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Discrete Mathematics

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Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
3.3

203 reviews

Intermediate level
Some related experience required
Flexible schedule
5 weeks at 10 hours a week
Learn at your own pace
86%
Most learners liked this course

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
3.3

203 reviews

Intermediate level
Some related experience required
Flexible schedule
5 weeks at 10 hours a week
Learn at your own pace
86%
Most learners liked this course

There are 11 modules in this course

Discrete mathematics forms the mathematical foundation of computer and information science. It is also a fascinating subject in itself.

Learners will become familiar with a broad range of mathematical objects like sets, functions, relations, graphs, that are omnipresent in computer science. Perhaps more importantly, they will reach a certain level of mathematical maturity - being able to understand formal statements and their proofs; coming up with rigorous proofs themselves; and coming up with interesting results. This course attempts to be rigorous without being overly formal. This means, for every concept we introduce we will show at least one interesting and non-trivial result and give a full proof. However, we will do so without too much formal notation, employing examples and figures whenever possible. The main topics of this course are (1) sets, functions, relations, (2) enumerative combinatorics, (3) graph theory, (4) network flow and matchings. It does not cover modular arithmetic, algebra, and logic, since these topics have a slightly different flavor and because there are already several courses on Coursera specifically on these topics.

This module gives the learner a first impression of what discrete mathematics is about, and in which ways its "flavor" differs from other fields of mathematics. It introduces basic objects like sets, relations, functions, which form the foundation of discrete mathematics.

What's included

2 videos1 assignment2 peer reviews

2 videosTotal 27 minutes
  • Introduction to the course17 minutes
  • Sets, Relations, Functions10 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 90 minutes
  • Sets, relations, and functions90 minutes
2 peer reviewsTotal 180 minutes
  • Exercises for introduction lesson90 minutes
  • Sets, Relations, Functions90 minutes

Even without knowing, the learner has seen some orderings in the past. Numbers are ordered by <=. Integers can be partially ordered by the "divisible by" relation. In genealogy, people are ordered by the "A is an ancestor of B" relation. This module formally introduces partial orders and proves some fundamental and non-trivial facts about them.

What's included

2 videos1 assignment1 peer review

2 videosTotal 28 minutes
  • Partial orderings: basic notions13 minutes
  • Mirsky's and Dilworth's Theorem15 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 120 minutes
  • Partial orders, maximal and minimal elements, chains, antichains120 minutes
1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes
  • Partial orders, maximal and minimal elements, chains, antichains120 minutes

A big part of discrete mathematics is about counting things. A classic example asks how many different words can be obtained by re-ordering the letters in the word Mississippi. Counting problems of this flavor abound in discrete mathematics discrete probability and also in the analysis of algorithms.

What's included

3 videos1 assignment1 peer review

3 videosTotal 35 minutes
  • How to Count Functions, Injections, Permutations, and Subsets12 minutes
  • Evaluating Simple Sums8 minutes
  • Pascal's Triangle15 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 120 minutes
  • Counting Basic Objects120 minutes
1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes
  • Counting Basic Objects120 minutes

The binomial coefficient (n choose k) counts the number of ways to select k elements from a set of size n. It appears all the time in enumerative combinatorics. A good understanding of (n choose k) is also extremely helpful for analysis of algorithms.

What's included

3 videos1 assignment2 peer reviews

3 videosTotal 55 minutes
  • Combinatorial Identities14 minutes
  • Estimating the Binomial Coefficient22 minutes
  • Excursion to Discrete Probability: Computing the Expected Minimum of k Random Elements from {1,...,n}18 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes
  • An Eagle's View of Pascal's Triangle30 minutes
2 peer reviewsTotal 200 minutes
  • Combinatorial Identities100 minutes
  • Digging Into Pascal's Triangle100 minutes

What's included

1 video1 assignment2 peer reviews

1 videoTotal 14 minutes
  • Asymptotics and the O( )-Notation14 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes
  • The Big-O-Notation30 minutes
2 peer reviewsTotal 240 minutes
  • Basic Facts120 minutes
  • Classes that often occur in complexity theory120 minutes

Graphs are arguably the most important object in discrete mathematics. A huge number of problems from computer science and combinatorics can be modelled in the language of graphs. This module introduces the basic notions of graph theory - graphs, cycles, paths, degree, isomorphism.

