Undergraduate Seminar in Discrete Mathematics 18.304, Spring 2015, MIT

See also the course Stellar page and the Piazza page.


Instructor. Omer Tamuz, room E18-478. Office hours are Monday 10 to 12, with more time available by appointment if necessary. Students are strongly encouraged to meet the instructor for help with any of the assignments. The Piazza page is a good place to post questions that may interest others.

Meetings. Room E17-129, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 to 4.

Textbook. Most student lectures will be given from Proofs from THE BOOK, available electronically or in print from the library. Students may give other lectures, pending instructor approval.

Requirements. Room E17-129, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 to 4.

Guidelines for giving lectures. Students are strongly encouraged to meet the instructor while preparing their talks to discuss mathematical content, delivery strategy, or any other issues.

Short paper.
Very short paper.

Final paper.

Semester schedule.

Resources. In additional to the assistance you will receive from your peers and instructor, help with presenting and writing is available from the department’s mathematical communication specialist, Susan Ruff (ruff@math.mit.edu). You can come to her office hours (Wednesdays 4 to 5 at E17-404), or e-mail her to arrange a time to meet. Linda Sutliff (lsutliff@mit.edu), a lecturer in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication is also available to help you. Please e-mail her to arrange a meeting.

General help with writing and presenting (not specific to mathematics) is available from MIT's
Writing Center.

Grading.

Collaboration. Collaboration on preparing lectures is encouraged, as is the reading and deciphering of material. However, papers have to be written individually. Students are strongly discouraged to commit plagiarism. It is forbidden to copy any complete sentence from another source, including work submitted in past years or other courses. It is furthermore not acceptable to copy a proof, rewriting each line. A good strategy for writing a proof that appears elsewhere is to read and understand the source, then write it from scratch the next day. Here are some guidelines of what is and isn't allowed, and here are some examples.

Students in need of assistance or in distress. If you are dealing with a personal or medical issue that is impacting your ability to attend class or complete work you have the possibility of discussing this with Student Support Services (S3). The deans in S3 will verify your situation, and then discuss with you how to address the missed work. You may consult with S3 in 5-104 or at 617-253-4861. Also, S3 has walk-in hours: Monday through Friday, 9-10am.

MIT is committed to the principle of equal access. Students who need disability accommodations are encouraged to speak with Kathleen Monagle, Associate Dean, prior to or early in the semester so that accommodation requests can be evaluated and addressed in a timely fashion. Even if you are not planning to use accommodations, it is recommended that you meet with Student Disability Services staff to familiarize yourself with the services and resources of the office. You may also consult with Student Disability Services in 5-104 or at 617-253-1674.