Section 3.6 Due October 28, 2011

1. What was the most difficult part of the reading for you?
First of all, let me say that this class is just a rollercoaster. I mean, continued fractions felt like a breeze, then came Dirichlet characters which have dropped me back into the pit of h-e-double hockey sticks, and now we have this section, which wasn't half bad. So... okay. But, in terms of what was difficult for me, something that is common for me (especially approaching the a midterm) is that everything seems to bleed together. It isn't until I start writing up my study guide for the test that I'm able to really go back, section by section, definition by definition, and remember/distinguish things. This was my problem with this section. Things were a little mushy with the several different arithmetic functions proven to be multiplicative. Truthfully, I hardly remembered any of those functions, but they seem like a good guideline for getting ready for the upcoming test. The other thing that was difficult for me (since my brain already felt mushy) was the Mobius inversion formula. I really struggled to follow this one. Period. It was pretty darn complicated.

2. What was the most interesting part of the reading for you?
I found the Mobius function, and the proof that it is multiplicative, to be pretty interesting. And, believe it or not, I think I understood everything that was said in those two half pages. I almost felt like I might survive this semester without having to take this class again next semester (please, pass me). But then, just when I was feeling good/strong/smart, the Mobius inversion formula came along and ruined everything. I guess what I found to be so interesting about these pages was the way in which th proof of Theorem 3.6.3 really helped me understand exactly what the multiplicitivity stuff was trying to say. (I mostly understood it, but because I had forgotten about the arithmetic functions it was referring to, having the function and the multiplicitivity side by side was nice.) And that's how it felt for me.