MATH 150

Course Policies and Information

Instructors

Jonathan Pakianathan
E-mail: jonpak@math.rochester.edu
Lectures: MW 10:25-1140am in Harkness 115
Office: Hylan 809
Office Hours: (In person or on Zoom 585 275 2216), Wed 11:50am-12:50pm, Thu 11:00am-12:00pm
Sergio Chaves
E-mail: schavesr@math.rochester.edu
Lectures: TR 9:40-10:55am in Dewey 2162. Lectures will be also live streamed over Zoom (won’t be recorded)
Office: Hylan 1001
Office Hours: In person: Tue 11:30am - 12:30pm. On Zoom: Wed 4:00pm-5:00pm.
Zoom links can be found in blackboard (there are two different meetings for the lecture and office hours).

Graders

Jianhao Gao
Email: jgao26@u.rochester.edu
Office Hour: Friday 1:30-2:00PM in Wegman 1219.
Runzhou Liu
Email: rliu30@u.rochester.edu
Office Hour: Monday 5PM-5:30PM in Gleason Studio 1.
Yifei Liu
Email: yliu254@u.rochester.edu
Office Hour: Thursday 11:30AM-noon in Gleason Studio 2.
Zirui Li
Email: zli133@u.rochester.edu
Office Hour: Tuesday 3:45-4:15 PM on Zoom 428 569 5266.

Textbook

Discrete Mathematics and its Applications (8th edition) by Kenneth H. Rosen (Note you are welcome to use the 7th edition as well)

Topics Covered

We will cover much of chapters 1-6, 8, 10 of the text. Among the topics we will study are set theory, formal logic, algorithms and their complexity, elementary number theory, induction, counting, recurrence relations, and graph theory. See course schedule for details.

Exams and Grading

There will be two midterm exams and a final exam at the following times:

First Midterm
Thursday, Feb 16, 8-9:20AM.
Covers: Sections 1.1-1.8, 2.1-2.3.
  • Location: Hoyt Auditorium
  • There is an alternate exam for students with conflicts with other common exams. You need instructor pre-approval to take this alternate exam. The alternate exam is on the same day, Thursday, Feb 16 at 9:40-11AM in Hylan 1106A.
  • Students with permission from the disability center for alternate testing conditions or extended time must coordinate testing with the disability center who will proctor you directly.
Second Midterm
Tuesday, March 28, 8-9:20AM.
Covers: Sections 3.1-3.3, 4.1-4.6 inclusive.
  • Location: Hoyt Auditorium
  • There is an alternate exam for students with conflicts with other common exams. You need instructor pre-approval to take this alternate exam. The alternate exam is on the same day, Tuesday, March 28 at 9:40-11AM in Hylan 1106A.
  • Students with permission from the disability center for alternate testing conditions or extended time must coordinate testing with the disability center who will proctor you directly.
Final Exam
Monday, May 1, 4-7PM in TBA.
Part A covers sections covered in Midterms i.e. 1.1-1.8, 2.1-2.3, 3.1-3.3, 4.1-4.6 inclusive.
Part B covers sections 5.1-5.3, 6.1-6.4, 8.1-8.2 and 10.1-10.4 inclusive.
  • Location: TBA

Your grade for the course will be based on your performance on exams and homework:

  • Homework assignments – 20%
  • Two Midterm Exams – 20% each
  • Final Exam – 40%

The Final Exam will have two parts: Part A will cover the material tested in both Midterms 1 & 2, while Part B will only contain questions related to material appearing after Midterm 2. Part A accounts for 20% of your course grade and Part B accounts for 20% of your course grade. In addition, your score on Part A of the final will replace your lowest midterm score if it is indeed higher than it (it can be used to replace only one midterm score, not both).

NO MAKEUP EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN FOR ANY REASON. If you miss a midterm exam for any reason, then Part A of the final exam will count as your makeup. Final Part A can only replace one midterm score, however.

You will NOT be permitted calculators or other electronic devices (iPhone, smart watches, etc) on any exams. You will NOT be permitted books, notes, or ``cheat sheets’’ on any exams.

Incomplete “I” grades are almost never given. The only justification is a documented serious medical problem or a genuine personal/family emergency. Falling behind in this course or problems with workload on other courses are not acceptable reasons.

