CMIS 160 - Discrete Mathematics for Computing

DE Term 4: Apr 9 - Jul 6 2007

Instructor: David Wills

dwills@asia.umuc.edu
Class web site: http://sensei.ad.umuc.edu/dwills/cmis160/

DE office contacts
Weekly calendar

PREREQUISITE: MATH 107

Not that there's much algebra in 160... It's not that kind of boring math. The prereq is to ensure that students have some math maturity.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to discrete mathematical techniques for solving problems in the field of computing. Basic principles from areas such as sets, relations and functions, logic, graph theory and recursion are examined. Topics are selected on the basis of their applicability to typical problems in computer languages and systems, databases, networking, and software engineering.

Several reasons to take this course: you'll learn part of the vocabulary and culture of every computer scientist, you will learn some useful techniques and concepts, you will learn some of the canonical examples that come up in various other courses, and finally, and probably most important, it's required for the degree (for the above reasons, of course).

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

On successful completion of this course, you will be able to: UMUC's list of objectives can be found at http://sensei.ad.umuc.edu/dwills/cmis160/objectives.html

Course Materials:

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:
Discrete Mathematics with Applications 3rd Ed. by Epp.
Textbooks can be ordered online at the Asia DE Web site, https://de.asia.umuc.edu/textbookinfo.cfm. Books ordered from any other source will be at the students own risk. UMUC Asia DE cannot be responsible for problems encountered when textbooks are ordered from sources outside of the Asia DE Web site.
Note: the textbook is very good. You should study it a lot. You will form a solid understanding of the foundations of computation. Unfortuneately, it's designed for a two semester course for math majors, not computing majors, so there's excessive amount of mathematical material in it. This being a one term CMIS course, we will concentrate on the aspects that are relevant and applicable to programming and computing. We will learn the definitions and be able do examples, we will not be proving theorems etc.

Grading Information:

EVALUATION: Your final grade will be based on five quizzes and a cumulative final exam. The quizzes will be assigned on a Friday and due Sunday night. I suggest that you have read the material and worked the suggested exercises listed in the schedule below before getting the quiz.
The final's questions will be similar to the quizzes, except it will be closed book closed note and proctored and time limited. 
5 Quizzes               50%
Final Exam	  	50%

According to the UMUCAD catalog the grade of 'A' means 'Outstanding', 'B' is 'Good', 'C' is 'Satisfactory'. Grades are curved, based on the class average. There is no fixed grading of 90-100 is an A, etc. Significantly above the average is A-ish, above the average or maybe just above or at the average is B-ish, etc. However, a 90 will be at least an A, an 80 will be at least a B, etc. In other words, the scale will most likely be lowered, so maybe 85 and above is the A etc. This grading is advantageous to you.

Proctored Exams:
All Web courses have a required proctored examination. Students are responsible for scheduling their appointment to test with the UMUC Field Rep office where they registered for their classes, normally the week prior to Proctored Exam Week. For complete instructions regarding proctored exam procedures go to the Asia DE Web site at http://de.asia.umuc.edu, and select the "Proctored Exams" link.
Computer-Based Proctored Exams are available only for students testing at designated UMUC Asia Computer Labs (ask your local UMUC Asia Field Rep or Computer Lab Monitor if their location is participating), and only during the scheduled Proctored Exam period. All other students must be administered paper exams.

CMIS 160 CLASS SCHEDULE.

TERM LENGTH 12 WEEKS (Apr 9 ~ Jul 6)
MANDATORY BREAK (May 23 ~ 27)
PROCTORED EXAM WEEK IS WEEK 10 (Jun 18 ~ 24).

The schedule is approximate and tentative, liable to change due to time constraints. We will cover the basics, without getting into the mathematical details, concentrating on what is useful for programmers.
Sections or pages, modules, and exercise lists follow. A book section by itself means the entire section, page numbers mean those pages only (not the other parts of the section), the modules are UMUC's online Course Modules accessible through Course Content. The modules are optional study material; they may or may not help you learn the material; if you find the textbook's explaination sufficient, you can skip the modules. The quizzes and exam material is only from the textbook (the questions in the quizzes and exam are similar to but not identical to exercise questions in the textbook). The exercises are not to be turned in or graded. You should work them to understand the material in the readings. 

