Math 156
Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science
Fall 1999

COURSE HOME PAGE

Course Description

Instructor

Randall Pruim
office: North Hall 284
phone: (616) 957-7113
E-mail: rpruim@calvin.edu

Office hours

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday Friday 11:30

Other times by appointment. You can also drop by my office any time. If I am in my office, I will usually be able to see you. I will keep a copy of my schedule online.

Time & Location

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday at 12:30 in North Hall 161

Internet Resources

Email

I will maintain an email list of all students registered in this class and will occassionally use it to distribute information and reminders of various things pertaining to this course. If you do not know how to access your email, please talk to someone at the IT helpdesk. If you prefer to read your email from an account other than your calvin student account, send me email with the email address you prefer.

You can also send email to the class list at math156a@calvin.edu. You could do this, for example, if you were looking for a study partner before a test.

Web Pages

In addition to this home page, I will also maintain a list of web resources pertaining to this course. Items I have prepared and maintain online include

• a customizable calendar of daily readings, lecture topics, exams, homework etc. You are responsible for any information appearing on the course calendar. (Last modification: Thursday, 11-Jan-2001 16:03:01 EST.)
• a list of homework assignments. Due dates will be maintained on the calendar above. (I may also distribute these periodically via email.)
• information about tests and exams.
• links to other sites with interesting information for this course.

BlackBoard CourseInfo

I am also making partial use of Calvin's BlackBoard CourseInfo intructional resources. You can go to BlackBoard to check your grades, send email to individuals or groups in the class, and to read all the other information (like this page) that I have on line. For more information on how to use CourseInfo, see the online tutorial.

Important Information

See me

If you are having difficulty with any portion of the course, do not hesitate to see me (during the office hours listed above or at some other time). Do this as soon as possible, certainly well in advance of any deadlines (like tests) so that we can work to fix the problem.

Required Textbook

Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications by Kenneth H. Rosen.

Additional readings may also be assigned.

Grading

Grading will be based on the following approximate weighting:

        10%    Homework, Quizzes
        20%    Test 1
        20%    Test 2 
        20%    Test 3 
        30%    Final Exam

Final exam: Thursday afternoon, Dec 16, 1:30 pm.

Tests are scheduled for the following dates:

• Monday, October 4;
• Tuesday, November 2;
• Tuesday, November 30 or Monday, December 6 (TBA).

Tests must be taken when they are scheduled. No make-up, alternate or late tests will be given. If you miss one test (for any reason) or if your final exam score is better than your worst test, then your final exam score will be substituted for that test.

Quizzes may be announced or unannounced and may cover any of the recent readings, exercises or class activities.

Homework. You will not be able to master the material in this course without practice. I will make assignments nearly every day. Some portions of these assignments will be collected and others will not. Please follow the guidelines below:

1. Problems to be handed in should be worked neatly, showing all of your work and explaining your reasoning. The work should be organized in paragraph manner (work left to right and top to bottom; use English sentences to explain what you are doing, etc.).
2. Any work that is illegible or disorganized will not be graded.
3. Label each page with your name and the problem set number. Each problem should be clearly labeled as well. Leave a little space between problems.
4. Each problem set should be on a separate sheet of paper. If you use more than one sheet of paper, these sheets must be stapled in the upper left corner. If you use spiral bound paper, please remove the fringe along the edge of the paper.
5. Any assignments to be turned in are due at 5pm on the day they are due. You may turn them in at class or put them in the box outside my office. Late assignments will not be accepted, but your worst two or three problem sets will be dropped.

Joint Work

You may find it pleasant and useful to work together on many portions of this course. I encourage you to do so. BUT you must abide by the following guidelines:

• Balance. If you work together, do not work in a group that is too unbalanced. Certainly there are times when one person in a group has the key insight that solves a problem, but if the same person is always having all the insights, or if you are not contributing to the group effort, then you should probably seek out a different group.

  Balance also extends to preparation. Do not get answers or hints from someone who has completed the work before you have even begun. Ideally, each member of the group should come with roughly the same amount of background work done.

• Independence. Work that is turned in for a grade (except work explicitly designated as group work) should be written up independently. If you do this in proximatey of study partners resist the temptation to "copy" or to lean too heavily on someone else (neither of which is not allowed), mistakenly thinking that you would have been able to do the work on your own.

Attendance

I will not be recording attendance. Nevertheless, skipping class can have a detrimental effect on your grade in several ways. Most importantly, by missing class, you are missing an important part of the course. And of course, if you are not in class you cannot take a quiz or turn in assignments. Quizzes will not be made up for those who miss class, but I typically drop the lowest quiz or two (the exact number of quizzes dropped will depend on how many there are over the semester).

Preparing for class

You should bring with you each day:

• the homework due that day,
• your textbook,
• any additional readings due that day (or the previous day if we have not finished discussion from the class period before),
• and any other materials I announce ahead of time.

Of course, you should have read (and thought about) any assigned readings prior to coming to class. You may want to have your notes handy, especially if you have questions regarding the readings or homework.

Special Circumstances

Occassionally there are special circumstances that require that the rules and guidelines above be adjusted for a particular student. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the student to inform me of the situation as soon as possible, so that the appropriate arrangements can be made. This includes, but is not limited to, students with documented disabilities.

Last modified: Monday, 30-Apr-2001 02:58:34 EDT