Intermediate Counting & Probability

Description
This course covers a variety of powerful tools in discrete mathematics, including clever one-to-one correspondences, principle of inclusion-exclusion, generating functions, distributions, pigeonhole principle, induction, constructive counting and expectation, combinatorics, recursion, and conditional probability. Discrete mathematics is an important area for computer science; students who complete this course will have a huge advantage when they encounter discrete mathematics in college.

Class Outline
Week 1: Review of Counting & Probability Basics Week 2: Principle of Inclusion & Exclusion I Week 3: Principle of Inclusion & Exclusion II Week 4: Constructive Counting Week 5: One-to-one Correspondences and Counting Week 6: The Pigeonhole Principle Week 7: Constructive Expectation Week 8: Distributions Week 9: Mathematical Induction and Fibonacci Numbers Week 10: Recursion and Catalan Numbers Week 11: Conditional Probability Week 12: Combinatorial Identities Week 13: Events with States Week 14: Generating Functions I Week 15: Generating Functions II Week 16: Graph Theory I Week 17: Graph Theory II Week 18: Challenging Problems

Who should take this class

Students should have a complete mastery of basic counting as described in the diagnostic test below before taking this course. Students should also have a solid algebra background through at least Algebra 2. Students who have completed the Art of Problem Solving Algebra 3 and Introduction to Counting & Probability classes should feel comfortable taking this class. (However, students are not required to take these classes before taking Intermediate Counting & Probability - use the diagnostic test below to determine if this class is right for you.)