CMSC 37110-1: Discrete Mathematics -- Fall 2005

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What's new | Course info | Text | Grading | Policy on collaboration |Assignments | _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What's new?

Tuesday, Nov 22, 2pm: HW 13 posted. Due Tuesday, Nov 22. No written homework but substantial reading and "DO" exercises.

Friday, Nov 18, 6pm: HW 12 posted. Due Tuesday, Nov 22.

Thursday, Nov 17, 10pm: link to Intro to Linear Algebra (six lectures for undergrad freshmen) posted - recommended reading

Thursday, Nov 17, 9:30pm: Quiz 3 posted. This quiz has been canceled. Solve the problems for practice!

Thursday, Nov 17, 8:30pm: CHANGES TO EXAM SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, Nov 15, 11:50pm: Solutions to the Second Midterm posted. Compare them with your solutions!

Course information

Instructor: László Babai     Ryerson 164     e-mail: laci(at)cs(dot)uchicago(dot)edu.

Office hours: by appointment (please send e-mail)


Teaching assistants:

Hariharan Narayanan     hari(at)cs(dot)uchicago(dot)edu.

Eric Purdy     epurdy(at)cs(dot)uchicago(dot)edu.

Hari holds office hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday 5:00-6:00pm in Ry 256.



Text. Your primary text will be your course notes, so please make sure you don't miss classes. If you do, you should copy somebody's class notes and discuss the class with them.

Text

Printed texts:

J. Matoušek, J. Nešetríl: ``Invitation to Discrete Mathematics,''

available at the Seminary Coop Bookstore (University Ave. at 58th St.).


I.M. Vinogradov: ``Elements of Number Theory,'' by I.M. Vinogradov

DoverPublications.com



Grading

Grades are based on Homework (22%), three quizzes (6% each), and three midterm exams (20% each). NOTE (Nov 17): third quiz has been merged into third midterm (third quiz cancelled, value of third midterm increased to 26%, duration of third midterm increased to 80 minutes).

Test dates


First Quiz: Thu Oct 6
First Midterm: Tue Oct 18
Second Quiz: Tue Nov 1
Second Midterm: Tue Nov 8
Third Quiz: CANCELLED
Third Midterm: Thu Dec 1 (NEWLY CHANGED DATE!)

Rules on HOMEWORK

Unless otherwise stated, homework is always due the next class (before class). Please always check the website for updates. The problems will be posted shortly after class. However, errors may occur, so please check the website, especially if you suspect an error. "DO" problems are meant to check your understanding of the concepts. Do them but do not hand them in. If you encounter any difficulties, please check with Hari during his office hours. Challenge problems don't have a specific deadline except they cease to be problems once they have been discussed in class. If you are working on a challenge problem, please send email to the instructor so as to avoid the problem being discussed before you handed in the solution. Solutions to Challenge problems don't earn you credit toward your grade but they do earn you the instructor's respect, in addition to giving you valuable experience.

Policy on collaboration

Studying in groups is strongly encouraged. Collaboration on current homework is discouraged but not prohibited. If you do collaborate, state it at the beginning of your solution (give name of collaborator). DO NOT COPY someone else's solution: after the discussion, throw away any written records. Understand the ideas discussed and give your own rendering. The same applies to other sources such as the Web: give the source (URL), but DO NOT COPY. Understand; then write your own version without looking at the source or your notes.

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