MAT344
Introduction to Combinatorics
Fall 2020
Course information
MAT344H1-F
Online synchronous on Zoom
MAT223 (Linear Algebra) or MAT240 (Algebra I)
Basic counting principles, generating functions, permutations with restrictions. Fundamentals of graph theory with algorithms; applications (including network flows). Combinatorial structures including block designs and finite geometries.
Instructors
name | sections | office hours | |
---|---|---|---|
Stanislav Balchev | stanislav.balchev@mail.utoronto.ca | LEC0101 LEC9101 | Monday 12:00—14:00 |
Maxence Mayrand | mayrand@math.toronto.edu | LEC0201 LEC9201 | Tuesday 17:00—18:00 and Thursday 13:00—14:00 |
Email is the preferred method of communication.
Lecture times
Lectures will be online on Zoom. Before each lecture, you will receive a link to the Zoom session from your official UofT email address. They will be recorded and available on Quercus.
LEC0101 LEC9101 — Stanislav Balchev
Monday10:00—12:00
Wednesday10:00—11:00
Monday, September 14, 2020
Thursday, December 10, 2020 (make-up day)
LEC0201 LEC9201 — Maxence Mayrand
Monday16:00—18:00
Tuesday16:00—17:00
Monday, September 14, 2020
Thursday, December 10, 2020 (make-up day)
Teaching assistants
name | tutorials | |
---|---|---|
Sina Abbasi | sina.abbasi@mail.utoronto.ca | TUT0201 TUT9201 |
Tomas Dominguez Chiozza | tomas.dominguezchiozza@mail.utoronto.ca | TUT0301 TUT9301 |
Mehmet Durlanik | durlanik@math.toronto.edu | TUT0401 TUT9401 |
Xiao Jie | xiao.jie@mail.utoronto.ca | TUT5201 TUT6201 |
Yuxuan Lin | lyx.lin@mail.utoronto.ca | TUT0101 TUT9101 |
Reila Zheng | reila@math.utoronto.ca | TUT0501 TUT5101 TUT5102 TUT6101 |
Tutorials
Tutorials will be online on Zoom. You will receive a link from your official UofT email address before each tutorial. You must register to the tutorial to get the link and be able to join.
The TAs will explain solutions to some exercises, answer your questions, and review the relevant course material.
Tutorials start in the week Sep 21—Sep 25 and continue every week until the week Nov 30—Dec 4, except for the reading week.
sections | time | TA |
---|---|---|
TUT0101 TUT9101 | Monday 13:00-14:00 | Yuxuan Lin |
TUT0201 TUT9201 | Tuesday 13:00-14:00 | Sina Abbasi |
TUT0301 TUT9301 | Wednesday 11:00-12:00 | Tomas Dominguez Chiozza |
TUT0401 TUT9401 | Thursday 16:00-17:00 | Mehmet Durlanik |
TUT0501 | Monday 09:00-10:00 | Reila Zheng |
TUT5101 TUT5102 TUT6101 | Tuesday 17:00-18:00 | Reila Zheng |
TUT5201 TUT6201 | Thursday 17:00-18:00 | Xiao Jie |
Textbook
Applied Combinatorics, by Keller and Trotter
It is freely available in html at the link above.
It is the most important resource for the course. We will follow it very closely.
Course content
The plan is to cover the following sections of the textbook:
1, 2, 3, 4.1, 5.1-5.6, 7, 8, 9, 13
Tentative schedule
week | sections | problem sets | note |
---|---|---|---|
Sep 14—Sep 18 | 2 | ||
Sep 21—Sep 25 | 2 | PS1 | first tutorial |
Sep 28—Oct 02 | 3 | PS2 | |
Oct 05—Oct 09 | 4, 5 | PS3 | |
Oct 12—Oct 16 | 5 | no class on Monday (Thanksgiving) | |
Oct 19—Oct 23 | 5 | PS4 | midterm on Monday |
Oct 26—Oct 30 | 7 | PS5 | |
Nov 02—Nov 06 | 8 | ||
Nov 09—Nov 13 | PS6 | reading week; no lecture and no tutorial | |
Nov 16—Nov 20 | 9 | PS7 | |
Nov 23—Nov 27 | 9 | PS8 | |
Nov 30—Dec 04 | 13 | PS9 | last tutorial |
Dec 07—Dec 11 | 13 | make-up class on Dec 10 |
Marking scheme
72%
12%
16%
Problem sets
9
72% Only your best 8 will count, and each will weight 9%.
There will only be a random subset of the questions that is marked. The number of questions will be announced in advance.
Problem sets are due on Sundays at 11:59PM (one minute before
midnight) and are released one week before. The due dates are:
PS1due September 27 at 11:59PM
PS2due October 4 at 11:59PM
PS3due October 11 at 11:59PM
PS4due October 25 at 11:59PM
PS5due November 1 at 11:59PM
PS6due November 15 at 11:59PM
PS7due November 22 at 11:59PM
PS8due November 29 at 11:59PM
PS9due December 6 at 11:59PM
The problem sets will be sent to you via Crowdmark.
You will be asked to submit your solutions electronically on Crowdmark.
No paper copy will be accepted.
The easiest way to upload your problem set is to use a scanner, but if
you don't have access to one, you can also use a scanner app on your
phone. Make sure that your work is legible before submitting it;
otherwise, it will not be accepted.
will be marked 0%
Solutions are not provided. This is to encourage you to consult with TAs, your fellow students, and the instructors to identify shortcomings in your grasp of the material.
Your submissions must be your own work, written independently, in your own words. Otherwise, it will be considered an offence under the University of Toronto's Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters (see section B.I.) and serious sanctions will be applied.
Midterm exam
12%
24-hour take home exam (open book) on Crowdmark
Monday, October 19, 11:59AM
Tuesday, October 20, 11:59AM
Final exam
16%
24-hour take home exam (open book) on Crowdmark
Friday, December 18, 14:00
Saturday, December 19, 14:00
Discussion forum
We will use Piazza, which is a discussion forum where you can ask as many questions as you like, and will receive answers from other students, the TAs, or the instructor.
To join the forum, go to piazza.com and
search for MAT344. You will also get an email invitation at the beginning
of the course. Alternatively, you can sign up using by cliking here.