MAT 362: Differential Geometry of Surfaces

Spring 2006


Instructor. Michael Anderson, Math Tower 4-101A.
E-mail: anderson@math.sunysb.edu, Phone: 632-8269.
Lectures: Tu/Th: 12:50-2:10, in Harriman 115.


Office Hours. MWF 1-2pm, and by appointment.


Course Description. The foundation of differential geometry is the concept of curvature. The course will focus on understanding this and related concepts very clearly, both geometrically and computationally, for the case of surfaces in Euclidean space. For this, you'll need a solid background in multivariable calculus and linear algebra. We hope to give some idea of how curvature is understood in higher dimensions; this is the basis of Riemannian geometry and General Relativity.


Prerequisites. MAT 205 (Calc III) and MAT 210 (Linear Algebra).


Text. Andrew Pressley, Elementary Differential Geometry, Springer Verlag, 2001.
This text is (or should be) in the bookstore, and you will need to have it.
There are many other good texts on this subject. Some other sources you might like to look at are:

These and many others are in the Library.


Assignments and Grading. There will be one Midterm Exam, (date to be announced), and one Final Exam.
There will be regular homework assignments, due roughly once per week. Your grade will be determined via the following percentages: