STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

My reasons for wanting to do a Ph.D. are (in my eyes) the obvious ones. I am
interested in Mathematics and I enjoy doing it, I hope this is reason enough. Ideally, I
would like a career in academia as I have enjoyed studying mathematics thus far and
want to continue.
I am now in my nal year of a MMath degree at the University of Warwick, UK. In
previous years I achieved high grades, high enough to alleviate the worry concerning
graduating with a rst class classication (equivalent to a GPA of 4.0). This grade buer
from my previous years' examination success has enabled me to take the courses
which interest me most, regardless of their di-culty; this is evidenced by the fact that
I am only taking graduate level courses this year. By far my favourite courses this
term are Algebraic Geometry, Modular Forms and Elliptic Curves; it is somehow
rewarding to use the tools and knowledge I gained from technical, purely abstract
subjects such as Group Theory, Commutative Algebra, and Complex Analysis in a
much more tangible fashion. In particular I nd Modular Forms very interesting: I am
continually surprised by the subject's order and `niceness'. I hope to learn more about
how modular forms relate to algebraic geometry and number theory over the coming
academic year. Being in the nal and master's year of my degree I am required to
write a dissertation. Under the supervision of Professor Miles Reid FRS, I am
writing a dissertation in the area of algebraic geometry and modular forms. The exact
title is yet to be decided, but the project will most probably be concerning Hilbert
Modular Forms and their associated surfaces with emphasis on resolving their
singularities and toric varieties. I aim to give examples of some of the more abstract
concepts using toric varieties. Currently, I am reading about cyclic quotient
singularities and their resolutions using Herzebruch's continued fractions method.
I have written projects in both my second and third year; an exposition on Waring's
prob-
lem and the Hardy-Littlewood Circle Method, and last year a paper titled `Primes of
the Form x2 + ny2', which was a basic introduction to Quadratic Forms and Hilbert
Class Field Theory. I
particularly enjoyed my project last year, the member of faculty who supervised me,
Dr Johan Bosman, really encouraged and motivated me; my time spent working with
him has inspired me to study algebraic number theory further. During my second
year I was awarded the Ron Lockhart scholarship. It is awarded once every three
years to an undergraduate mathematician who has shown potential during their rst
year. Each year since starting university, I have taken the maximum number of extra
mathematics courses permitted by my department. Some of my favourite courses
from previous years include Galois Theory, Rings and Modules, Groups and
Representations, Algebraic Number Theory and Manifolds. During my Galois
Theory course I enjoyed seeing applications to Algebraic Number Theory and
Classical Number Theory; for example, seeing a proof of quadratic reciprocity using
cyclotomic elds. Although I have never taken a course in topology, I have read the rst
two chapters of Hatcher's Algebraic Topology while on an REU last summer in
Minnesota. Thus, I do have a working knowledge of point set topology, homotopy,
the fundamental group and simplicial homology. I plan to take a course in algebraic
topology next term. I hope to learn more algebraic topology during graduate school;
it is a subject in which I am becoming very interested. During my time at the
University Of War-wick I have given many seminars to fellow undergraduates, the
last of which was on quadratic forms and genus theory. In general, I am a big
supporter of discussing mathematics: I spend a good portion of my time in the
mathematics common room arguing and discussing mathematics with friends. I hope
to nd a similar dynamic at graduate school.
 I have a good amount of teaching experience, both at university level and below.
During my second year of university I took part in a government-funded teaching
scheme, which entailed

1
learning basic teaching theory during weekly seminars juxtaposed with teaching
Mathematics in a local secondary school (high school) for half a day a week. I was then
selected to take part in a charitable programme organised by the university, teaching
Mathematics in underprivileged schools in Der es Salaam, Tanzania, for six weeks of the
summer vacation. At university level, I worked as a teaching assistant for a rst year
Analysis course for two consecutive years. I am currently working as a supervisor; a group
of ve rst year mathematics students are assigned to me, I am responsible for marking all
their assignments as well as organising twice weekly meetings during which I cover topics
including analysis, linear algebra, abstract algebra and dierential equations.
During the course of my degree, I have become close with Dr. John Moody, my
academic tutor. Over the years we have had many conversations during which he exposed
me to new and cool mathematics. In my opinion the most inuential lesson he has taught me
is to forget about the course syllabus; to learn mathematics instead of a mathematics
course. This is a philosophy I plan to implement further at graduate school.
This year I have taken advantage of the many seminars and talks given by my
department. The department has a strong number theory/algebra group, hosting regular
talks on current research areas. The talks are motivating and inspirational, perhaps best of
all they give me a sense of perspective and direction. It is nice to get away from the rigidity
of formal lecture courses, and get away from the Denition, Theorem, Proof style of
learning, to get a taste of the big picture. I recently attended a talk by Professor Roger
Heath-Brown titled Diophantine Equations: Algebra, Geometry, Analysis and Logic,
during which he exhibited some of the many ways to study Diophantine equations. I left
the talk motivated and wanting to know more; in general, the more mathematics I learn and
see, the more I am amazed by its `niceness' and the more I want to understand it.
I am applying to Ohio State because of its strong algebraic geometry and number theory
groups, more importantly the current research topics of some department members
immediately interest me. For example, I see that Professor Christian Friesen has done work
on the class
number of quadratic extensions. I breiy touch this subject during my algebraic number
theory course and also during an essay I wrote on primes of the form x2 + ny2, and I would love the
oppitunity to learn more. Also, I am currently learning about the resolutions of singularities
in relation to the dissertation that I am doing under Professor Miles Reid. I would be
interested in continuing this work, possibly under the advisement of Professor Mirel
Caibar, who I see is doing research in related areas. In general I hope to understand more
about algebraic geometry, elliptic curves, modular forms and homological algebra at
graduate school, and I believe Ohio State is a good place to achieve this.