MAT 218 Materials | Number Theory, Fall 2026

Contact

Grinnell College

Noyce 2516

brelandj@grinnell.edu

641-269-9444

Fall 2026 Courses

Student Hours

Mon 2:45–4:00 pm

Tue 10:00 am–12:00 pm

Wed 2:45–4:00 pm

Drop in · Noyce 2516

MAT 218: Number Theory
(Fall 2026)

Grinnell College

Course Info

MAT 218: Number Theory
Fall 2026
Section 02: MWF 10:00–10:50 AM
Noyce 2517
4 Credits

Instructor Info

Dr. Jadyn V. Breland (he/him/his)
M/W2:45–4:00 PMTu10:00 AM–12:00 PM
Noyce 2516 · drop in, no appointment
brelandj@grinnell.edu

Mentor Sessions

Seb, course mentor
Tu/Th/Su 7:30–9:30 PM
Noyce 2245
drop in

The Euclidean algorithm drawn as a tiling of a 48 by 30 rectangle by squares of side 30, 18, 12, 6, 6.

Word cloud from our first-day discussion of how a person learns something new. The largest words are repetition, curiosity, practice, guidance, and exposure.

The same square tiling extended to an 89 by 55 rectangle, with the golden spiral traced through the corners of the squares.

Course Materials

I will post materials here as they arise — handouts, references, and anything else that turns out to be useful as we work through the book. The supplements below are living documents and will be updated during the semester.

Supplements

Updated Oct 5 Allowed Results This document contains a list of results that are granted without proof, or that were proven and accepted by the class.

Updated Sep 6 Supplement R: Relations and Partitions This supplement contains a problem sequence which covers relations, equivalence relations, equivalence classes, and partitions.

Updated Sep 26 Supplement N: Induction This supplement states the Principle of Mathematical Induction and the Well-Ordering Axiom, describes the shape of a proof by induction, and works through Theorem 1.18 as an example.

Handouts

Updated Oct 1 True or False Submission Print this sheet and use it to submit your true and false statements for Homework 14.

Writing Proofs

Elements of Style for Proofs Dana C. Ernst's guidelines for writing mathematics, adapted from a list by Anders Hendrickson. Worth reading early and worth rereading every few weeks, since some of the rules will only start to make sense once you have written a few proofs of your own.

Materials on this page written by Dana C. Ernst are used and redistributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.