematica notebook.
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