Complex representations of finite groups

PMATH 445/745 - Complex representations of finite groups (Winter 2026)

Contact: alex.cowan@uwaterloo.ca - Please include "445" or "745" in the subject line
Time and Location: MWF 11:30 - 12:20 in RCH 308
Office hours: Wednesdays 12:30 - 1:20 in MC 5311, and by appointment

This is the homepage of Alex Cowan's winter 2026 PMATH 445/745 course: Representations of finite groups. The syllabus is available here.

Announcements

Midterm 2026/02/26 6:00 - 8:30 pm.
(The midterm date was changed from Feb 25th to Feb 26th on Jan 28th.)

Assignments

Assignment 1 Due 2026/01/14. Solutions
Assignment 2 Due 2026/01/21. Solutions
Assignment 3 Due 2026/01/28.
Assignment 4 Due 2026/02/04.

Textbook, etc.

The course will loosely follow the first half of Serre's Linear representations of finite groups. This textbook is not mandatory.

Other potentially useful resources:

Dummit and Foote - Abstract Algebra, chapters 18 and 19.
Faisal Al-Faisal's PMATH 445/745 notes from winter 2025.
The Wikipedia page on Representation theory of finite groups.
Walter Mazorchuk's YouTube playlist of video lectures.
Lang - Algebra, chapter XVIII.

This page was last updated 2026/01/28.