MATH 145, Combinatorics

Prof. Abigail Thompson
Winter 2008
Office: 2220 MSB
Telephone: 752-8236
e-mail: thompson@math.ucdavis.edu
website: www.math.ucdavis.edu/~thompson

TA: Shinpei Baba
e-mail: shinpei@math.ucdavis.edu
Office: 2137 MSB
Office hours Thursday 2-4
Website: http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~shinpei
Solutions are on Shinpei's website

Shinpei is away from 1/22 to 2/6
TA for two weeks: Alice Stevens
e-mail: astevens@math.ucdavis.edu
Office: 2137 MSB
Office hours: 1/24, 12-2; 1/29, 12-2; 1/31, 12-2

Text

Lovasz, Pelikan and Vesztergombi,
Discrete Mathematics, First edition

We will cover much of Chapters 1-4 and 7-12 not necessarily in order.

Grading

There will be two midterms (2/1 and 2/29) and a final exam (3/22, 3:30 PM), and homework. I will compute two final grades for you as follows:

Grade 1. Midterms 25% each, homework 20%, final 30%

Grade 2. Best midterm 35%, homework 20%, final 45%

You will receive the highest of these two grades. There are no make-up exams.

Office Hours

Office hours are Friday 10-12. I can also make appointments outside of the scheduled time.

Homework

There will be roughly 8 problem sets. Your two lowest homework scores will be dropped. You are welcome (encouraged!) to discuss your homework assignments with other students in the class. HOWEVER please make sure the final product is your own. Only problems marked with an asterisk (*) should be turned in. There will be one or two problems on each midterm that are exactly assigned problems that were not turned in. NO LATE HOMEWORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Assignments

Problem set 1, due 1/14: 1.3.2, 1.5.2, 1.5.5*, 1.6.1, 1.8.2, 1.8.2, 1.8.20*, 1.8.26, 1.8.27, 1.8.29, 1.8.33*, 2.1.2, 2.1.4, 2.1.5*, 2.1.8*

Problem set 2, due 1/23: 2.3.1*, 2.5.1, 2.5.3*, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6*, 2.5.7*, 2.5.8

Problem set 3, due 1/30: 2.4.1, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.3.1*, 3.3.2*, 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 3.6.2. 3.6.4*, 3.8.4*, 3.8.10, 3.8.12*, 3.8.13

Problem set 4, due 2/8: 4.2.2*, 4.2.3, 4.2.7, 4.2.8*,4.3.3, 4.3.7, 4.3.9*

Problem set 5, due 2/15: 4.3.13*, 4.3.16, 7.1.7, 7.3.5, 7.3.7, 7.3.10*, 7.3.11*, 7.3.13*

Problem set 6, due 2/27: 7.2.5, 7.2.11, 7.3.1, 7.3.12, *8.2.2, *8.2.3, *8.5.3, *8.5.4, 8.5.6, 8.5.7

Problem set 7, due 3/10: 8.5.9, 8.5.10*, 8.5.11, 8.5.12*, 9.1.1, 9.1.2, 9.2.1, 9.2.2*, 9.2.3*, 9.2.7*

Problem set 8, due 3/17: 10.3.2, 10.4.5, 10.4.6,10.4.7, *10.4.10, *10.4.11, *12.1.1, 12.1.2, *12.3.3,*12.3.5

Recreational Problems

Problem 1: The Wine and the Tea

Problem 2: On the Ropes

Problem 3:The ants go marching.....

Problem 4:It was a dark and stormy night....

Problem 5: The Clever Gnomes