I want all of you to succeed in this class; below you will find
some tips for how you can help make this happen.
The course syllabus (it covers some of the same things as this web-page, but it covers other things too; you need to read both).
The list of topics covered in the course in Fall 2024.
The textbook for the course (Applied Discrete Structures 3rd edition, version 11, by Alan Doerr and Kenneth Levasseur). For each mistake you find in the book that I don't already know about, you'll earn a dollar, up to 5 dollars each week!
Extra readings assigned throughout the semester include: lex.pdf, words.pdf, factorial.pdf, implies.pdf, induction.pdf, unique.pdf. multiply.pdf, div.pdf, and poset.pdf. You might also find pseudocode.pdf useful.
Lecture-by-lecture reading-and-thinking assignments (subject to continual update).
The Piazza page for the current semester of MATH 2190 (to use between class meetings).
The Piazza chat page for the current semester of MATH 2190 (to use during class meetings).
Lecture capture. Log in and select "MATH.2190-203 Discrete Structures I". or "MATH.2190-205 Discrete Structures I".
Homework problems and solutions.
The UML tutoring page. Also see below for more tutoring options.
The Essence of Linear Algebra video series is a good intro to linear algebra (which is part of the syllabus of the course).
A video on solving Homogenous Recurrence Relations and a video on solving Nonhomogenous Recurrence Relations.
Francis Su's guidelines for good mathematical writing.
Dave Richeson's essays The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Mathematics and Editing a Very Poorly Written Proof.
My views about being wrong. See especially the section under the heading "MISTAKES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM".
Piazza: https://piazza.com/uml/fall2024/math2190/
Email: James_Propp at uml dot edu
Office: Southwick 350I
Office hours (by appointment): Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00am to 10:45am and 2:00pm to 2:45pm. Links for joining class meetings and drop-in hours are available at the Blackboard portal for the course. Meetings at times other than my drop-in hours can be arranged by appointment; see me after class or send me an email message.
Suggestions about how the course is being run are welcome at any time. If something isn't working for you, please don't wait until the end of the semester to tell me!
Meeting place: Olsen 405
Expectations: You're expected to attend classes, do the reading in advance, ask questions, and make serious attempts to answer questions raised by me or by other students during class. If you miss a class, it's your responsibility to make sure you obtain all information (course material, assignments, changes in exam dates, etc.) presented that day.
Exam dates:
One 75-minute midterm exam will be held in person
during class meeting time on Tuesday, October 22;
it will cover chapters 1 through 3.
The final exam will be held in person
on a day in Exam Period (to be announced).
The final exam is cumulative,
and will involve material from the entire semester.
If the final exam for this course conflicts
with the final exam for another course you're taking,
you should arrange to take the exam at another time
at least two weeks in advance.
It's important that everyone take the same exams under the same
conditions for maximum fairness and reliability of testing. I therefore
don't give makeup exams unless you have a valid reason for missing
the scheduled exam (for example, illness or a religious holiday), and I
don't allow extra time on exams unless you have a note from Disability
Services (see below).
If you have to miss a scheduled exam, please let me know
ahead of time if at all possible; I'm much more likely to be
sympathetic if you call me the morning of the exam and say “I have the
flu and can’t take the exam” than if you come in two days after the
exam and say “I missed the exam. When can I take a makeup?”
You may not use a cell phone in any way during an exam.
Use of calculators is prohibited during exams.
You can always reschedule an exam
that falls on a day that is a religious holiday for you, but you must
make these arrangements ahead of time.
Tips on Preparing for Exams
Tips on Taking Exams
It is forbidden to post homework questions online (not counting Piazza). Posting assigned questions to a website that permits plagiarism counts as a violation of academic integrity and could result in failing the course or expulsion from the university.
Typically there'll be one homework assignment per week, due one week after it is assigned.
In order for you to understand the material in this course, it's extremely important that you do the assigned homework problems. Working with your classmates can be a great help, and I strongly encourage it, subject to certain provisos (see below). I also urge you to ask questions about any problems that give you trouble.
Homework will be due each week on Saturday. Your grade will be based on clarity as well as correctness, so neatness, grammar, and punctuation should not be neglected. Harder problems will in general be worth more points. However, it will not be possible to grade all problems for content; some will be graded on the basis of effort. You are encouraged to give me feedback about the homework; for instance, if one of the problems was a huge time-sink, I want to know about it!
Late homeworks will not be accepted.
Each student will be allowed to skip up to two assignments without penalty, because the two lowest homework scores do not count toward the final grade. Don't use up your “free skips” too early in the semester!
While you can discuss the exercises with classmates, the work you hand in should be your own write-up and not copied from someone else. When leaving a joint homework-solving session, don't carry away anything that doesn't fit in your own brain. Also, you must acknowledge who you worked with, even if the flow of help was one-sided (you helping another student). (If you didn't work with anyone, you must write “I worked alone on this assignment”.)
Points may be deducted from students who repeatedly fail to state whom they worked with.
Academic honesty in homeworks is expected. (E.g., if you use web-resources or tutors or collaborators of any kind, the role of their contribution must be acknowledged; you won't receive a lower grade for using such resources, but if the grader and I feel you're relying on them too heavily, we may require you to change your way of doing homework.) My expectations for appropriate ways of doing the homework will be discussed in class; in case you are in any doubt about what is expected, it is your responsibility to contact me for clarification.
It is not required that you submit your solutions in LaTeX, but if you are planning to be a mathematician, scientist, or engineer, it's never too early to learn! LaTeX is free software that lets you typeset formulas about as fast as you can write them (with some practice). Composing your homework in LaTeX will help you pay attention to your communication of mathematics, and make it much easier to edit your work as you go along. There will be an initial hump of getting started, but after a couple of problem sets, using LaTeX will become quite natural. You'll probably still want to draw your diagrams and figures free-hand, but knowing how to write equations in LaTeX is a life-skill that will serve you well in later courses in which homeworks involve fewer pictures and more formulas.
If you want to Word because you're used to it, here's a compilation of some of the math symbols commonly used in this course.. But you'll still have to convert your doc or docx file into a pdf before submitting.
Also, you may want to use Mathematica as an aid to your learning. UML students will be able to download Mathematica as part of the campus license. You shouldn't use Mathematica as a substitute for being able to do the work yourself the old-fashioned way, but it's a great way to check your work. Also, Mathematica features many demonstrations (see http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/) that can bring course material to life in a vivid way.
Attendance
Regular attendance is expected. It is not directly part of the grading scheme, but it contributes to your course engagement score, which contributes 10 percent of your final grade. Some class discussions will be oral; others will be conducted over Zoom Chat during class. For more on how course engagement scores are computed, see the lecture notes from the first day of class. When your other grades put you on the borderline between two grades, course engagement can make a crucial difference.