INFO 150: A Mathematical Foundation for Informatics

David Mix Barrington

Fall, 2016

This is the home page for INFO 150. CMPSCI 190DM is an introductory undergraduate course in discrete mathematics and the mathematical method. I have developed it for use in a new degree program in the College of Information and Computer Sciences called "Informatics", a program that will teach 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 CMPSCI 121 and 187, but could use more exposure to mathematical thinking first.

Instructor Contact Info: David Mix Barrington, 210 CMPSCI building, 545-4329, office hours for Fall 2016 Monday 2:00-3:00, Tuesday 11:00-12:00, and Thursday 2:00-3:00. I generally answer my email fairly reliably.

TA Contact Info: There is no TA for this course but we have a grader, Joey Canning, jcanning@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, though I expect that future versions will be R2 courses.)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, someone who has taken MATH 132 or CMPSCI 187 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 three lecture meetings a week, MWF 11:15-12:05 in room 15 of Marston Hall. There will be graded activity in every class section, so attendance is required.

• Course Requirements and Grading
• Homework Assignment Page (with #30)
• Exam Directory (with practice final exam and solution)
• Syllabus (Lecture-by-Lecture Schedule)

Announcements (10 January 2017):

• (10 Jan) I have posted the final exam and its solution. The exam scale was A = 105, C = 70. The exam scores were 101, 95, 93, 91, 88, 86, 86, 85, 82, 81, 81, 81, 78, 77, 77, 76, 71, 71, 70, 65, 60, 59, 41, so that the median was 81, a B-.

  For overall course grades, things tended to even out as people who did better on one component tended to do worse on others. There were three B+, twelve B, four B-, and one each C+, C, C-, and D. Thanks for an interesting and productive term!

• (13 Dec) The solutions to the practice final exam are now up.
• (9 Dec) I have posted the practice final exam. I will post the solution on Monday.
• (28 Nov) I have posted the second midterm and its solutions. The scale was A = 85, B = 70, C = 55, and D = 40. The 23 scores in order were 86, 84, 77, 76, 74, 67, 67, 65, 62, 62, 62, 59, 59, 58, 57, 56, 56, 55, 48, 48, 47, 44, 44. As I said after the first midterm, no one is failing (in fact now no one will fail) and those below C on exams still have a shot at an overall C depending on the other components of the course.
• (28 Nov) Thanks to all of you who have emailed me about project topics. I'll respond to each of these soon, probably tomorrow.
• (14 Nov) Solutions to the practice second midterm are up.
• (11 Nov) The practice second midterm is posted. I will post solutions on Monday.
• (9 Nov) I have posted more information about the course project.
• (19 Oct) I have posted the text and solutions to the first midterm. I set the scale at A = 90, B = 72, C = 54, D = 36. The scores were 83, 81, 79, 77, 73, 70, 69, 67, 66, 66, 66, 63, 62, 61, 60, 56, 56, 56, 53, 50, 50, 47, and 43. No one is failing, and those below C on the exam all have a chance to get C or better through attendance, homework, and the project. On your exam papers I indicated how your attendance and homework so far affect your overall course grade so far.
• (16 Oct) I'm back, and hope to get the tests graded before Wednesday's class. Tomorrow we'll start on Chapter 3.
• (6 Oct) The solutions to the practice first midterm are now up.
• (5 Oct) The first practice midterm is now up. I will post solutions by Friday morning. Also note that there is no lecture this Friday, as I already announced by email.
• (29 Sept) Welcome to our new grader, Joey Canning, who will be taking over starting with HW#8.
• (12 Sept) One student reported being able to rent the textbook for the semester from Barnes and Noble for about $60.
• (9 Sept) The assignnment for Monday is given in full on the homework assignment page. I will soon stop writing out the assignments, once more of you have the textbook.
• (7 Sept) Please try to get the textbook as soon as possible. There is no homework due this Friday, but on Friday I will give an assignment that will be due Monday in class.
• (7 Sept) The Informatics information session I mentioned in class will be tomorrow (8 Sept) at 4:00 PM in room 140 of the CS building, with Prof. Trim.
• (22 Aug) This is a preliminary version of the web page. The course has run three times previously under the number CMPSCI 190DM, each time with only a few students, so I am excited about our current enrollment of 22. Please email me if you would like to talk about the course and whether it is right for you. I'll have more material on this page as we get closer to term. If you have questions about the Informatics program, now being operated in cooperation with BDIC, please contact Dr. Michelle Trim, the undergraduate advisor for the program.

Last modified 10 January 2017