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\handout{course-information}{Course Information}{September 10, 1998}
\section{Staff}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{llrr}
Lecturers: & Prof. Srini Devadas & NE43-258 & x3-0454\\
           & \multicolumn{1}{r}{\tt devadas@mit.edu} & &\\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & Fridays (NE43-258)  & 1--3pm\\
      & Prof. Nancy Lynch & NE43-365  & x3-7225\\
   &  \multicolumn{1}{r}{\tt lynch@lcs.mit.edu} & &\\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours:  & Wednesdays (NE43-365)  & 4-5pm\\
Teaching Assistants: & Eric Lehman (Head TA) & NE43-336 & x3-5971\\
 & \multicolumn{1}{r} {\tt e\_lehman@theory.lcs.mit.edu} & &\\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & Mondays  & 2-5pm\\
& Alex Duran & NE43-338  & x3-7583\\ 
& \multicolumn{1}{r}{\tt amsduran@mit.edu} & & \\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & &\\
&Sarfraz Khurshid & &
\multicolumn{1}{r} insert email address\\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & &\\
& Brian Dean & 2-342 &x3-4102 \\
\multicolumn{1}{r} {\tt bdean@mit.edu}\\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & &  \\
& Adam Gould & &\\   
\multicolumn{1}{r} {\tt agould@mit.edu}\\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & &\\
& Alex Sherman & &\\
\multicolumn{1}{r}{\tt asherman@mit.edu} \\
\vspace{0.2in} & Office Hours: & &\\
& TBA & &\\
\multicolumn{1}{r} insert email\\
\vspace{0.2in} & & Office Hours: \\  

Course Secretaries: & Joanne Talbot & NE43-366  & x3-6054\\
\multicolumn{1}{r}{\tt joanne@theory.lcs.mit.edu} 

& Irena Sebada & NE43-201, & x3-2322\\
\multicolumn{1}{r} {\tt irena@supertech.lcs.mit.edu}
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\section{Prerequisites and ``antirequisites''}

The only official prerequisite for the course is 18.01.  
You should be familiar with sequences and series, limits, and
integration and differentiation of univariate functions.

Most of you are probably already familiar with logical notation,
elementary set theory, and elementary facts about numbers.  
In order to make sure that you are up to speed on this material,
you should read Sections 1.1--1.5 and 2.3 of Rosen's {\it Discrete Mathematics
and Its Applications} during the first week of the course.

If you have taken 18.063, 18.310, or 6.046, you should not take
this course.
(To learn probability, we recommend that those students instead take 6.041,
18.440, 18.313, or 18.05.  Students can substitute 18.063 for 6.042 in
the EECS department M.Eng.\ and S.B. requirements.)

\section{Lectures}

Lectures will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:00 in Room
6-120.
Attendance in lectures is highly recommended.  
Lecture notes from past years are available on the Web, but there will
be differences. 
Lecture notes for new material will be handed out in time for exams,
but not in time to help with homework.  
So to keep up, you will need to attend lecture.

\section{Tutorials}

You {\bf must} attend a two-hour tutorial every Friday. 
{\bf ATTENDANCE WILL BE TAKEN.}  
Each tutorial will consist of approximately 12 students, so there
will be a good opportunity for you to ask questions and to interact
with an instructor.
The emphasis of the tutorials is on techniques for solving problems,
although new material will occasionally be presented.  
During the second hour or so, the students will work in groups of
three or four and each group will be assigned a problem to solve as a
team.  
The instructor will then ask one member from one or more groups to
present the solutions to the entire tutorial.  
If the presentation is not satisfactory, the TA may ask the entire
group to write up the solution.

\section{Handouts and course notebook}

In order to keep your handouts organized, get a loose-leaf notebook
for the course.  All handouts will be on standard three-hole punched
paper and will be numbered consecutively.  Handouts will be available
in a file cabinet outside room NE43-309.

Handouts in postscript format can be obtained through the class web
site at {\tt http:// theory.lcs.mit.edu/classes/6.042}.  You can also
reach them by anonymous FTP at {\tt theory.lcs.mit.edu} in the
directory {\tt pub/classes/6.042/fall98}.

