CS 311 — Discrete Structures 
Fall 2010 

Directory

Contact Information

Instructor:
Micah Beck
Phone: 974-3548
Office: Claxton Complex 317
Hours: M 3:30–4:30 or by appointment
Email: mbeck@eecs.utk.edu

Teaching Assistants:
D. Michael "Mike" Franklin
Office: Claxton 124
Hours: MW 1:00–2:00PM, or by appointment
Email: mfranklin777@gmail.com

Kristy Van Hornweder
Phone: 974-6433
Office: Claxton 122C
Hours: TR 3:00–4:00PM, W 3:30–4:30PM or or by appointment
Email: kvanhorn@eecs.utk.edu

Classes: MWF 2:30–3:20, Claxton 206

This page: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mbeck/classes/cs311/

Catalog Description

Topics covered include equivalence relations, partial orderings, combinations, permutations, analysis of algorithms, finite automata and regular languages. 

Prerequisites

CS 140, CS 160, MAT 300.

Math 300 is the most important prerequisite for this course, since it teaches the proof techniques that you will be using throughout this semester. 

Text

Ralph P. Grimaldi: Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics: An Applied Introduction (5th ed.).

Topics

SUBJECT TO CHANGE! We will cover topics in chapters in Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics, 5th Ed., by Grimaldi in this order: We will not cover every topic in all these chapters, and we will have a few additional definitions and results such as the connection between finite state automata and regular grammars. We will emphasize fundamentals (elementary counting, sets, relations, functions, proofs in discrete math) and introduce some important applications in CS, which include Chaps. 6–7 (finite automata as simple but powerful mathematical models of sequence recognizers). There is a large number of mathematical definitions and concepts to deal with. 

Homework and Tests

We will assign weekly homework, which will count a total of 15% of your Homework + Test average.

In addition, there will be three Tests (each covering two chapters), each of which will count 25% of your Homework + Test average.

Finally, there will be a quiz over Chapter 7 material, counting 10% of your Homework + Test average.

Homework Assignments

  1. Due Aug. 27: §1.1&1.2: 4, 6, 10, 16, 20, 30, 34, 38.
  2. Due Sept. 8: §1.3: 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 26; §1.4: 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 18.
  3. Due Sept. 15: §2.1: 4, 6, 8, 10; §2.2: 4, 6, 10, 12; §2.3: 4, 6a, 10.
  4. Due Sept. 20: §2.4: 2, 8, 12a, 18, 22, 24; §2.5: 6, 12, 14, 16.
  5. Due Sept. 29: §3.1: 2, 8, 10, 12, 18; §3.2: 2, 4, 6a, 8, 14.
  6. Due Oct. 1: §3.3: 2, 4, 6, 8; §3.4: 6, 8, 12, 14.
  7. Due Oct. 11: §4.1: 2, 8, 10, 14, 18, 24; §4.2: 12, 14, 16.
  8. Due Oct. 20: §4.3: 4, 10; §4.4: 2, 8, 14, 20; §4.5: 2, 8, 24, 26.
  9. Due Nov. 3: §5.1: 2, 4, 10, 12; §5.2: 4, 6, 8, 16, 20; §5.3: 2, 4, 8, 10, 12.
  10. Due Nov. 10: §5.4: 2, 4, 6, 12; §5.5: 2, 6, 18, 20, 24; §5.6: 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 20a, 22.
  11. Due Nov. 15: §6.1: 2, 4, 8, 12, 20, 24; §6.2: 2, 6, 8; §6.3: 2, 4, 8.
  12. Due Nov. 22: §7.1: 2, 6, 8, 10, 18; §7.3: 2, 4, 6, 8, 18; §7.4: 2, 4, 8, 10.

Midterm Exams

The first Midterm Exam will be given in class on Monday, Sept. 27.
The second Midterm Exam will be given in class on Wednesday, Oct. 27.
The third Midterm Exam will be given in class on Monday, Nov. 22.
The Quiz on Chapter 7 will be given in class on Monday, Nov. 29.

Final Exam and Grading

The Final Exam will be Thurs., Dec. 9, 2:45–4:45 (exam schedule).  The cumulative Final Exam will be two hours worth of questions similar in difficulty to those on the Tests.

Your total course grade will be calculated by adding your best three out of your four exam grades (midterms and final) to your homework and quiz grades. Thus, exams count for 25% each, for a total of 75%, homeworks count 15% and the quiz counts 10%. If you are satisfied with your Homework + Tests average you need not take the final, but taking it cannot lower your average.

For Students with Disabilities

The Office of Disability Services and the Campus Disability Monitors have asked us to pass this statement along in our syllabi:
Students who have a disability that require accommodation(s) should make an appointment with the Office of Disability Services (974-6087) to discuss their specific needs as well as schedule an appointment with me during my office hours.

Handouts

There is a supplemental handout [pdf] with problems for practice in writing inductive proofs.

Beck’s home page

 Send mail to Micah Beck / mbeck@eecs.utk.edu

This page is www.cs.utk.edu/~mbeck/classes/cs311/index.html