Introduction

Course information

  • Course code: COMP 2711H
  • Course title: Honors Discrete Mathematical Tools for Computer Science
  • Semester: 24/25 Fall
  • Credit: 4
  • Grade: A-F
  • TMI
    • Prerequisite: Level 5* or above in HKDSE Mathematics Extended Module M1/M2; OR grade A- or above in MATH 1014; OR grade B+ or above in MATH 1020 / MATH 1024
Description

This course is an advanced (honors) version of "COMP 2711: Discrete Mathematical Tools for Computer Science" which provides a much more in-depth treatment of a wide variety of important mathematical concepts that form the theoretical basis of modern computer science.

Discrete mathematics needed for the study of computer science: sets, functions, propositional logic, predicate logic, rules of inference, proof techniques, pigeonhole principle, basic and generalized permutations and combinations, binomial coefficients, inclusion-exclusion principle, probability theory, Bayes theorem, expectation, variance, random variables, hashing, cryptography and modular arithmetic, Euclid’s division theorem, multiplicative inverse, divisibility, RSA cryptosystem, Chinese remainder theorem, mathematical induction, strong induction and well-ordering property, recursion, recurrence relations, graph representation, isomorphism, connectivity, Eulerian paths, Hamiltonian paths, planarity, graph coloring. Gentle introduction to many discrete mathematical concepts that will appear later in more advanced computer science courses.

Topics covered
  • Proofs and Reasoning: Propositional Logic, First-order (Predicate) Logic, Quantifiers, Proof by contradiction, Mathematical Induction, the Pigeonhole Principle, the Invariant Principle, the Extremal Principle, ...
  • Set Theory: ZMC, Peano's Axioms, Dedekind Cuts, Relations, Functions, Ordinals and Cardinals, Russel's Paradox, ...
  • Enumerative Combinatorics: Rules of Sum and Product, Permutations and Combinations, Inclusion-Exclusion, Catalan and Stirling Numbers, Generating Functions, Recurrence Relations, Double Counting, ...
  • Probability Theory: Discrete and Countable Probability Spaces, Axiomatic Probability Theory, Measure Functions, Lebesgue Integrals, Conditional Probability, Independence, Random Variables, Bayesian Reasoning, Expectation, Stochastic Processes, Markov Chains, Markov Decision Processes, ...
  • Number Theory: Divisibility, GCD, LCM, Primes, Congruence, Chinese Remainder Theorem, Theorems of Fermat, Euler and Wilson, Quadratic Reciprocity Law, the RSA and El-Gamal Cryptosystems, ...
  • Graph Theory: Adjacency, Walks, Paths, Cycles, (Strong) Connectivity, Distance, Trees, Spanning Trees, Bipartite Graphs, Matchings, Shortest Paths, ...
  • Game Theory: Combinatorial Games, Sprague-Grundy Theorem, Normal Form (Nash) Games, Nash Equilibria, Correlated Equilibria, Infinite Games on Graphs, ...

My section

  • Section: L1 / T1
  • Time:
    • Lecture: MoWe 09:00AM - 10:20AM
    • Tutorial: Mo 06:00PM - 06:50PM
  • Venue:
    • Lecture: Rm 2465, Lift 25-26
    • Tutorial: Rm 4620, Lift 31-32
  • Instructor: Amir Goharshady
  • Teaching assistants
  • Xuran Cai ([email protected])
  • Zhaorun Lin ([email protected])

Grading scheme

Assessment TaskPercentage
Mid-Term30%
4 x HW40%
Final Exam30%
  • Resubmission for HW possible

Required texts

  • Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science, by Ronald Graham, Donald Knuth, and Oren Patashnik

Optional resources

  • Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics by Grimaldi
  • Concrete Mathematics by Knuth et al
  • Principles and Techniques in Combinatorics by Chen and Meng
  • A First Course in Probability by Ross
  • Elementary Number Theory by Burton
  • Set Theory: A First Course by Cunningham
  • Introduction to Graph Theory by West
  • Algorithmic Game Theory by Nisan and Roughgarden
  • Problem Solving Strategies by Engel
  • 102 Combinatorial Problems by Andreescu and Feng
  • Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays by Berlekamp et al
  • Reading materials