18.314 Combinatorial Analysis

Course Syllabus

Lectures: TR 9:30-11am in 2-136

Lecturer: Sami Assaf, 2-378, sassaf [AT] math.mit.edu

Office Hours: Mon 2-3pm, Thu 12-1pm and by appointment

Course Text: Miklós Bóna, A Walk Through Combinatorics, second edition, World Scientific, Singapore.
T 10/13NO CLASS (Reg Day) H 09/10The Pigeonhole Principle
T 09/15Mathematical Induction H 09/17Elementary Counting
T 09/22Binomial Theorem H 09/24Generating Functions
T 09/29Compositions, Set Partitions H 10/01Partitions
T 10/06Permutations H 10/08Review
T 10/13NO CLASS (Monday schedule) H 10/15EXAM 1
T 10/20Graph Theory H 10/22Trees
T 10/27Matrix-Tree Theorem H 10/29Applications of Matrix-Tree Theorem
T 11/03Colorings and Matchings H 11/05Planar Graphs
T 11/10Chip Firing H 11/12Review
T 11/17EXAM 2 H 11/19Ramsey Theory
T 11/24Probability H 11/26NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
T 12/01Catalan Numbers H 12/03Mathematical Card Tricks
T 12/08Review H 12/10Review
T 12/15FINAL EXAM 9am-12pm in 3-343
Problem Sets are due in lecture each Tuesday for assignments of the previous week. Solutions to problem sets will be posted Tuesday afternoon, and, as such, late problem sets will not be accepted without a valid excuse such as illness. "Reasonable" collaboration is permitted on problem sets, but you should attempt each problem on your own before discussing it with others. You may not copy someone else's work or look up the solution from an outside source. Problem sets account for 20% of your grade for the course.
Problem Set 1     Solutions     Average:   8.6/10
Problem Set 2     Solutions     Average: 16.7/19
Problem Set 3     Solutions     Average: 13.3/17
Problem Set 4     Solutions     Average: 12.9/19
Problem Set 5     Solutions     Average: 14.9/19
Problem Set 6     Solutions     Average:      2/6
Problem Set 7     Solutions     Average: 11.1/16
Problem Set 8     Solutions     Average:   9.7/16
Problem Set 9     Solutions     Average: 11.9/16
Problem Set 10   Solutions     Average:   3.4/8
Problem Set 11   Solutions     Average:   4.2/8
Problem Set 12  
Exams will be held in class on October 15 and November 17. Both exams are one hour and closed book . The Final Exam will be held from 9am - 12pm on December 15 in room 3-343. Each one hour exam accounts for 20% of your grade for the course.
Exam 1:    Practice Exam     Practice Solutions     Exam Solutions
Average: 25/50      A = 30 & up,    B = 14 to 29,    C = 10 to 13
Exam 2:    Practice Exam     Practice Solutions     Exam Solutions
Average: 33/50      A = 38 & up,    B = 24 to 37,    C = 20 to 23
Final Exam will be on Tuesday, December 15 from 9am-12pm in room 3-343. The final exam is cummulative. There will be 15 problems worth 10 points each, and you will choose 10 problems to answer for a total of 100 possible points. The final exam accounts for the remaining 40% of your grade for the course. Here are Practice Problems for the final exam.


Life is good for only two things, discovering mathematics and teaching mathematics.
-- S. Poisson