CSCI 250 Fall 2010
Discrete Structures
Archived Class
Charles Cusack
Computer Science
Hope College
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Course Information


Time 1:00-1:50 pm Monday/Wednesday
LocationVNZORN 142

Instructor Chuck Cusack
E-mail cusack@hope.edu
OfficeVWF 233
Phone 395-7271
Office Hours     MW 2:00-3:00pm OR drop-in OR by appointment (use Google Calendar invite)

Textbook Discrete Mathematics: Mathematical Reasoning and Proof with Puzzles, Patterns, and Games, Douglas E. Ensley and J. Winston Crawley, Wiley, 2006.

Resources

Coverage Lots of fun topics. See the schedule for more details.

Expectations This course is very heavily mathematical. You will have to solve many mathematics problems and write some proofs. To succeed in this course, you will need to do the following.
  • Read the specified chapters of the textbook when they are assigned. You should read each section before the class period it is assigned for--see the schedule.  As you read, you should complete and check your answers to all of the Practice ProblemsYou may need to read some sections twice.
  • Attempt as many of the suggested exercises as you can. You can see the list by clicking on the book sections on the schedule page. You do not understand the material unless you are able to complete most of the exercises, and the best way to learn mathematics is by doing it. Remember, practice makes perfect!
  • After you have attempted the suggested exercises, you should attempt the homework problems. Again, do as many of these as you can before class. Of course, you only need to attempt those from the sections relevant for the given day.
  • Ask questions in class if you do not understand any part of the reading assignment or you are unable to complete any of the suggested exercises. This is very important!  If you don't ask, I can't help.
Generally speaking, each class will go as follows:
  1. You will hand in homework before class begins.
  2. We may have a quiz.We may have a quiz.
  3. We will spend time answering any questions you have.  If the question is about a suggested exercise, anyone in the class can show the answer, and it will count as a problem presentation (See the Grades page).
  4. I may give a brief lecture about one or more topics that are particularly difficult.
  5. I will randomly ask students to do suggested exercises and/or we will work in groups solving problems.
  6. We may end the class with a quiz (assuming we did not begin class with a quiz).