Math 511: Introduction to Combinatorics
Spring, 2023

Syllabus | Notes | Presentations | Assignments | Class videos | Announcements
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Instructor: Thomas Zaslavsky
Office: WH 216
Office hours: M, W, F, noon–2:00.

Class meets M, W, F from 2:20–3:20 in WH 100E

Course description

Combinatorics means studying arrangements of objects, usually finitely many of them. It includes existence, structure, counting, optimization, and much else. It is a very diverse subject, and it can use techniques from any other area of math. Our emphasis will be on algebraic methods in counting, which is very broad and extends far from the obvious.

Textbook

Catherine Yan, Gian-Carlo Rota, and Joseph P. S. Kung, Combinatorics: The Rota Way, Cambridge University Press.

Class recordings

I will be posting recordings of the classes. Here are the daily links.

Procedures

I plan to meet each student separately, each week, to discuss your progress and questions.

I will assign written homework every week or so, starting soon.

See the syllabus for a list of the topics and chapters we may cover—subject to change without notice as the course develops.

See the presentations page for an irregularly updated list of student presentation topics.

See the announcements page for occasionally updated supplements, and corrections to the textbook.
I plan to ask students to present their topics to me or to the class.

See the assignments page for an irregularly updated list of problems to solve, write up, and hand in.

Syllabus | Notes | Presentations | Assignments | Class videos | Announcements
My home page