CMSC 250 - Discrete Structures



Class:

Discussions (MW):

Welcome to CMSC 250. This course covers fundamental mathematical concepts related to computer science, including propositional logic, first-order logic, methods of proof, elementary number theory (including sequences, and induction), set theory with finite and infinite sets, functions, relations, introductory counting and probability theory, and an introduction to graph theory. Emphasis will be on mathematical rigor and the development of sound and elegant formal proofs.

Schedule

Exam Dates:


  • Midterm #1: Thursday, October 2nd, in Lecture.
  • Midterm #2: Thursday, November 6th, in Lecture.
  • Final Exam: Wednesday, December 17th, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, Location: TBA

Lectures (Tentative)


Week Starting
Tuesday
Thursday
09/01 Course Intro

Introduction to the course; What is logic?;
statements; disjunction, conjunction, negation;
interpretations; truth tables;
Logical equivalencies; conditional connective;
09/08 Conditional equivalence contd., biconditional connectives;
inverse, converse, contrapositive; "sufficient"
and "necessary" conditions; arguments
Checking validity of arguments via truth table;
rules of inference; proving arguments;
logic gates; circuits; translating truth tables into statements;
translating statements into circuits;
09/15 building an "addition" circuit; Predicates and domains, Practice translating English to Predicate Logic;
09/22 Universal and Existential quantifiers negating statements,
free vs. bound variables; interpretations;
rules of inference; empty domains,closure;
Why number theory?; basic definitions,
Introduction to proofs; direct; contrapositive;
09/29 Midterm Review Midterm I
10/06 contradiction; Equivalence proofs constructive proofs; proofs by exhaustion/cases;
Universal Generalization proofs
10/13 Fall Break (No class) More proof examples;
Notation for divisibility;
Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic ,
Applications of the Fundamental Theorem
10/20 Modular Congruence, Modular Arithmetic Theorem
Proof by contradiction; "famous" proofs;
Modular Congruence, Modular Arithmetic Theorem,
Quotient-Remainder Theorem, floor and ceiling proofs
review of sequences, summations, and products;
Introduction to induction;
10/27
induction proofs with congruences;
induction proofs with summations
Induction with inequalities
Induction with recurrences, etc.;
Introduction to strong induction.
More examples of strong induction

Staff

Instructor: Mohammad Nayeem Teli (nayeem at cs.umd.edu)

Office: IRB 2224
Office Hours: W 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM


Teaching Assistants


Name Email (at umd.edu) Discussion Lead
Shashaank Aiyer saiyer1 0101
Konstantinos Paparrizos kpaparri 0102
Tal Ledeniov ledeniov 0103
Laith Tahboub ltahboub 0104
Brendan Coulthard bcoultha 0105
Yancheng Zhu zhu436 0106
Roksana Khanom rkhanom 0107
Shayan Jahan schjahan -


Office Hours

Instructor: W 10:00 - 11:00 AM

Teaching Assistants

Day
Office hours (IRB 1266 Open Area)
Monday Yancheng: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Roksana: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Shashank: 1:00 PM- 3:00 PM
Konstantinos: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday Yancheng: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Tal: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday Shayan: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Roksana: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Laith: 1:00 PM- 3:00 PM
Konstantinos: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Thursday Brendan: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM,
Konstantinos: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Friday Shashank: 1:00 PM- 3:00 PM

Please note that a TA may need to leave 5 minutes before the end of the hour in order to go to his/her class. Please be understanding of their schedules.

Class Resources

Handouts


Online Course Tools
  • ELMS - This is where you go to see grades on assignments and to get your class account information.
  • Gradescope - This is where you submit yout homeworks and receive feedback.


Assignments

See ELMS

*All homeworks/assignments are due at 11:59 PM on the due date.