Math 350 Course Description
This is an introductory course to Number Theory.
Abstract Algebra is NOT a required background, nor is calculus.
We will cover the traditional topics, including
- congruences,
- polynomial congruence equations,
- multiplicative functions,
- Jacobi symbols,
- quadratic reciprocity,
- sum of squares,
- continued fractions, and
- Pell's equations.
We will also treat some applications of elementary number
theory in computer science and cryptography, including
- public key cryptography,
- RSA,
- ElGamal,
- discrete logarithm.
Students are expected to be comfortable with rigorous proofs
at the end of the course.
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