ECE 103: Discrete Mathematics for Engineers

Winter 2016 Course Outline

Objective. ECE 103 introduces first-year engineering students to basic concepts of discrete mathematics.
Through this course, we will gain familiarity with mathematical ideas of relevance to engineering on a
rigorous footing. Along the way, we will develop facility in logical reasoning and analytical thinking.
There are four major topics in this course: (1) Logic and proofs. (2) Number theory. (3) Counting and
probability. (4) Graph theory.
Instructor. Martin Pei. Office: MC 6492. Email: mpei@uwaterloo.ca. Extension: x35587.
Classes and tutorials. Lectures are being held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 12:30-1:20, RCH
302. Make up lectures are being held on several Tuesdays 2:30-3:20 at RCH 302, indicated in the schedule
below. Tutorials are being held on Tuesdays 12:30-2:20, the locations are:
Sec 101: RCH 207,

Sec 102: DWE 3516,

Sec 103: RCH 204.

Course website. Go to the University of Waterloos LEARN website learn.uwaterloo.ca to find news,
assignments, solutions and information about this course.
Course notes. Course notes are available at the Campus bookstore (SCH). Note: In lectures, we may
cover materials that are not in the course notes. You are advised to attend every lecture.
Schedule. This is a tentative schedule with topics that we plan to cover, subject to change.
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Dates
Jan 4, 6, 8
Jan 11, 13, 15
Jan 18, 20, 22 (*)
Jan 25, 27, 29
Feb 1, 3, 5 (*)
Feb 8, 10, 12
Feb 15-19
Feb 22-26
Feb 29, Mar 2, 4 (*)
Mar 7, 9, 11
Mar 14, 16, 18 (*)
Mar 21, 23, 25
Mar 28, 30 (*)
Apr 4

Topics
6.1-6.3 Counting
6.4 Discrete probability
1.1-1.6 Logic, quantifiers, proofs
1.7, 2.1 Induction, divisibility
2.3, 2.4 Greatest common divisors, EEA, LDE
2.5, 3.1 Primes, congruences
Reading week
Midterm week (Midterm Feb 23)
3.3, 3.4, 4.1 Linear congruences, CRT, FlT
5.2, 9.1 RSA, Graph theory
9.3, 10.1 Paths, cycles, Eulerian circuits, connectivity
10.2, 10.3 Trees, minimum spanning trees
11.1-11.3 Planar graphs
11.4 Colouring

(*) Possible make-up lectures.

Assignments
A0 due Jan 8
A1 due Jan 15
A2 due Jan 22
A3 due Jan 29
A4 due Feb 5
A5 due Feb 12

A6 due Mar 4
A7 due Mar 11
A8 due Mar 18
A9 due Mar 25
A10 due Mar 31

Assignments. There are 10 written assignments. Assignments are due on most Fridays at 8:30am (the
exception is A10, which is due on a Thursday). There is a 50% penalty for handing in the assignment up
to 24 hours late. After that, your assignment will count as 0. No exceptions will be made to the penalty
under any circumstances.
We will be using the Crowdmark system for submitting assignments. More information will be given
in the first week. There will be an assignment 0 during the first week to help you familiarize with the
Crowdmark system. This assignment is not for marks.
Guidelines on completing the assignments. You may work on the assignments in small groups (and
are encouraged to do so, in case of difficulty). You may also consult your instructors or TAs during their
office hours and tutorials. However, you must write up the solutions on your own. This means that you
may not write up your solutions while you are with a group, and you should not consult any notes you
have taken during your group discussions while writing up your solutions. You also need to mention all
sources of help (except your instructors and TAs).
In addition, you may not use electronic resources for help with assignment questions directly. For example, you may read internet materials to learn about Kuratowskis Theorem, however, you may not
directly search for an assignment question on Kuratowskis Theorem. Also, you are not allowed to use
solutions obtained from previous offerings of this course. Any submitted assignments that are suspected
of cheating will be sent directly to the First Year Engineering Office.
Solutions will be posted on Learn after the due date.
Tutorials and quizzes. Tutorials are being held on Tuesdays, starting from the second week. Each tutorial runs for 1 hour and 50 minutes. In the first hour and twenty minutes of the tutorials, the TA will
present problems related to the assignment and the lecture materials from the previous week. There is
also an opportunity for a discussion of the assignment problems, and you are encouraged to approach the
TAs with any difficulty you face in the lectures and assignment during this time.
During the last half hour of the tutorial, there will be a quiz, which each of you is required to complete on
your own. The problems assigned in the quiz will be of similar difficulty to the ones in the assignment,
and will test the same material. You are free to consult the text or your notes for the quiz. However, you
are not allowed to discuss the problems with your classmates.
The quiz will be collected at the end of the tutorial. There will be 10 quizzes. All quizzes must be written
in your tutorial section during tutorial hours, no make-up quizzes are available if you missed them.
If you have a job interview whose time slot is in conflict with the quiz, please approach the TA prior to
the start of the tutorial to make arrangements on writing the quiz earlier during the tutorial.
Exams. There will be one midterm exam and one final exam. The midterm will be held on Tuesday
February 23, 12:30-2:20 PM. The final exam will be comprehensive, and is scheduled by the Office of
the Registrar. Missed exams will count as 0 unless suitable medical documentation is provided to the
first-year engineering office. There will not be any make-up exams.
Calculators. You may use a non-graphical non-programmable calculator during quizzes and exams.
Final grade. 9% assignments, 8% quizzes, 23% midterm, 60% final exam.
Your two lowest quiz grades and one lowest assignment grade will be dropped. This accommodates any
illness, absence, late enrolment, quizzes lost in the grading process, and . Other accommodations can be
made under extenuating circumstances on the advisement of the first-year engineering office.

Academic Integrity. In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of
Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. For more
information, check www.uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity.
Grievance. A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has
been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm.
When in doubt please be certain to contact the departments administrative assistant who will provide
further assistance.
Discipline. A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing academic offenses and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action
constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or
about rules for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic
advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offenses and types of
penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline,
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm.
For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties,
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/guidelines/penaltyguidelines.htm.
Appeals. A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other
than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who
believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals,
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm.
Students with disabilities. The AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with them at the beginning of each academic
term.