This course has 75-minute lectures twice a week and a discussion section once a week. You also need toknow about the textbook, how to get copies of announcements, handouts, etc. Note that we will also have examlets during the lecture hours, roughly once every two weeks.
50-minute discussion sections meet Tuesdays at 1:00pm, 2:00pm, 3:00pm, 4:00pm, and 5:00pm.
You are expected to attend lectures and discussion sections. If you cannot be there occasionally, you must arrange to pick up any handouts or returned homeworks you may have missed, e.g. by coming to office hours.
Also, note that we will have examlets (short exams) often in class, during the lecture hours, (roughly every other week). So you should definitely make sure you come to them.
To sign up for CS 173 on piazza, you will need an access code that will be given out in lecture (or ask a member of the course staff). Please check carefully that you're enrolling in the forum corresponding to your lecture (A or B). However, since Piazza is not part of the university, we cannot directly control what they may do with your email address. If you don't want to give them your U. Illinois email, you can use any email address you want, even an anonymous one.
In addition, this section in particular will have extra notes written for certain topics; these will be posted electronically.
You will need to purchase the manual of discussion problems, available for about $5 at the Union Bookstore. You should bring this to your assigned discussion each week.
If you want more detail, we have a second optional text: Discrete Mathematics and its Applications, Kenneth H. Rosen, 7th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2011. This is available from the book store or on-line booksellers. The 6th, 5th and international editions are good alternatives if you are on a tight budget. It's also on reserve at Grainger library.
Sometimes it helps to read explanations of an idea from several different people. We recommend the resources for MIT's course on "Mathemetics for Computer Science", especially the notes on Mathemetics for Computer Science by Lehman, Leighton, and Meyer.
Also on reserve at Grainger, you will find Martin Liebeck, "A Concise Introduction to Pure Mathematics." This text is designed for a course with somewhat different topic coverage, but it is very well written.