%[[[Eric set this up]]]

\section{Books}

The required textbooks for the course, which can be purchased at the
Kendall Coop are: \\

Kenneth H. Rosen.  {\em Discrete Mathematics and its Applications},
Third Edition, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, 1995.

Antonella Cupillari.  {\em The Nuts and Bolts of Proofs}, PWS
Publishing Company, Boston MA, 1993.

YOU SHOULD READ {\it The Nuts and Bolts of Proofs\/} COVER-TO-COVER
DURING THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF THE COURSE.
{\it Discrete Mathematics and its Applications\/} will serve as a
useful reference for most of the course material.  

Both texts are available at The Coop under the heading 18.062.

\section{Exams}

There will be one quiz from 7pm to 9pm on the evening of Wednesday,
November 4.  
There will be a 3-hour final exam during the Final Exam Period at the
end of the term.  

\section{Problem Sets}

Problem sets will be assigned weekly.  
They will usually be handed out in lecture on Tuesday to cover that
week's lectures and tutorial, and then due in lecture on the following
Tuesday.
{\bf PROBLEM SETS WILL BE COLLECTED AT THE START OF CLASS.}  
Any problem sets turned in past {\bf 2:30pm} will be considered late.
{\bf LATE PROBLEM SETS WILL BE PENALIZED 20\% OF THEIR GRADE.}
Also:
{\bf A PROBLEM SET WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED IF IT IS MORE THAN 2 DAYS LATE.}

Solutions to the problem sets will usually be distributed in the
lecture or tutorial following the one in which they were due.
%[[[Eric:  Probably we should just put them on the Web.]]]
Please clearly mark your problem sets with
(1) your name, 
(2) the date, 
(3) problem numbers, and 
(4) the name of your tutorial instructor.
Also, {\bf ACKNOWLEDGE, AT THE TOP, ANY PERSONS YOU COLLABORATED WITH
ON THE PROBLEM SETS}.  Your name should appear on every page.

Try to be as clear and precise as possible in your written solutions.
Understandability of the solution is as desirable as correctness.
Sloppy answers will be at a disadvantage and will receive fewer points
even if they are correct.  Do not use red ink to write up your
homework, because red is our color for grading.

If you are unable to complete a homework by the date assigned, 
please talk to your TA {\em in advance}. 
If you are unhappy with the way that
your homework has been graded, see your TA\@.  Questions, suggestions,
and complaints will be welcomed by the course staff.

When turning in a problem set, be sure to place it in the box that is
labelled with the name of your tutorial instructor.

\section{Collaboration}

You are encouraged to collaborate in solving the homeworks.  
Study groups provide an excellent means of mastering the course
material.
(Besides, they are fun.)
You must write up solutions on your own, however.  
If you do collaborate on homeworks, you must cite all of your
collaborators on the written problem set.  You must neither copy
solutions nor provide solutions to be copied.  {\bf YOUR WRITE-UP OF A
PROBLEM SOLUTION MUST BE ENTIRELY YOURS.}  

{\bf NO COLLABORATION WILL BE ALLOWED ON EXAMS.}  

Plagiarism, cheating, and other anti-intellectual behavior will be
dealt with severely.  If you feel you may have violated this code of
ethics, please talk with either Prof. Devadas or Prof. Lynch.
Note that it will be far better if you contact us, rather than vice-versa,
in cases where there is a violation of the code of ethics.

Please realize that we understand the pressure that you may
experience while at MIT and that we will try to help you as best as we
can.

\section{Your grade}

%[[[Eric:  It looks like the grading software needs to be adjusted
%(slightly different formulas.)
%Is this something you can handle?]]]

Your grade for the course will be based on your performance in
tutorials and on problem sets, and exams, as follows:

\subsection{Tutorials--20\%}

Each of the 12 tutorials will be worth 100 points.  
You will get 100 points if you show up at tutorial and
participate actively.
You will get 50 points if you show up and sleep, and 0 points if you
don't show up.
Your usual grade (we hope) will be 100 points, although your
instructor can lower your score if he/she feels that you are not
putting forth a serious effort. 
Your overall tutorial grade will be the average of your 11 best
tutorial scores (i.e., the lowest tutorial score is dropped before
averaging).

