Math 311W: Discrete Mathematics Fall 2009
Penn State University Sections 1,2,4

Instructor: David Little
Office: 403 McAllister
Office Hours: MW 10-11, TR 4-5:30 and by appointment
Phone: (814) 865-3329
Fax: (814) 865-3735
E-mail:dlittle@psu.edu

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Course Topics

CHAPTER 1 Number Theory
1.1 The division algorithm and greatest common divisors
divisibility of integers, greatest common divisor and least common multiple, Eulcidean algorithm, relatively prime
1.2 Mathematical Induction
principle of mathematical induction, base case, inductive step, inductive hypothesis, strong induction
1.3 Primes and the Unique Factorization Theorem
prime numbers, sieve of Eratosthenes, Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
1.4 Congruence classes
a congruent to b modulo n, congruence classes, the algebra of congruence classes, invertible, zero-divisors
1.5 Solving linear congruences
linear congruences
1.6 Euler's Theorem and public key codes
order modulo n, Fermat's Theorem, Euler's phi-function, Euler's Theorem, public key codes
CHAPTER 2 Sets, functions and relations
2.1 Elementary set theory
element of a set, equality of sets, empty set, subset, proper subsets, Venn diagrams, universal set, complement, relative complement, union, intersection, disjoint, the algebra of sets, Cartesian product
2.2 Functions
function/map, domain, codomain, image, surjection (onto), injection (one-to-one), bijection, permutation, composition of functions, inverse, cardinality of sets
2.3 Relations
relation, reflexive, symmetric, transitive, equivalence relation, equivalence classes
CHAPTER 3 Logic and mathematical argument
3.1 Propositional logic
proposition, negation, and, or (inclusive/exclusive), truth table, implication, converse, contrapositive, tautology, contradiction, logical equivalence, logical identities (commutativity, associativity, distributivity, De Morgan laws, etc.)
3.2 Quantifiers
universal and existential quantifiers, negation of quantified statements
3.3 Some proof strategies
examples and counterexamples, direct proof, proof by contradiction, proof by cases, proof by contrapositive, showing equality of sets, induction
CHAPTER 4 Examples of groups
4.1 Permutations
permutation, symmetric group, transposition, cycle, disjoint cycles, two-line notation, cycle notation, cycle decomposition
4.2 The order and sign of a permutation
the order of a permutation, the sign of a permutation, even/odd permutations
4.3 Definition and examples of groups
group, binary operator, closure, identity, inverse, associativity, commutative/Abelian, alternating group, general linear group, dihedral group
4.4 Algebraic structures
semigroup, ring, field, zero-divisor, integral domain, vector space,
CHAPTER 5 Group theory and error-correcting codes
5.1 Preliminaries
order of a group element, subgroup, cyclic group,
5.2 Cosets and Lagrange's Theorem
left/right cosets, the order of a group, Lagrange's Theorem
5.3 Groups of small order
5.4 Error-detecting and error-correcting codes