Faculty: Dr. A. G. Werschulz
Office: Rm 815D.
Phone: (212) 636-6325
Office hours: Tuesdays through Thursdays: noon-1:00 pm, or by appointment.
Class email list: structures STRUDEL dsm.fordham.edu
(STRUDEL is a thinly-disguised @,
to thwart the amount of spam that your instructor receives in his
guise of list manager).
Lyons et al., Fundamentals of Discrete Structures (Second Preliminary Edition).
An introductory course in the discrete structures used in computer science and information technology. Emphasis will be placed on the ability to solve problems and develop logical thinking. Topics such as sets, functions, elementary combinatorics, discrete probability, logic, Boolean algebra, recursion and graphs will be covered through the use of algorithmic and concrete construction. The learned materials are reinforced by computer laboratory assignments. This course fulfills the mathematical reasoning requirement for Fordham's core curriculum.
Learning is an interactive process that begins in the class room, continues at home, and picks up back in the classroom. Attendance is necessary to accomplish the objectives of this course. Over the summer this is of even greater importance, since there are only fifteen class meetings. You are limited to two excused absences. Additional absences or unexcused absences will result in a marked decrease in your final grade.
There will be two hour examinations, which will be held on Wednesday 15 July and Tuesday 28 July. The final exam is cumulative, and will be held on Tuesday 4 August. These exams will focus solely on the mathematics portions of the course. When possible, I will provide you with a study guide and/or a practice exam.
There will be homework assigned nearly every day, which will be posted on the class website. It will be in your best interest to do as much of it as possible prior to the next class session. I will generally begin a class session by asking whether there are any questions on the homework; if you do not start asking questions at this point, I will assume that you do know how to answer the homework questions, which means that I might call on you to do a problem at the board.
However, with the pace of this course, I will try to extend homework deadlines past the weekends to enable you to spend sufficient time in study. You should set aside at least six hours each week to work on homework and projects, although the total time you spend each week could be less.
We will be working on two large multi-part projects during the course. One will cover web development, and the other will be an introduction to computer programming. No prior knowledge is expected but these are projects that you will need to spend time on outside of the class in addition to any in-class time that I provide. This requires that you have access to a computer and the Internet during these times. If you do not there are several places on campus that are suitable to complete this work. Please speak with me if you think there will be a problem.
A student failing all of the exams cannot pass the course. Additionally, failing to complete computer projects on deadlines set by the instructor can and will cause a reduction to the individual's final grade.
Last modified: Tue Jun 30 10:06:12 2009