"A little misery is expected, I think."
[08/30/04]

On classification of G-sets:
"For a while, it gives you a feeling of well-being, until you realize you haven't done very much."
[09/01/04]

"Either I got it right, or I got it wrong."
[09/24/04]

"I don't know much about algebra to be honest."
[09/24/04]

"This is a corollary of the division algorithm. What's the proof? The division algorithm."
[10/18/04]

On the distribution of midterm grades:
"I gave you a B if I thought you had some idea what was going on."
[10/20/04]

On an outburst by a student claiming that the word functorial was "so gay":
"I'm as comfortable with this functor as any other functor."
[10/20/04]

On failing to find the error in a proof during class:
"Luckily it's time to quit."
[10/27/04]

On a proposition concerning right and left exact sequences of modules:
"Maybe I won't try to prove this 'cause I'll screw it up."
[11/08/04]

On a bungled proof:
"Ah! That sucks!"
[11/10/04]

On an incorrect claim made by Silvia which was assumed to be correct by Keel:
"I gave you too much credit there Silvia."
[11/10/04]

On Kim's correct statement of the universal property for direct sums:
"No, I reject your notion."
[11/12/04]

On computing the invariant factors for the rational canonical form of a matrix:
"By Monday, I think I'll be pretty familiar with them."
[11/19/04]

"The less you see of the matrix, the better you feel."
[11/19/04]

On doing the cofactor expansion of a matrix:
"Let's do the first row. I'm scared of the column."
[11/19/04]

On a student's claim that Keel had unsuccessfully tried this cofactor expansion last year:
"Yes, but I'm a year wiser."
[11/19/04]

On failing again to do the cofactor expansion:
"Well, it didn't work last year either."
[11/19/04]

On the cofactor expansion failing a second time for the Jordan canonical form:
"Maybe the theory is screwed up."
[11/19/04]

Bill Beckner: Graduate Real Analysis, Fall 2004, UT-Austin

On Chapter 2 of Rudin's Real and Complex Analysis:
"You should only read this chapter if you enjoy punishing yourself. Buying a whip is easier."
[08/25/04]

On the construction of Lebesgue measure on R^n:
"This is unrelated to this class."
[09/13/04]

On Littlewood's three principles:
"Non-true things to think about."
[09/13/04]

On the analysis prelim exam:
"You should opt to do x - 2 + 1/2 problems."
[11/24/04]

Peter Sarnak: Graduate Analytic Number Theory, Spring 2004, Princeton University

On determining bounds for special values of L-functions:
"This is not a science. It is an art."
[03/10/03]

On Kloosterman sums, the topic of my undergraduate senior thesis which Sarnak picked out for me:
"It is always better to not deal with Kloosterman sums if you can."
[03/24/03]

On guessing the first eigenvalue of the atom spectrum, for which someone won a Nobel prize:
"You don't get a Fields medal for that."
[03/31/03]

"For me, harmonic analysis is diagonalization."
[04/07/03]

On Cassels algebraic proof of the sum of four squares:
"You see, some algebraists are amazing."
[04/21/03]

Again, on Kloosterman sums:
"My course is no Kloosterman sums for as long as possible."
[04/21/03]

"If it makes sense, it's provable."
[05/28/03]

Robert Gunning: Undergraduate Algebra II, Spring 2002, Princeton University

"Life if simple if things are complex."
[02/12/02]

On something related to the minimal polynomial for a simple field extension:
"What does this say about the price of walruses in Alaska?"
[02/26/02]

On whether splitting fields are unique:
"The answer is 'sho nuff."
[03/05/02]

On the definition of a Galois extension K/F as being a "finite normal separable" extension as opposed to a "finite separable normal" extension or any combination thereof:
"English is commutative, so these are the same."
[03/14/02]

On describing the Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory, wherein one constructs a sequence of groups {1} \subset H \subset G:
"If we take any group between Scylla and Charybdis..."
[03/26/02]

"In general, life is complicated."
[04/23/02]