Attendance

Lecture attendance is not mandatory in MTH150 but is highly suggested.

You are welcome to attend any lecture (see top of webpage for the listing of times and places of the 2 different instructor’s lectures). Note that all sections of the course cover the material needed for the exams at about the same pace.

If you do attend a lecture in a section different than the one you are signed up for, please do relinquish your seat to students actually enrolled in that section if the classroom fills - in that case, usually there is room to sit in the aisle or stand at the back of class. This packed classroom situation is generally rare so it should not be a big issue, and hopefully won’t occur at all.

Homework

There will be 11 weekly assignments for the semester consisting of a written portion and a WeBWorK portion. Both portions are due on Fridays at 11:59pm. Written homework is submitted through Gradescope. Each assignment will be out of 40 total points; the weighting of WeBWorK vs. written portion will be indicated each week. Your lowest homework score will be dropped. For due dates and times of WeBWork assignments please log-on WeBWorK to see when the set closes. Late assignments are generally not accepted, except in rare cases (such as genuine illness or emergency) supported by documentation.

A “WeBWorK TA” will be available to answer email questions about Webwork homework sets until 7pm on the due date. Questions received after 7pm may not be answered. There is a button on each problem to email the WeBWorK TA. You may access Webwork through the Course Materials menu on your Blackboard page for MTH150.

TAs and Instructors can access webwork HERE. Students should use Blackboard instead.

Written assignments will be posted on the homework schedule and Gradescope and WeBWork assignments will open at least one week before the due date. You must abide by the Homework Rules (See Below)

Homework Rules

While you are encouraged to work together on both the webwork and written work in the course, it is important that this work be internalized. To facilitate this it is a homework rule that after discussing a written homework problem with friends, TAs or instructors, you should make sure you have internalized it BEFORE writing up your final solution on your own, without reference to the helping source. Under no circumstance should you blindly copy a friend’s solution as your own work. Instead you should absorb the ideas through discussions and then reproduce solutions on your own.

If you worked together with friends X, Y and Z on written work, you should write “worked with X, Y and Z” next to your name on your homework.

Similarly for webwork problems, you should be able to enter the final set of answers on your own and be able to reproduce the solutions to the problem on your own if confronted with the problem again without any solutions.

Workload expectations

This course follows the College credit hour policy for four-credit courses. This course meets 3 academic hours per week. Students may also be expected to deepen their understanding of the course material through close examination/evaluation of the readings assigned in the course.

Help

If you are having difficulty seek help immediately - do not wait until it is too late to recover from falling behind. There are several avenues for you to get help and ask questions, outside of lecture:

Disability Support

If you have an academic need related to a disability, arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. In the event you encounter any barrier(s) to full participation in this course due to the impact of a disability, please contact the Office of Disability Resources. The access coordinators in the Office of Disability Resources can meet with you to discuss the barriers you are experiencing and explain the eligibility process for establishing academic accommodations. You can reach the Office of Disability Resources at: disability@rochester.edu; (585)275-9049; 1-154 Dewey Hall. To be granted alternate testing accommodations, such as extra time, you (the student) must fill out forms with the office of disability resources at least seven days before each and every exam. These forms are not sent automatically. Instructors are not responsible for requesting alternative testing accommodations for you, and they are not obligated to make any accommodations on their own.

Academic Integrity Statement

  • All assignments and activities associated with this course must be performed in accordance with the University of Rochester’s Academic Honesty Policy. More information is available at: www.rochester.edu/college/honesty.

Math Dept policy on unauthorized online resources: Any usage whatsoever of online solution sets or paid online resources (chegg.com or similar) is considered an academic honesty violation and will be reported to the Board on Academic Honesty. In particular, any assignment found to contain content which originated from such sources is subject to a minimum penalty of zero on the assignment and a full letter grade reduction at the end of the semester (e.g. a B would be reduced to a C). Depending on the circumstances, this may apply even if the unauthorized content was obtained through indirect means (through a friend for instance) and/or the student is seemingly unaware that the content originated from such sources. If you have any questions about whether resources are acceptable, please check with your instructor.