**Major Requirement
(for B.A. and B.S.)**
Course Description:
Students frequently ask, “What math do I need to know to be
a computer science major?” The answer is: the math that makes
up CSCI 250, Discrete Structures.
This course collects together all of the math topics that
are important in the core of computer science and presents
them to you in seven weeks. The topics here are essential
for success both as a computer science student in later coursework
and as a computer scientist in the workplace.
The topics covered and their application in computer science
are:
| Propositional Logic |
Determining the logical structure of programs
and reasoning about the correctness of programs |
Sets
|
Finding efficient data structures and understanding
how to manipulate them effectively |
Relations
|
Important for creating algorithms and understanding
the organization of databases |
Functions
|
Useful for doing recursion efficiently and effectively
and in determining the efficiency of any program |
Probability
|
Important tool for analysis of algorithms and programs
for efficiency and for understanding how machines execute
code |
Combinatorics
|
Facilitates the construction of algorithms so that
all possible cases are handled |
| Boolean Algebra |
Know how logic circuits are designed and operate and
improve ability to apply logic to program design |
| Positional Number Systems |
Know how numbers are represented in the computer and
how to exploit that knowledge to do computations with
less error and more efficiently |
Offerings:
Offered during spring semesters.
Instructor:
This course is usually taught by all computer science faculty.
Prerequisites:
CSCI 112 or equivalent. See the
department
policy on prerequisites.
Comments
from Previous Students:
- "In a short period of time I learned and understood a
great deal of material that will be essential for my future
in computer science instead of just memorizing information."
- "I learned how to think logically and was prepared for
the next course of computer organization."
- "The material taught in this course was applicable to
my life."
- "The course material was interesting and made me think."
- "I learned a new way of thinking in here."
Catalog Description:
An introduction to the discrete mathematical structures
that are fundamental to the field of Computer Science.
Topics include propositional logic, sets, Boolean algebra,
switching circuits, functions, relations, and combinatorics.
Prerequisite: Computer Science 112.
Two Credits Staff Fall Semester
|
