This is the home page for INFO 150. INFO 150 is an introductory undergraduate course in discrete mathematics and the mathematical method. It is primarily intended for students in the degree program in the College of Information and Computer Sciences called "Informatics", a program that teaches computational thinking at a less technical level than the Computer Science majors. The intended audience for this course is students who intend to pursue computing, perhaps in programming courses for majors like CICS 110 and 160, but could use more exposure to mathematical thinking first.
Instructor Contact Info: David Mix Barrington, 210 CMPSCI building, 545-4329, private Zoom number 459 532 6175, office hours for Fall 2024 Monday 2:30-3:30 (in person), Tue 10-11 a.m. (on Zoom), Thursday 2:30-3:30 (in person).
I generally answer my email fairly reliably. I will also answer this email as well, but less reliably.
TA Contact Info: TA: Brett Mullins, bmullins@umass.edu TA: Atharva Nijasure, anijasure@umass.edu UCA: Mari Cornwall-Brady, hcornwallbra@umass.edu UCA: Adithi Sharan, asharan@umass.edu
The material of the course does not overlap much with that of the conventional pre-calculus and calculus courses, but it will demand some basic skill in calculation. There is no formal prerequisite, but an average high-school math background will be useful (e.g., the University's R1 gen-ed requirement). (This course does not carry gen-ed credit itself, mostly because INFO majors have no need for another R2.)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, someone who has taken both MATH 132 and CICS 210 probably has too much mathematical maturity to be in the appropriate audience for this course.
The textbook for the course is Discrete Mathematics: Mathematical Reasoning and Proof with Puzzles, Patterns, and Games by Douglas E. Ensley and J Winston Crawley. The UMass Amazon virtual bookstore has been informed about the book. It's pretty expensive, but there is the cheaper options of buying it used (I didn't see options of renting it or getting the e-book on the Amazon site, but they may exist). Do not buy the paperback "solutions manual" in place of the hardcover textbook. We'll work through most of the book, with specific sections as specified on the syllabus.
The course will meet for two lecture meetings a week, Tuesday and Thursday 4:00-5:15 p.m., in Morrill Science Center (III) room 203.
This is the home page for INFO 150. INFO 150 is an introductory undergraduate course in discrete mathematics and the mathematical method. It is primarily intended for students in a degree program in the College of Information and Computer Sciences called "Informatics", a program that teaches computational thinking at a less technical level than the Computer Science majors. The intended audience for this course is students who intend to pursue computing, perhaps in programming courses for majors like CICS 110 and 160, but could use more exposure to mathematical thinking first.
Instructor Contact Info: David Mix Barrington, 210 CMPSCI building, 545-4329, office hours for Fall 2024 TBA
I generally answer my email fairly reliably. I will also answer this email as well, but less reliably.
TA Contact Info:
The material of the course does not overlap much with that of the conventional pre-calculus and calculus courses, but it will demand some basic skill in calculation. There is no formal prerequisite, but an average high-school math background will be useful (e.g., the University's R1 gen-ed requirement). (This course does not carry gen-ed credit itself, mostly because INFO majors have no need for another R2.)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, someone who has taken both MATH 132 and CICS 210 probably has too much mathematical maturity to be in the appropriate audience for this course.
The textbook for the course is Discrete Mathematics: Mathematical Reasoning and Proof with Puzzles, Patterns, and Games by Douglas E. Ensley and J Winston Crawley. The UMass Amazon virtual bookstore has been informed about the book. It's pretty expensive, but there is the cheaper options of buying it used (I didn't see options of renting it or getting the e-book on the Amazon site, but they may exist). Do not buy the paperback "solutions manual" in place of the hardcover textbook. We'll work through most of the book, with specific sections as specified on the syllabus.
The course will meet for two lecture meetings a week, Tuesday and Thursday 4:00-5:15 p.m., in Morrill Science Center (III) room 203. There may well be graded activity in every class section, so attendance is required.
The course is using the Canvas course management system and the Piazza system for student discussion. Basic information about the course will be on this site, and specifics of the course will be off of the Canvas main page once it is established.
This is a course about mathematical proof -- how and why to prove things about the objects of digital computation. In order to write programs, you need to think clearly about them, and the techniques of mathematical proof are an essential tool for that. The single most important tool is mathematical induction, which allows us to prove statements about any system that is defined in terms of itself. The natural numbers are the most familar such system, but in computing we create other structures by recursive definition, and process them with recursive algorithms. We show you recursion and induction using a variety of systems that are used in actual computation.
This page lists specific things that might be asked on a final exam.
This page indicates the dates and topics of each lecture and discussion, including the sections of the textbook used in each.
Your grade in INFO 150 will be based on the following:
Note: I recognize that this is a diverse class in terms of experience and mathematical ability. To some extent my expectations as to the amount and difficulty of what you can do may evolve over the term. You will not be competing against one another -- anyone I judge minimally able to go on in this area will get at least a C, and anyone who fulfills all my reasonable expectations for a student at your level will get an A.
All work submitted must be your own in presentation. How much outside help is allowed depends on the course component.
My (Dave's) system for computing grades is a bit unusual, so I will try to explain it here. I take every graded component of the course and assign it a number on a scale from F (0) through C (200) to A (400) and sometimes higher. These are the numbers that are averaged together by Moodle to get your "course total" at the end of the term, and this is the basis for your letter grade. (For example, if your course total is 342, the closest letter grade to this is a B+ (333) so that's what you get. There is some provision for rounding up in close cases, since a 345 is within five points of the boundary (350) between A- and B+, I would give that an A-. Please don't whine about the exact boundaries.
For exams and homeworks, there is thus both a raw score, typically ranging from 0 to around 100, and a normalized score on the 0-400 scale. The mapping from raw score to normalized score does not always take 0 to 0. A typical scale for a homework assignment takes 30 (and lower) to 0, 45 to 100, 60 to 200, 75 to 300, 90 to 400, and higher grades above 400 by the same linear function. On each assignment, we decide after grading what raw score constitutes a 200, and what score a 400, then find the linear function that meets those two points.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to providing an equal educational opportunity for all students. If you have a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability on file with Disability Services (DS), you may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this course. If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please notify me within the first two weeks of the semester so that we can make appropriate arrangements. For more information, consult the Disability Services website at http://www.umass.edu/disability/.
We celebrate the diversity in our community and actively seek to include and listen to voices that are often silenced in the computing world. We welcome all individuals regardless of age, background, citizenship, disability, sex, education, ethnicity, family status, gender, gender identity, geographical origin, language, military experience, political views, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and work experience.
Everyone has the right to be addressed by the name and pronouns that they use for themselves. You can indicate your preferred/chosen first name and pronouns on SPIRE, which appear on class rosters. I am committed to ensuring that I address you with your chosen name and pronouns. Please let me know what name and pronouns I should use for you if they are not on the roster. Please remember: A student’s chosen name and pronouns are to be respected at all times in the classroom.
UMass is committed to fostering a safe learning environment by responding promptly and effectively to complaints of all kinds of sexual misconduct. If you have been the victim of sexual violence, gender discrimination, or sexual harassment, the university can provide you with a variety of support resources and accommodations If you experience or witness sexual misconduct and wish to report the incident, please contact the UMass Amherst Equal Opportunity (EO) Office (413-545-3464 | equalopportunity@admin.umass.edu) to request an intake meeting with EO staff. Members of the CICS community can also contact Erika Lynn Dawson Head, director of diversity and inclusive community development (erikahead@cics.umass.edu | 860-770-4770).
Along with the staff and the textbook, there are additional support resources for the course.
Last modified 3 September 2024