Combinatorics (Math 180, Spring 2012)

Instructor: Igor Pak
pak@math.ucla (add .edu at the end, put Math 180 in the subject line)

Class schedule: MWF 1:00 - 1:50, MS 5117
Recitation: Tu 1:00 - 1:50, MS 5117

Office Hours: M 2-3:30, MS 6125

Teaching Assistant: Shagnik Das (shagnik@math.ucla, add .edu at the end)
TA Office Hours: Tu 2-4, MS 6160

Textbook: J. Matousek, J. Nesetril (MN), Invitation to Discrete Mathematics, Oxford Univ Press, Second Edition.

Additional reading will be posted on this page if necessary.

Grading: Homeworks: 20%, Midterm: 20%, Final: 60%.

Difficulty: This is an introductory course in Combinatorics and Graph Theory. The students are expected to learn the theory and solve problems on the homeworks. The problems will be both computational and require some proof abilities.

Other expectations: I would guess that the average student should spend about 8-10 hours per week outside of class to get a decent grade. Much of this time should be spent on the homeworks, but some should be spent on reading the book and absorbing the class material.

Content

We will cover many of the book sections, splitting the course between Enumerative Combinatorics and Graph Theory, in roughly equal parts. Although much of the material will follow the textbook, I will change the order of sections and some additional material will be presented in class, so class participation is very important.

Home Assignments

The weekly home assignments will be given on Wednesdays to be returned also on Wednesdays, starting April 4. No assignment will be given over the week before the midterm. Worst HA will be dropped from the final score. The assignments will be posted here (on the course web page) in .pdf format. Unless announced otherwise, you need to return them in writing right before the Wed class. No late assignments will be accepted.

HA1 download here

HA2 download here

HA3 download here

HA4 download here

HA5 download here

HA6 download here

HA7 download here

Midterm and Final Exams

There will be one in-class midterm and one final. Midterm: May 2, 2012.

Collaboration Policy

For the homeworks, you can form discussion groups of up to 5 people each. In fact, I would like to encourage you to do that. You can discuss problems but have to write your own separate solutions. You should write the list of people in you group on top of each HW.

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Last updated 4/2/2012