Professor: Lorenzo Sadun, sadun@math.utexas.edu Class time: TuTh 11:00-12:30, CBA 4.344
Website: http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/sadun/S17/M325K Sadun Office: RLM 9.114 Sadun Office Hours: MW 10-11
Phone: 471-7121 Text: Discrete Mathematics, Brief Edition by Susanna Epp. Prerequisites: M408D/L/S, or my permission. The issue isn't the specific facts covered in those course so much as a general level of mathematical sophistication.
Goals for the class: In decreasing order of importance, you are expected to develop
- Clear mathematical reasoning. (The difference between proving something and just providing evidence in its favor.)
- Clear explanations of mathematical reasoning. (Being able to write a clear proof.)
- An understanding of formal logic.
- An understanding of basic set theory.
- Additional topics in combinatorics and graph theory.
- There are three questions associated with every mathematical idea in existence:
Most classes emphasize the second question, and to a lesser extent the third. Our emphasis is on the first. You'll learn some facts, of course, but the main purpose of this class is to develop your analytical skills, to distinguish truth from plausible-sounding fiction, and above all to learn the art of proving things.
- What is it?
- How do you compute it?
- What is it good for?
- To get there, we're going to cover most of chapters 2-7 of the book, plus a few sections from chapters 8 and 9.
There will be three in-class midterm exams, all on Thursdays, on February 9, March 9, and April 13.
The final exam will be on Wednesday, May 10, 7:00-10:00pm.
Grading: Grades will be based on
- Midterm exams: (3 x 18% = 54%)
- Final exam: (20%, but I will replace your lowest midterm with your final if that helps you, so this is likely to actually count 38%)
- Class participation: 18%. Attendance will be taken, and you will be expected to present your work to the class on occasion.
- Homework: 8%. Weekly homework should be uploaded to Canvas by 5PM each Sunday.
* Handouts and Other Course Information
Course Schedule Homework