What's included

3 videos1 assignment2 peer reviews

3 videosTotal 41 minutes
  • Basic Notions and Examples11 minutes
  • Graph Isomorphism, Degree, Graph Score13 minutes
  • Graph Score Theorem16 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes
  • Graphs, isomorphisms, and the sliding tile puzzle30 minutes
2 peer reviewsTotal 210 minutes
  • Graphs and Isomorphisms90 minutes
  • The Graph Score Theorem120 minutes

We continue with graph theory basics. In this module, we introduce trees, an important class of graphs, and several equivalent characterizations of trees. Finally, we present an efficient algorithm for detecting whether two trees are isomorphic.

What's included

3 videos1 assignment2 peer reviews

3 videosTotal 36 minutes
  • Graphs and Connectivity9 minutes
  • Cycles and Trees15 minutes
  • An Efficient Algorithm for Isomorphism of Trees12 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes
  • Cycles and Trees30 minutes
2 peer reviewsTotal 220 minutes
  • Cycles and Trees120 minutes
  • Spanning Tree Exchange Graph100 minutes

Starting with the well-known "Bridges of Königsberg" riddle, we prove the well-known characterization of Eulerian graphs. We discuss Hamiltonian paths and give sufficient criteria for their existence with Dirac's and Ore's theorem.

What's included

2 videos1 assignment1 peer review

2 videosTotal 27 minutes
  • Eulerian Cycles11 minutes
  • Hamilton Cycles - Ore's and Dirac's Theorem16 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 60 minutes
  • Hamiltonian Cycles and Paths60 minutes
1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes
  • Hamiltonian Cycles and Paths120 minutes

We discuss spanning trees of graphs. In particular we present Kruskal's algorithm for finding the minimum spanning tree of a graph with edge costs. We prove Cayley's formula, stating that the complete graph on n vertices has n^(n-2) spanning trees.

What's included

2 videos1 assignment2 peer reviews

2 videosTotal 29 minutes
  • Minimum Spanning Trees14 minutes
  • The Number of Trees on n Vertices15 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 40 minutes
  • Spanning Trees40 minutes
2 peer reviewsTotal 220 minutes
  • Minimum Spanning Trees100 minutes
  • Counting Trees on n Vertices120 minutes

This module is about flow networks and has a distinctively algorithmic flavor. We prove the maximum flow minimum cut duality theorem.

What's included

2 videos1 assignment1 peer review

2 videosTotal 29 minutes
  • Flow Networks, Flows, Cuts: Basic Notions and Examples14 minutes
  • Flow Networks: The Maxflow - Mincut Theorem15 minutes
1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes
  • Network flow30 minutes
1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes
  • Network Flows120 minutes

We prove Hall's Theorem and Kőnig's Theorem, two important results on matchings in bipartite graphs. With the machinery from flow networks, both have quite direct proofs. Finally, partial orderings have their comeback with Dilworth's Theorem, which has a surprising proof using Kőnig's Theorem.

What's included

3 videos1 peer review

3 videosTotal 46 minutes
  • Matchings in Bipartite Graphs - Basic Notions and an Algorithm13 minutes
  • Matchings in Bipartite Graphs: Hall's and König's Theorem17 minutes
  • Partial Orders: Dilworth's Theorem on Chains and Antichains16 minutes
1 peer reviewTotal 60 minutes
  • Matchings in Bipartite Graphs60 minutes

Instructor

Instructor ratings
3.2 (25 ratings)
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
1 Course59,547 learners

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Showing 3 of 203

DD
·

Reviewed on Oct 13, 2024

This course is really interesting for me with many helpful tools.

SM
·

Reviewed on Sep 18, 2024

THIS IS VERY USEFUL COURSE FOR THE BEGINNER STUDENT

MY
·

Reviewed on Aug 8, 2017

Short course!! I use it to review my discrete math knowledge.

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