Representation, analysis, techniques, and principles for manipulation of
basic combinatoric structures used in computer science. Rigorous reasoning
is emphasized.
Prerequisites: knowledge of calculus at the level of MA123.
Prof. Dora Erdos Email: edori @ bu . edu
Office Hours Mon, Tues, Thurs 12:30-1:30 pm. in MCS 288.
TF Hannah Catabia Hannah will be the TF for this course 5/21-6/6
Email: catabia @ bu . edu
Office Hours Mon, Wed 11:30-12:30 in EMA 302 (undergrad lab).
TF Hassan Saadi Hassan will be theTF for this course 6/7-6/30
Email: hsaadi13 @ bu . edu
Office Hours TBA in EMA 302 (undergrad lab).
Textbook>
We will be using an online textbook that is customized to this
course, zyBooks.
Instructions to sign up:
A subscription is $58. Students may begin subscribing on May 07, 2019 and
the cutoff to subscribe is Jul 01, 2019. Subscriptions will last until Jul
15, 2019.
Lectures
Lecture: M,T, W, Th 2-4 pm in KCB 104.
We expect students to come to class, and to come on time.
While the class is large, class participation and questions will be
encouraged.
Also, while our textbook will be very helpful, it is an imperfect
substitute
for in-class learning, which is the fastest (and easiest) way to learn the
material.
If you miss a class, please get the notes and work through the material
with a
fellow student.
Discussion labs
Lab Tues, Thur 4-5 pm in TBA
Labs will be an invaluable part of the course involving interactive
problem-solving sessions, tips on homework questions, and supplemental
material not covered in lecture. We will post labs on Piazza in advance --
please read before coming to lab. Attendance is mandatory and will be
taken.
Lab solutions will be posted on Monday evening after all labs conclude.
Communications
We will be using Piazza for all discussions outside of class.
The system is highly catered to getting you answers to your questions fast
and
efficiently from classmates, the TFs, and instructors.
Please do not email questions to the teaching staff -- post your questions --
-- on Piazza instead.
We also encourage you to post answers to other students' questions there
(but obviously, not
answers to problems on the problem sets!).
Our class page is located at:
https://piazza.com/bu/summer2019/cs131.
Please go there to sign up today.
We will also use Piazza to post announcements, homework assignments, labs
and lab solutions, etc.
Grading and attendance
The course grade will break down as follows:
25% homework assignments, due on Mondays.
5% reading assginments in Zybooks.
10% in class quizzes, on Monday and Wednesday.
25% in-class midterm exam (most likely in-class on Mon 6/10).
35% comprehensive final on the last day of class Thur 6/27.
Last day to drop without a W: XX. With a W: XX.
Workload
Be forewarned -- the workload in this course will be heavy. The only
way to turn the learned material in to skills that you can use
without even thinking about it is to practice as much as you can. For
this, there will be weekly homework assignments due on Mondays.
The assignments will consist of problem sets.
As you likely already know, assignments requiring substantial creativity
can take more time than you expect, so plan to finish a day early.
In this course it is important to study from every single lecture to the
next. Therefor, there will be reading assignments in our (online)
textbook. The reading assignments contain short questions which you need to
answer in order to get full credit. We will also have short - 1 question,
10 minutes - quizzes in class twice a week, always on the days following
labs (i.e. Mondays and Wednesdays).
Exams
There will be one 120 minute in-class midterm held during the
middle of the semester on Monday 6/10. The
cumulative final will be held during the last day of class Thursday 6/27
Homework Submission:
Assignments will typically be due Mondays at 11:00PM electronically via
Gradescope.
Late Policy:
During the course, you will have 1 chance to turn in an assignment up to 24
hours late.
Sign up to Gradescope:
You can sign up by visiting
our Gradescope page. The
registration code for CS330 is MJ62NZ Regrade policy:
You may request a regrade via Gradescope, NOT through email. One of the
staff will look at your request and adjust your grade if appropriate. We
reserve the right to change your grade up or down.
Topics
This list is tentative. The exact topics covered as well as the
corresponding textbook chapters will be updated. Slides and other handouts
can be found on piazza.
Counting; permutations, combinations, discrete probability
Academic Conduct
Academic standards and the code of academic conduct are taken very
seriously
by our university, by the College of Arts and Sciences, and by the
Department of
Computer Science. Course participants must adhere to the
CAS
Academic
Conduct Code -- please take the time to review this document if you are --
-- unfamiliar
with its contents.
Details and examples on Academic Integrity can be
found
here
Collaboration Policy
The collaboration policy for this class is as follows.
You are encouraged to
collaborate with one another in studying the textbook and lecture material.
As long as it satisfies the following conditions, collaboration on
the homework assignments is permitted and will not reduce your grade:
Before discussing each homework problem with anyone
else, you must give it an honest half-hour of serious thought.
You may discuss ideas and approaches with other students in the class,
but not share any
written solutions. In other words, the writeups you submit must be
entirely your own work.
You must also acknowledge clearly in the appropriate portion of your
solutions
(e.g., at the top of your writeups) people with whom you discussed ideas
for that portion.
You may get help from TFs and undergrad assistants for the class for
specific problems.
Don't expect them to do it for you, however.
You may not work with people outside this class (but come and talk to
us if you
have a tutor), seek on-line solutions, get someone else to do it for you,
etc.
You are not permitted to collaborate on exams.
The last point is particularly important: if you don't make an honest
effort
on the homework but always get ideas from others, your exam scores
(accounting
for the majority of your grade) will reflect it.