03 / Teaching

At the blackboard.

Course materials, exercise classes and moments when an abstract idea became tangible.

Basel · Spring 2022

Einführung
in die Topologie

Introduction to topology

12 exercise sheets
12 solutions
1 bonus challenge

Everything for the course.

Lecture notes and exercises in German, with solutions collected by sheet.

Exercises ↓Solutions ↓
All sheets and solutions

A moment from my topology teaching

A painting that needs
both nails.

I once used a painting hung by a string around two nails to explain the fundamental group of the twice-punctured plane. Remove either nail and the painting falls.

π1(R2 ∖ {P1, P2}) ≅ F(a, b)

The string represents the nontrivial commutator aba−1b−1. Filling either puncture kills its generator and makes this word trivial.

Try the algebra behind the trick

ab

aba⁻¹b⁻¹ ≠ 1

Both punctures are present: the commutator is nontrivial.

The display tracks the group word; the comic shows the physical demonstration.

A moment from my topology teaching

Two angles.
Then a doughnut break.

When I taught the product topology, I brought doughnuts for the students during the break. A circle has one angular coordinate; a torus has two.

T2 = S1 × S1

Products U × V of open subsets of the two circles form a basis for the product topology. The surface of a doughnut models a torus.

The parametrization
((2 + cos φ) cos θ, (2 + cos φ) sin θ, sin φ)

Changing either angle moves along one circle factor.

Exercise classes I have led alongside the following courses.

University of Basel

  • Lineare Algebra IICourse instructor: Philipp Habegger
  • Komplexe DynamikCourse instructor: Harry Schmidt
  • Algebraische ZahlentheorieCourse instructor: Philipp Habegger
  • Lineare Algebra IICourse instructor: Philipp Habegger
  • ZahlentheorieCourse instructor: Harry Schmidt
  • Lineare Algebra IICourse instructor: Jérémy Blanc

University of Mainz

  • Lineare AlgebraCourse instructor: Theo de Jong
  • ZahlentheorieCourse instructor: Axel Stäbler
  • Algebra IICourse instructor: Moritz Rahn
  • Algebra IICourse instructor: Ariyan Javanpeykar
  • Lineare Algebra und Geometrie IICourse instructor: Ariyan Javanpeykar

Two substitute lectures

Algebra II · Mainz · Summer 2017

Comic

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Text version & panel descriptions

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