Sections 1.1-1.2 and 3.1, due 1 September 2010

What was the most difficult part of the material for you?

As the first reading assignment of the semester, I thought it was a pretty straightforward introduction to the material we'll be covering, but the part about the objectives of cryptography made me wonder if there is a system that fulfills all four of the main objectives and is still fast enough to be useful, or if people use different systems for different purposes.

What was the most interesting part of the material? How does this material connect to something else you have learned in mathematics? How is this material useful/relevant to your intellectual or career interests?
I think it's fascinating that we can have public key systems where everyone knows how to encrypt a message to Bob, and even know how to find the decryption key, but it's still not feasible to find the decryption key without more information.

Introduction, due 1 September 2010

What is your year in school and major?
Senior, Mathematics

Which post-calculus math courses have you taken? (Use names or BYU course numbers.)
Math 190, 214, 343, 334, 315, 316, 371, currently taking Math 352

Why are you taking this class? (Be specific.)
because I had to write a paper for English 316 about something related to my major, and I chose cryptography and became interested in the subject

Do you have experience with Maple, Mathematica, SAGE, or another computer algebra system? Programming experience? How comfortable are you with using one of these programs to complete homework assignments?
I don't really have any experience with those systems, but I have a TI-89 calculator, which can do a lot of the same things. I kind of know Java because I took CS 142.

Tell me about the math professor or teacher you have had who was the most and/or least effective. What did s/he do that worked so well/poorly?
My Math 315 professor was very effective because he knew the material extremely well, and he was very patient in explaining it, and he was very approachable and was available to help with homework anytime he was in his office, which was most of the day.

Write something interesting or unique about yourself.
I'm getting married October 14th this semester.

If you are unable to come to my scheduled office hours, what times would work for you?
I can't come to your scheduled office hours, but I can come to the TA office hours.