Homepage of John Irving

Last updated April 2, 2012

Who Am I?

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  My primary research interest is algebraic combinatorics, particularly enumerative problems underlying questions in geometry and representation theory.

 

Contents of this Page

Contact Information

I can be reached by foot, e-mail, and telephone as follows: 

	Office:  MN 123
	E-mail:  name.surname at smu.ca
	Phone:   (902) 420-5792

Mailing address:

	John Irving
	Dept. of Mathematics & Computing Science
	Saint Mary's University
	Halifax, NS, Canada
	B3H 3C3

Office Hours

Office hours for the Winter 2012 Exam Period are as follows:

Send me an e-mail if you wish to set up an appointment to see me outside of office hours, or drop by the office and see if I'm available.

Math 1210: Introductory Calculus I

Final examination: The final exam will be held on Thursday, April 12 from 9:00am-12:00pm in the Field House.

Review session: I will hold a review session on Tuesday, April 10 in Sobey 260, starting at 12:30pm.

Office hours: Please see above for my office hours during the exam period.

Course syllabus: Click here to download the course syllabus.

Topics: This course is provides an introduction to differential calculus, covering much of Chapters 2 through 5 of the textbook. (Familiarity with the review material contained in Chapter 1 will be assumed.)

Homework:

Week of Topics Suggested Reading Suggested Homework Recitations
January 9 Distance and velocity.
The derivative.		 2.1, 2.7 2.1 #1, 5
2.7 #1, 3(a,b), 5, 7, 9(a,b), 11-19
Supplementary problems 		Pretest
January 16 Computing derivatives. Read me first
3.1, 3.2, 3.4 		3.1 #3-11, 13-15, 17-27, 33, 51
3.2 #1, 7-11, 13-15, 19, 31, 35(a), 43, 49
3.4 #3, 7-11, 17-21, 25-27, 42, 51 		Recitation 2 and Solutions
January 23 More derivatives. 1.5, App. D, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 3.2 #3-6, 17-20, 34, 45
3.3 #1-19, 21, 23, 25(a)
3.4 #1-46, 51-54, 55(a), 59, 69, 71, 75
Supplementary problems 		Recitation 3 and Solutions
January 30 Logarithms and
inverse functions.		 1.5, 1.6, 3.6 1.6 #1-11, 15, 19, 21-39, 45-54, 59-64
3.6 #1-15, 19-33, 37-47
Supplementary problems 		Test 1 (white) & Solutions
Test 1 (green) & Solutions
Test 1 (pink) & Solutions
February 6 Inverse trig functions.
Implicit differentiation.
Related rates.		 3.5, 3.9 3.5 #1-29, 33, 35, 39, 45-53, 57, 65
3.9 #3-23, 27-30, 35 (these take practice!)
 Recitation 4 and Solutions
February 13 Related Rates.
Limits Revisited.
Midterm.		 2.2, 2.3 Read Sections 2.2 and 2.3
2.2 #1-9, 13, 15, 25-32
2.3 #1-9, 11-29, 39-47
 Midterm Solutions
February 27 Continuity.
Maxima/Minima.		 2.5, 4.1 2.5 #1-5, 15-19, 21-27, 29, 35, 37, 41
4.1 #1-13, 15-43, 47-61 (the more the merrier)
 Recitation 5 and Solutions
March 5 Mean Value Theorem.
Basic curve sketching.		 4.2, 4.3 4.2 #1-5, 11-15, 17, 21
4.3 1, 3, 4, 7, 9-21, 25, 33-43
 Recitation 6 and Solutions
March 12 Limits at infinity.
L'Hospital's Rule.
More Curve Sketching.		 1.6, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 1.6 #3, 15-25, 28-33, 39-43, 49, 51
4.3 #45-51
4.4 #5-21, 25-33, 37-51
4.5 #1-51 (do as many as needed!)
 Test 2 & Solutions
March 19 Optimization Problems.
Area Under Curves.
The Definite Integral.		 4.7, 5.1, 5.2 4.7 #3-35 (try a variety)
5.1 #17-21
5.2 #1, 5, 17, 19, 29, 33-39
Recitation 7 and Solutions
March 26
April 2		 Fundamental Theorem.
Antiderivatives.
Indefinite Integrals		 4.9, 5.3, 5.4 5.3 #7-41, 43, 51, 53-57
5.4 #1-3, 5-17, 21-39, 49-51, 57, 59, 61
4.9 #1-46 (as many as you need!)
Recitation 8 and Solutions

Review material: Proper preparation is essential for success in this course. The following pointers may help you review some background material. There is no way to learn but through practice, so be sure to work through as many problems as possible. (Notice that solutions are provided in the downloadable files.)

You may also find the small handbook Preparing for University Calculus to be of some help.

Research

My main research interest is enumerative combinatorics (ie. counting), particularly as it relates to problems in algebra and geometry.   To date I have mostly focused on problems involving factorizations in the symmetric group; that is, counting the number of ways a given permutation can be decomposed as an ordered product of other permutations with various conditions imposed on these factors (such as cycle type, minimality, transitivity).  Questions of this type are intimately linked with the representation theory of the symmetric group (equivalently, the study of its group algebra), and also the geometry of branched coverings. 

Preprints of my papers may be download below.  My graduate work was completed under the supervision of David Jackson at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada).  Both my Master's and Ph.D. theses are available upon request. 

Please contact me if you have any questions or would like further information.