CS173 Fall 1996
Course Information
2:30-3:20 TuTh
Staff
Professor:
Hon Wai Leong,
3255 DCL, 333-8461,
leonghw@cs.uiuc.edu
Office Hours: M 10-11am, W 4-5pm and by appointment.
TA:
Amy Ryan,
1222 DCL 244-5976,
eighmi@uiuc.edu
Office Hours: MW 1-2pm, M 7-9pm (Review Session),
and by appointment.
TA:
Jing Zhao,
1222 DCL 244-5976,
j-zhao@uiuc.edu
Office Hours: Th 9-10am, 8-9pm,
and by appointment.
Textbook
The course text is
Discrete Mathematics and its Applications (third edition),
by Kenneth H. Rosen, published by McGraw-Hill.
Copies of this text, and of the
Student Solutions Guide , a companion book,
are on reserve in the Grainger library across the street.
While the main text contains answers to odd-numbered problems,
the Student Solutions Guide presents the same solutions
in greater detail, and also provides sample crib sheets, exams,
and solutions, for each chapter. You may wish to obtain your own copy of the
Student Solutions Guide through the bookstore.
Course Themes
Discrete mathematical structures arise throughout every area of computer
science, and provide tools that allow us to reason about computation,
particularly those from computer science. These structures also form the
foundations for data structures and algorithms.
In this course we have two main goals:
- To learn about a number of different discrete structures (e.g.,
sets, relations, graphs, trees, etc)
that provide the mathematical formalizations for many computational
problems.
- To gain more experience with mathematical arguments and proof
techniques, which are essential in reasoning about computation.
Tentative Topic Outline
We will likely cover much of the following material:
Chapters 1, 3, 6, and 9.
(Parts of Chapter 8 will also be covered if time permits.)
Course Web-info
The class homepage is
http://www-courses.cs.uiuc.edu/~cs173/
.
All handouts and important information will be posted there.
Consequently, it is important that you become comfortable
immediately using some WWW browser.
Refer to the handout ``Getting started with Netscape''
that was distributed on the first day of class.
Course Newsgroup
On-line questions and discussions will occur in
the newsgroup uiuc.class.cs173.
(There is a link to the newsgroup from the class home page.)
Important information and late-breaking announcements may be made
on the newsgroup, so you should read it regularly.
Note: No solutions or hints to problems should be posted by students
on the newsgroup. Only the instructors may post solutions or hints.
The professor and TA will read the newsgroup regularly and respond to
questions, but we don't want to spend all our time doing that.
You are encouraged to see us in person during our office hours, especially
if you're having particular difficulties with some of the material.
If our regular office hours are inconvenient, we will be happy to make
arrangements to meet at another time.
Lecture Notes
Lecture Notes will be available at Notes and Quotes, and they are
also available in postscript form.
Handouts
Handouts will be distributed in class on a fairly regular basis. If you miss
a handout, extra copies can be found on the rack down the hall from 1222 DCL.
If you need a handout and there are none left on the rack, see the TA.
Check the rack first, though.
Requirements
There will be homework sets about once a week, usually handed out on
Tuesday and due by the end of class on the following Tuesday. Late
assignments will not be accepted without a valid excuse.
Each homework is worth 100 points, and at the end of the semester your
home work average will be determined according to the formula:
HW Total = min {(sum-of-all-homeworks)/(N - 2), 100}
where N is the number of homework assignments. For example, if there
are 12 homeworks during the semester, we will add up your scores, cap
the total at 1000, and average as if there had been only 10 homeworks.
Thus you have 200 "free" points on the homework, so that if there is
injustice in grading or you mess up on a few problems, it won't matter
until number of points in question goes over 200.
Examinations
There will be
two 90-minutes evening exams, given at 7pm on
October 8 and November 7 (locations to be announced later),
and a final exam. Lectures
will not be held on the days of exams.
Grading Policy
The weighting scheme:
| Homeworks |
20% |
| Midterm Exams (20% Each) |
40% |
| Final Exam |
40% |
Guidelines for Written Homework
- Your homework should be neat, legible, and identified
with your name and the assignment number.
Staple all sheets together before turning them in.
It's also a good idea to put your name on each page.
- It should be comprehensible.
You will often need to explain, in a few complete sentences
of good English, what you are doing and why, even for
the more computational problems.
Also, we'll be doing a lot of proofs in this class, and those are
essentially miniature persuasive essay written in technical English.
The second point is important for two reasons.
First, if you make a mistake, the graders/TAs have to know what
your line of reasoning was in order to give partial credit -- so the
more clearly you express yourself, the easier and fairer the grading is.
Secondly, carefully writing out your steps sharpens your thinking
and actually helps you to avoid mistakes -- you may realize that something
isn't right in trying to explain it.
This doesn't mean you should belabor the obvious to convince us that you
understand it. On the other hand, the ability to judge what is "obvious"and
can be safely glossed over and what is not is a skill that only comes with
experience. (Also, if you are long-winded and verbose about something,
then it is usually an indication that you are unsure about it.)
Solutions to the homeworks will be distributed, which you should use to
get an idea of the general style and amount of detail that is expected.
After a couple of homework sets, you'll have a pretty good idea of how
to go about writing up your answers.
Regrades
If you have a question or complaint about the way a problem was graded,
then you should either explain what it is on a seperate piece of paper
and give it to the TA along with the assignment or, better yet, come
into office hours and get it straightened out then. We want everyone
happy and satisfied, but we can't do much in the couple of minutes
before and after class.
Do Your Own Work
The work you hand in is expected to be your own. You may discuss
concepts and general approaches to problems with one another, but
your final writteup must be done independently, without anyone else's
involvement.
How to Get the Most Out of This Course
You are urged to read the text, as it
is quite thorough, with many examples worked out, and with good motivating
discussions and intuitions.
As a warm up to homework exercises, you might solve some of the
odd-numbered problems on your own, comparing your answers with
those given in the back of the text. For further explanation,
read the solutions given in the Student Solutions Guide.
When homework solutions are handed out, read them carefully and
make sure you understand any differences with your answers.
Go to the TA or to the professor to discuss any
misunderstandings you may have.
If you understand all of the homeworks and solutions, then
you will probably do well on the exams.
In preparing for the exams you will
probably find the crib sheets for each chapter, the
sample exams, and the solutions (all in the Student Solutions Guide)
to be useful.
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