Course Syllabus

Syllabus - Math 145

 

Instructor: Eric Severson

Please just call me Eric. My preferred pronouns are he, him his.

Contact: eseverson@ucdavis.edu

Office: MSB (Math Science Building) Room 3229

 

Class Time: 2:10-3:50 pm, MWF Wellman 1

 

Office Hours: Tuesday 4-5pm, Thursday 1pm-2pm

Also I will arrive slightly early and stay late after class every day, so both are a great time for questions

 

Website: All class information will be found on our page on Canvas (https://canvas.ucdavis.edu/courses/390114). I am using Gradescope for homework and exams (https://www.gradescope.com/courses/52541), you should have been invited by email, but can also join with the code MEEN73

 

Text: Discrete Mathematics: Elementary and Beyond (L. Lovasz, J. Pelikan K. Vestergombi)

This is the main text I will be using for the course, but I will also include other examples and problems. I will not assign problems directly from the book, so you don’t absolutely need it, but it is a good reference.

 

Prerequisites: The official prerequisite is Math 21C (our third quarter of Calculus). We will not actually use very much Calculus though. A more helpful prerequisite would have been Math 108 (our Intro to Abstract Math course), since having some experience with math notation and how to write proofs would be helpful. 

 

Course Material: The first part of the course will include the basics of counting, combinatorial tools, binomial coefficients, and recurrences (with the Fibonacci sequences as our star example) (Chapters 1-4 in text). The second half of the course will be about graph theory, choosing select topics from Chapters 7-13.

 

After our midterm we will have a discussion about which topics from the rest of the book you are most interested in us covering.

 

Grading: Your course grade will be based on

50% Homework

20% Midterm

30% Final

 

Homework: I am going to assign a lot of homework. This subject is all about battling with tricky problems, rather than just learning a bunch of theory, so there is no substitute for getting your hands dirty with lots of examples. You will only have to turn in a subset of the problems that I assign. My goal is to be able to ask some challenging questions without expecting that you should be able to solve all of them, but I will add bonus points to some of the trickier questions.

Every homework problem needs to include words explaining any calculations; just including the numerical answer is not enough. Also your assignment must cite any sources you use, as well as the names of anybody you collaborate with. I highly encourage working together, but everything you write up must be in your own words. (see Academic Integrity)

 

Homework will be turned in on Gradescope, and will be due online right before the lecture starts. There are no late submissions (I want to be able to post and talk about solutions as soon as the homework is due). I will 7 assignments, and will drop the single lowest score (this includes any assignments missed).

 

Expected due dates and times for all our homeworks are now visible under ‘Assignments’ on Canvas.

 

Midterm: We will have a midterm in class on Friday July 12.

The midterm will focus on material from Chapters 1-3 in our text, and Classes 1-7 of our course (ending with the topic on asymptotic approximations).

 

Final: The final will be on the last day of class on Friday August 2.

 

The tests will be closed book and closed notes. There are no make-up exams. I expect to draw a lot of inspiration from homeworks, so it is a good idea to review the homework solutions, especially to the problems you did not solve yourself.

 

Curve: I expect to curve the final grades in the course based on the class performance. Thus the grade that Canvas tells you based on your number of points in the course is not necessarily your actual grade in the class.

 

Academic Integrity: There is zero tolerance for cheating in this class, which includes plagiarism. Any cases of academic dishonesty will be taken to the Student Judicial Affairs. Students are expected to have read, to have understood, and to act in accordance with the Code of Academic Conduct, available at http://sja.ucdavis.edu/cac.html.

 

Disability Accommodations: Any student with a documented disability who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the Student Disability Center (SDC). Faculty are authorized to provide only the accommodations requested by the SDC. If you have any questions, please contact the SDC at 530/752-3184 or sdc@ucdavis.edu.

 

Registration Deadlines: Last Day to Add Classes: June 28

Last Day to Drop Classes with Refund: July 1

 

All future information will be posted on Canvas. It is your responsibility to keep up to date with the material on Canvas. With the exception of test dates and grading policy, any information in this syllabus is subject to change. Important announcements will be sent to your emails through Canvas, so please make sure the email registered there is correct and active.