Course overview

Welcome to Discrete Mathematics! This course will serve as an introduction to many of the structures and concepts that form the theoretical foundation of computer science. Additionally, this course will serve as an introduction to the art of proving mathematical statements in a rigorous manner. The topics include (but are not limited to) formal logic, proof techniques, set theory, combinatorics, recurrence relations, and graph theory.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will be expected to be able to do the following:
  • Characterize properties of functions, relations, and sets
  • Describe mathematical structures using sentences in propositional and predicate logic
  • Write concise and rigorous proofs using direct proofs, proof by contradiction, and mathematical induction
  • Reason about divisibility and cryptographic properties of the integers
  • Reason about properties of graphs
  • Determine the size of certain sets using various counting techniques
  • Write and understand the uses for recurrence relations
This list is neither exhaustive nor set in stone.

Instructor

Name: Arjun Chandrasekhar (he/him/his)
Lecture: Tuesday/Thursday from 2:30 am - 3:45 pm in TBD
Email: chandrasa@southwestern.edu
Student Hours: Schedule them by appointment via Calendly. You may sign up for individual student hours (maximum of one per week per student), or group student hours (a more collaborative setting).
  • One-on-one student hours
  • Group student hours
  • Course Links

    Here is a tentative calendar for the course.