Danielle O'Donnol
Herman Brown 454
Phone: (713) 348-3283
email: odonnol at rice.edu
Course Information
Class meets: MWF from 1pm-1:50pm in HB 227
Office Hours: Monday 10am-10:50am and Thursday 2pm-2:50pm, or by Appointment
Webpage: http://www.owlnet.edu/~dso1/368f08/
All homework and reading assignments can be found on Owlspace
Required Textbook
Harris, Hirst and Mossinghoff, Combinatorics and Graph Theory (2000)
Course Description
This class will give an introduction to combinatorics with a focus on graph theory. The first 3-5 weeks of the class will be spent on basic counting problems, binomial coefficients and inclusion and exclusion. Next we will delve into graph theory. Topics in graph theory that will be covered include trees, planarity, and colorings. Depending on time and interest we will cover additional topics like matching, Ramsey Theory, the Traveling Salesperson Problem, generating function, or Polya's Theory of counting.
Grades
Your grade in the class will be based on the following weights:
Homework:
30% (with the lowest homework grade dropped)
Midterm I:
20%
Midterm II:
20%
Final Exam:
30%
Homework
Homework will be assigned every Friday and will be due the following
Friday in class (or before class) unless otherwise stated. Homework should be written clearly, in full sentences. To get full credit you must show, explain, and justify your work. No late homework will be excepted. The lowest homework grade will be dropped.
Exams
There will be two (in-class) midterms and a scheduled final exam. The midterms will each be
worth 20%
of your grade and the final exam will be worth 30% of your grade.
***Midterms scheduled for:***
Midterm I:
October 8
Midterm II:
Novermber 12
If you know you will miss a midterm
for a legitimate reason, notify me before the exam and as soon as possible, so we
can make alternate arrangements. Without an explanation in advance, a make-up
exam is unlikely to be allowed. Good mathematical exposition will be
counted on both exams.
The Final
It is the policy of the mathematics department that no final may be given early to accomodate student travel plans. We will not know when the final in this course will be scheduled for some time. Therefore, if you should make plans to travel before the end of final exam period, and it turns out that the final for this course is after your scheduled departure date, you will have to choose between keeping your plans and receiving zero for the final, or incurring the costs for changing your plans and taking the final at its scheduled time. Thanks for your understanding.
OWL-Space
I have (will) set up an OWL-Space site for this course. This will include a chat
room and a discussion board, where you can post questions for me or your
fellow classmates. I will post all announcements, schedules,
homeworks, and reading assignments on OWL-Space so check there often. You will also be able to see your current homework/exam grades on Owlspace.
You should use your NETID as your login.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend every class. It is the student's responsibility to keep informed of any announcements, syllabus adjustments, or policy
changes made during scheduled classes. I will maintain an Owlspace site for this course and will
do my best to post such announcements in a timely manner on the site. However,
you are still responsible for all class announcements, not just those that
get posted to the web site.
Disability Support
Any student with a documented disability needing academic
adjustments or accommodations is requested to speak with me during the first week of class. All
discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities need to also contact Disability
Support Services in the Ley Student Center.