CMIS 160 

Week	Reading                      
----	-------		             
Week 1  1.1 Logic: statements, connectives, truth tables. 1.1: 6-51
           Module 2.I ABC
        1.4 Digital logic circuits.  1.4: 1-23 26-29 31 34
           Module 2.I F
Week 2  1.5 Binary and hexadecimal numbers, adder circuit. 1.5: 1-36 38-47
        Quiz 1
Week 3  3 misc:  even 127-8, prime 138-9, Fermat 138,
                 rational 141-2, divisibility 148
                 unique factorization 153-4
                 div/mod 157-8, floor/ceiling 165-6, 
                 Euclidean GCD 192-6
            3.2: 1-7
            3.3: 1-3 6 7 10 11 34
            3.4: 7-11
            3.5: 1-4
            3.8: 9-18
Week 4  4.1 Sequences: summation, factorial, arrays. 4.1: 1-6 8-16 18-44 63-68
           Module 3.I
        4.2 sum of sequences 221-2, 225.  4.2: 19-28
           Module 3.II A
Week 5  5.1 Set theory: Venn diagrams, subset, union,
            intersection, Cartesian product, formal languages
            empty set, power set, partitions.  5.1: 1-12 14 18-27 29 30
        5.2 pages 278-9,285
           Module 1.I
        Quiz 2
Week 6  6.1 Counting and probability. 6.1: 1-19
        6.2 Possibility trees, multiplication rule, permutations
             6.2: 1-25 29-36
	6.3 Addition rule.  6.3: 1-17 23 26-28
[Break week]
Week 7  6.4 Combinations (thru page 337).  6.4: 1-5
        Quiz 3
Week 8  7.1 functions: Hamming, Boolean.  7.1: 1-6 13 14 25-30
           Module 1.II
        12.1 Formal languages, regular expressions.  12.1: 1-39
           Module 4.I
        12.2 Finite state automata.  12.2: 1-47
           Module 4.II
Week 9  11.1 Graphs.   11.1: 1-29 36
           Module 5.I ABCF
        Quiz 4
Week 10 Proctored Exam.
Week 11 11.2 Paths and circuits.  11.2: 1-6 8 9 12-24 36
           Module 5.I DE
        11.5 Trees.    11.5: 1-4 7-21 30 32-50
           Module 5.II ABC
Week 12  Quiz 5

Contact Information:

For administrative assistance: contact de@asia.umuc.edu
SDES students should contact: de@asia.umuc.edu
For WebTycho assistance: contact tycho@asia.umuc.edu.
For WebTycho assistance on Saturdays and Sundays: tychosupport@umuc.edu
For proctored exam procedure information, please visit the DE Asia Website at http://de.asia.umuc.edu and click on 'Proctored Exams'.
For textbook assistance: contact detextbooks@asia.umuc.edu
Support for Asian Division Students is also available by phone at 225-3696 (DSN) or 81-42-552-2510 Ext. 5-3696 (international comm.), Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (JST).

Academic Policies:

Academic Policies are not course specific and are therefore created and housed separately from this syllabus. You may access and print Academic Policies from the Syllabus sub-menu in your classroom.

Caveat

This syllabus is tentative and subject to change, if necessary. Changes will be announced with as much notice as possible.

Online Etiquette and Conduct::

  1. Be polite
  2. Do not write anything you would be embarrassed to have printed in the newspaper. Computer messages are not private.
  3. Keep in mind that any message you write can and may be forwarded to others. Again, be careful what you write.
  4. Do not forward personal notes or messages to others or a group unless you are certain the content is appropriate and you have asked the author. Do NOT forward chain letters to anyone who is enrolled in a UMUC course.
  5. Be aware of how your words may affect others. Since you have no body language cues, you must be more careful.
  6. When using quoted material or someone else's idea, include the citation just as you would in a hard-copy version.
  7. Reread your message before sending it; edit if necessary.
  8. NO CHAIN LETTERS.