CMSC 203                                       Discrete Structures                                               Spring 2003

Section 0101                                        MW 2:00 - 3:15pm                                                       SS110

 

Instructor:

Yun Peng 

Phone:                    (410)455-3816

Office:                    ECS Building, Room 221

Email:                     ypeng@cs.umbc.edu

Office Hour:           MW 1:00 - 2:00pm or by appointment.

TA:

Fang Huang

Phone:                    (410)455-2862

Office:                    ECS Building, Room 334

Email:                     fhuang2@csee.umbc.edu

Office Hour:           Friday 1 – 3pm

Texts:

Kenneth H. Rosen, Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications,  5/e, McGraw Hill, 2003.

 

Prerequisites: Course grading will be based on the following work:

MATH 151 or MATH 140, or their equivalent. CMSC 201 is a co-requisite (must be taken previously or simultaneously).

 

Course Description:

The primary objective of CMSC 203, a required course for Computer Science Majors, is to prepare students mathematically for the study of computer science, through the study of discrete mathematics. Discrete mathematics - the mathematics of integers and of collections of objects - underlies the operation of digital computers, and is used widely in all fields of computer science for reasoning about data structures, algorithms and complexity. Topics covered in the course include proof techniques, logic and sets, functions, relations, summations and recurrences, and counting techniques. By the end of the course, students should be able to formulate problems precisely, solve the problems, apply formal proof techniques, and explain their reasoning clearly.

 

Course Outline: The course consists of three roughly equal parts, covering assorted sections of Chapters 1-6 & 9 of the text. This material breaks down as:

 

Part 1: Logic, Sets, Functions (Ch. 1);

Part 2: Algorithms, Induction, Numbers and Reasoning (Chs. 2 & 3);

Part 3: Sequences and Summations, Counting, Recurrences, Probability theory, Relations, Graphs (Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8).

 

Syllabus

The syllabus and course schedule are subject to change. We will follow the Rosen textbook fairly closely, omitting some material and adding other topics.

 

Grading

 

Course grades will be based on the following work. The final weighting may be changed slightly.  

Homework                               30%

Two midterm exams                  20% each

Final exam (cumulative)             30%

 

Homework: There will be ten to twelve homework assignments, approximately one per week. Assignments are given before each Monday class, and are due at the beginning of class on the subsequent Monday. No late homework will be accepted.

 

Exams: There will be two in-class examinations, and a cumulative final examination. No makeup exams will be permitted. The material covered by the exams will be drawn from assigned readings in the text, from lectures, and from the homework. Material from the readings that is not covered in class is fair game, so you are advised to keep up with the readings. Similarly, material from lectures that is not covered in the textbook is fair game, so you are advised to attend class!

 

Academic Honesty

By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBC's scholarly community, in which everyone's academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty.  Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal.  To read the full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory.

Cheating in any form will not be tolerated. In particular, all assignments and exams are to be your own work.  You may discuss the assignments with anyone. However, the homework you turn in must be your own work, and you may not show your solutions to anyone else.

 

Websites

·        This website can be found at http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~ypeng/S03203/S03203.html

·        McGraw Hill’s website for this book, http://www.mhhe.com/math/advmath/rosen/ has links to many useful online resources.

·        Sample exams, homework, and other online resources can be found at http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~artola/spring03/index.html

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Alan Sherman, Paul Artola, and Marie desJardins for making their course materials available. Many of the course materials for this class have been adapted from those sources.