Syllabus 21-301

SYLLABUS

21-301 Combinatorics, Fall 2009
MWF 12:30-1:20, Baker Hall A51

Professor Alan Frieze
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
Offices: Wean Hall 7202
Fax: 412-268-6380
Email: alan@random.math.cmu.edu

Office hours :   Th,Fri         11.00--12.00.      Wean Hall 7202 (AMF)
                        Mon,Wed     4.30-- 5.30        Gates Hillman Center 9015 (Ali Sinop)
                        Tu,Th          12.00-- 1.00        Physical Plant Building 342(Yuhui Ouyang)
                        Tu                 2.00-- 3.00        Wean Hall 6205(Reshma Ramadurai )
                        Wed             2.00-- 3.00      Wean Hall6205(Reshma Ramadurai )

Textbooks: There is no assigned textbook. I will work from the course notes.
Course Notes:
You can find some more notes at Spring2003 and DiscretMathNotes.
Schedule: What is covered in class each day.
Homework : Homework exercises will be assigned on a weekly basis, more or less.

Grading Policy:
Homework: 10%
4 Tests 90%

Each test will have three questions and their points values will be 40+40+20.
The third question will be more challenging than the first two.
The tests will be closed book.

You will receive a letter grade at midsemester, based on the first two tests and homework, and a letter grade at the end of the course, but individual tests are not assigned letter grades.

The letter grades are computed as follows:
A: 85 - 100 for which 15-20 comes from your answers to the third questions of the tests.
B: 70 - 84 C: 60 - 69 D: 50 - 59.
Your grade will be based on your best 8 homeworks and your best 3 tests.

(Scores falling outside of the above guidelines will be evaluated individually).

Make-up tests will be given only in the case of a documented medical excuse, a university-sanctioned absence (e.g., participation in a varsity sporting event), or a family emergency. Please see me at the earliest time possible to schedule a make-up. Make-up exams may be oral.
No collaboration is permitted on the tests.

On homework, collaboration is permitted subject to the following:
You may discuss homework problems with fellow students and with instructors in order to get help on various parts of a problem, but you may not simply copy someone else's solution;

Exams Schedule (Provisional):

Test 1: Monday,    September 14, 2009

Test 2: Monday,    October 12, 2009

Test 3: Monday,    November 9, 2009.

Test 4: Friday,    December 4, 2009.

Old Tests

Curriculum Goals: The aim of this course is to introduce the student to some of the most important ideas in Discrete Mathematics.
A subsidiary goal is to show how these ideas can be used to solve problems in Computer Science.