ENGG 2440A: Discrete math for engineers

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Fall 2017

• Instructor
  Andrej Bogdanov, andrejb (a) cse.cuhk.edu.hk, SHB 926, office hours Mon 2.30-4.30
• Teaching Assistants
  Huang Xin, xhuang (a) cse.cuhk.edu.hk, SHB 117, office hour Tue 11-12
  Shao Han, hshao (a) cse.cuhk.edu.hk, SHB 1024, office hour Fri 2-3
  Yung King On, koyung (a) cse.cuhk.edu.hk, SHB 117, office hour Wed 3.30-4.30
  Chris Williamson (Head TA), chris (a) cse.cuhk.edu.hk, SHB 117, office hour Wed 2.30-3.30
  

Recent Announcements

• 20 Dec Please verify your grades on blackboard and let us know if there is any discrepancy.
• 20 Dec The final exam median grade is 31 (out of 70) and the standard deviation is 14.
• 18 Dec Here are the final exam solutions.
• 14 Dec There was a mistake in the solution in question 3b of Homework 6. It is now fixed. If yours was misgraded please see your TA or email them with a picture of the relevant solution.

Course Description

This course is about mathematical concepts and techniques that are helpful for describing, analyzing, and solving problems in computer science. There will be much emphasis on proofs and rigorous reasoning.

To be successful in discrete mathematics, you will need to go beyond memorizing recipes for calculating answers and learn how to argue convincingly that your solution to a given problem is sensible.

Schedule

	date	topic	materials
	Sep 4	No class, Inauguration Ceremony
1	Sep 6 Sep 11	Logic	notes LLM §1.1, §3
2	Sep 13 Sep 18	Proofs	notes LLM §1
3	Sep 20 Sep 25	Induction	notes; code LLM §5, §6
4	Sep 27 Oct 4	Numbers	notes; code LLM §6, §9
5	Oct 9 Oct 11	Graphs I	notes LLM §12, §6.4
6	Oct 16 Oct 18	Graphs II	notes LLM §10, §11
	Oct 23 Oct 25	Midterm Exam	solutions
7	Oct 30 Nov 1	Sums and asymptotics	notes LLM §14
8	Nov 6 Nov 8	Recurrences	notes LLM §22
9	Nov 13 Nov 15	Counting I	notes LLM §4, §15
10	Nov 20 Nov 22	Counting II	notes; code LLM §15
11	Nov 27 Nov 29	Probability	notes LLM §17
	Dec 13 Dec 15	Final exam review Final exam

Tutorials and homeworks

Homeworks will be issued every other week according to the following schedule:

• Monday: A homework consisting of 6 problems is posted here. Ten days later in tutorial, you will need to turn in solutions to 4 out of these 6 problems of your choice.
• Thursday tutorial: You discuss the homework problems in groups. Feel free to ask your TA for advice and help. You may volunteer to present your solution.
• Next Thursday tutorial: The TA will collect homework solutions. Then some of you will be asked to present your solution to the class. Students will be chosen randomly with repetition. This means you may be called to present at any time, and more than once.

Come to tutorial prepared. Your participation and the quality of your presentation will count towards your grade. If you cannot make it on any particular week, let your TA know in advance.

You are encouraged to collaborate on homeworks, but you must write up your own solutions and list your collaborators on the solution sheet. You will hand in the solutions to your TA at the beginning of Thursday tutorial. No late submissions will be accepted. Please read the CUHK policy on honesty in academic work and see these slides about ENGG 2440A in particular.

• Homework 1 (out: Sep 11 | in: Sep 21) | solutions
• Homework 2 (out: Sep 25 | in: Oct 6) | solutions
• Homework 3 (out: Oct 9 | in: Oct 19) | solutions
• Practice Midterm 1 and 2 (out: Oct 16) | solutions
• Homework 4 (out: Oct 30 | in: Nov 9) | solutions
• Homework 5 (out: Nov 13 | in: Nov 23) | solutions
• Homework 6 (out: Nov 27 | in: Dec 7) | solutions
• Practice Finals (out: Nov 30) | solutions

Discussion board

There is an ENGG 2440A discussion board on piazza. Please register and sign in using your CUHK email address.

Course Information

• Lecture times Mon 10.30-12.15 in YIA LT3 and Wed 1.30-2.15 in ERB LT.
• Attendance The Faculty of Engineering requires that every student attends at least half the lectures of ENGG 2440A. Attendance will be taken electronically before each lecture. Please arrive on time and remember to touch your CULink card.
• Tutorials Tutorial attendance and participation will count towards your grade. You are required to attend the same tutorial section every week. The tutorial times are:
  • AT01 (Chris's section): Thu 10.30-11.15 in ERB 408
  • AT02 (Chris's section): Thu 11.30-12.15 in ERB 408
  • AT03 (Xin's section): Thu 10.30-11.15 in ERB 713
  • AT04 (Xin's section): Thu 11.30-12.15 in ERB 713
  • AT05 (Kingsley's section): Thu 10.30-11.15 in ERB 706
  • AT06 (Han's section): Thu 11.30-12.15 in ERB 706
  
  
• Textbook The primary reference for this course is Mathematics for Computer Science [download 13MB] by Lehman, Leighton, and Meyer (LLM). Notes will be provided for material not covered in the textbook.
• Grading Your grade will be determined from a midterm exam (25%), a final exam (40%), homework solutions (15%), and attendance, participation, and homework presentation (20%). You can verify our record of your grades on CUHK blackboard.