\subsection{Problem Sets--30\%}

Each of the 11 problem sets will be worth 100 points.  
Your overall grade for problem sets will be the average of your 10
best scores (i.e., the lowest score will be dropped before averaging).  

\subsection{Exams (Quiz 20\%, Final 30\%)}

Each exam score will be normalized to 100 points.  
If the median $m$ of an exam turns out to be very low (below 70),
the grades for that exam will by curved, by multiplying the
by $\frac{70}{m}$  to account for the fact that the exam was too hard.  
(However, you can't get more than 100 points for any exam.)
If you miss an exam without a valid reason, you will receive a score
of 0.

\subsection{Total Score}

Your {\em total score\/} for the course will be computed by adding
20\% of the tutorial and quiz scores 
and
30\% of the problem set and final scores.  
All values will be rounded to the next higher multiple of 0.1.  
For example, here is the calculation of a typical total score:

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lrcrcrr}
Tutorials   &  100.0  $\times$ &  .2  = & 20.00\\
Problem Sets&   87.4  $\times$ &  .3  = & 26.22\\
Quiz         &  55.0  $\times$ &  .2  = & 11.00\\
Final Exam   &  75.3  $\times$ &  .3  = & \underline{22.59}\\
\multicolumn{3}{c}{Total Score}&&&  79.81 &   $\Rightarrow$ 79.9 
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

Because we have found that many students perform well in the class
except for one exam, 
we will automatically take into account such an anomaly by 
replacing one-half of the contribution of either the quiz or the final
(but not both) with the (unadjusted) total score.  
(One exceptions:  We will not adjust an exam score of 0!)
For the example above, we would compute the adjusted total score
as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lrcrcrr}
Tutorials   &  100.0&  $\times$&  .2 &  = & 20.00 &\\
Problem Set  &   87.4&  $\times$&  .3&   =&  26.22& \\
Adjusted Quiz&  $\frac{55.0 + 79.9}{2}$& $\times$ & .2&  = & 13.49& \\
Final Exam   &   75.3  $\times$  .3  =  \underline{22.59}& \\
\multicolumn{3}{c}{Adjusted Total Score}&&&    82.30 & $\Rightarrow$ 82.3
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\noindent
Whether or not to adjust, and if so, which exam score to adjust, will
always be decided so as to maximize the adjusted total score.
The adjusted total score will be converted into a final grade for the course using the following scale:

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{rcrl}
97.0  & --  & 100.0   &   A+\\
93.0  & --  & 96.9    &   A\\
90.0  & --   & 92.9    &  A--\\
87.0  & --   & 89.9    &  B+\\
83.0  & --   & 86.9    &  B\\
80.0  & --   & 82.9   &   B--\\
77.0  & --  &  79.9   &   C+\\
73.0  & --  &  76.9   &   C\\
70.0 &  --  &  72.9    &  C--\\
67.0 &  --  &  69.9    &  D+\\
63.0 &  --   & 66.9    &  D\\
60.0  & --  &  62.9    &  D--\\
-0-  &  --   & 59.9    &  F
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

%[[[Eric:  I changed the A-- to B+.  Is this reasonable?  I was
%thinking that the grades should come out about 
%40% A, 40% B, 20% C -- does this work out?]]]

If your adjusted total score that is within 2 points of
the next grade level (e.g., 85.3), then we reserve the option of
raising your grade to the next higher level.
Such an adjustment of the final grade will be made on a case-by-case basis.

\subsection{How to get a good grade}

The exams will be hard,
so it is important that you do well on the problem sets and tutorials in
order to raise your total score.
We have arranged things this way on purpose, because we know that the
problem sets and tutorials are essential to learning the material.
Be sure to keep up day-to-day---the material has a lot of dependency,
you can easily get lost otherwise.

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