UW-Madison
Computer Sciences Dept.

CS 240 - Introduction to Discrete Mathematics, Summer 2007

Course Organization - Table of Contents

General Information
Purpose and Focus of Course
Grading and Assignments
Office Hours and Review Sessions
learn@UW
Academic Misconduct

General Information

Lecture: MTWR 10:20-11:35, in 1263 CS
First class: Monday June 18
Last class: Thursday August 9
Required text: Discrete Mathematics and its Applications, 6th edition, by Kenneth H. Rosen.
A copy of the textbook is on reserve at both the Engineering Library and Math Library. Each can be checked out to be used 2 hours at a time at the library.

Purpose and Focus of Course

The focus of this course comes from two different perspectives. The first is that this course is required for the Computer Science major and is taken as part of certain Engineering majors. As such, a variety of concepts and techniques are introduced that are useful for computer scientists and engineers.

For the second perspective, consider the title - Introduction to Discrete Mathematics. As a course in discrete math, we focus on objects and structures that are either finite or countable. Examples of countable and finite objects include: graphs, circuits, computer programs, and the integers. As a math course, we reason about these structures and come up with interesting things to say about them.

The "correct perspective" of the course is a marriage of the above. It turns out that discrete objects are useful in modeling many aspects of the real world, so it is natural to study these objects from a mathematical perspective. For a detailed list of topics that we will cover, see Course Content.

Grading and Assignments

The students of this course have the following responsibilities: read assigned pages of the book, attend lecture, complete online quizzes (one per lecture), complete weekly homeworks, and take 2 non-cumulative exams. The final grade consists of:

  • 2 exams: 40% total, so 20% each. The exams will be given during the regular lecture hour. The last exam will take place on the last day of class. The first exam will be scheduled when we get closer to it. The final exam will be non-cummulative.
  • Weekly Homeworks: 45% total. There will be 7 weekly homeworks, with the lowest score dropped. Each of the 6 highest homework scores are thus worth 7.5%. Homeworks are due at the beginning of class each Thursday (except the first week), and homeworks are given out at the end of class each Thursday. LATE HOMEWORKS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
  • Daily Online Quizzes: 15% total. There will be 29 quizzes (one for each lecture except for exam days), and the lowest 2 scores are dropped. Each of the 27 highest quiz scores are thus worth 0.56%. The quizzes are taken on the course's learn@UW site. The quiz associated with a given lecture will be made accessible immediately after that lecture finishes, and must be submitted before the next day's lecture (Thursday's quiz is due before class on Monday). LATE QUIZZES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

The daily online quizzes are designed to ensure that you are following along with the basic concepts.

The weekly homework assignments are designed to test your ability to put together the basic concepts in more complicated situations, and will be more challenging. The TA will hold a homework review session for one hour each week to discuss the more difficult problems from the previous week's homework. The time of this review session will be determined during the first day of class. If you want additional help with the homework, please come to office hours.

The exams will be taken in-class, and will be of difficulty in between that of the online quizzes and the homeworks. We will release a sample exam and list of topics a week or so before each exam, and the TA will hold an exam review session within the last few days before each exam. There will be more details on these exam review sessions when they get closer.

Grade cutoffs

As listed on Office of the Registrar - grades, the letter grades are intended to have the following meaning: A - Excellent, AB - Intermediate good/excellent, B - Good, BC - Intermediate fair/good, C - Fair, D - Poor, F - Failure. Each of the assignments (quizzes, homeworks, and exams) will be graded to this standard. Each homework and exam will receive both a number and a letter grade. You can keep track of how you are doing in the course with the learn@UW site. The learn@UW site will contain all of your grades, and it will be updated after each homework with "what your grade would be if the semester ended today".

Office Hours and Review Sessions

There are a number of opportunities for additional help from the TA and/or instructor outside of the lecture hour. These include:

  • Office Hours: Both the instructor and TA will hold four office hours per week. You are welcome to come to office hours to discuss any topic. If the office hours listed on the course website do not work, contact the TA or instructor to set up an appointment.
  • Homework Review Sessions: The TA will hold homework review sessions for one hour each week after the homework has been turned in. Solutions to the more challenging exercises will likely be discussed, but those who show up can decide how to use the time.
  • Exam Review Sessions: The TA will hold exam review sessions before each exam. Those who show up can ask questions of the TA. A sample exam will be provided in advance, so it is fine to ask the TA to solve some (or all) of these problems.
Please take advantage of as many or as few of these opportunities as you need to learn the material effectively.

learn@UW

The course has a learn@UW site. Click here to go to learn@UW. You should see CS/Math 240 listed under your courses for the Summer 2007 term. The learn@UW site is used only for taking the daily quizzes and for viewing your grades. All course content, schedule, etc. is kept on the instructor's webpage (which you are currently viewing).

Academic Misconduct

Please follow these guidelines to avoid problems with academic misconduct in this course:

  • Daily Online Quizzes: Do not use any human or Internet source to assist you with the quizzes. You may use your book, notes, etc.
  • Weekly Homeworks: You may discuss the homework problems with classmates, the instructor, and TA. However, you should write up the solutions yourself. You should not search the Internet for solutions to the problems. If you are having problems with the homework, contact the TA or instructor for help.
  • Exams: This should be clear - no cheating during exams. The exams will be closed-book, closed-notes, and no calculator.
We point out that if cheating is observed, in most circumstances the University's Policies on Academic Misconduct require the instructor to file a written report with the Offices of the Dean of Students and the Academic Dean's Office. An Investigating Office from the Dean's office may then recommend additional penalties beyond what the instructor has chosen. We point out that these can be very serious consequences, so please refrain from cheating.

Please ask the instructor or TA if you have doubts about what is considered academic misconduct in this course.

 
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