CS 1800 (Discrete Math) Schedule

CS 1800: Discrete Math
Schedule for Spring 2026

Topics have been partitioned into 6 sections, corresponding to 6 exams. Each section has a focus period, spanning approximately 11 weekdays (excluding holidays), during which you should study the relevant topics, do homework, participate in recitations, etc. Each section's exam is about one workweek after the end of its focus period.
Exams are in the Boston (EST) timezone, and will be finalized within the first week of the course.

Topics related to Exam 1
Focus period: January 7-21
- Propositions, if-then statements, and straightforward proofs (Resources: section 2)
- Sets (Resources: section 3)
- Proof by contrapositive, by contradiction, and by smallest counterexample (Resources: 4A)
- Pigeonhole principle (Resources: 4B)
- Non-constructive existence proofs (Resources: 4C)
- Exam 1: Wednesday, January 28. Tentative start time: 5pm. Duration 80 minutes.
Topics related to Exam 2
Focus period: January 22 - February 5
- Logic (Resources: section 5)
- Proof by induction (Resources: 4D)
- Exam 2: Friday, February 13. Tentative start time: 5pm. Duration 80 minutes.
Topics related to Exam 3
Focus period: February 6-23
- Summations (Resources: 6)
- Big-O notation; exaggerating and simplifying (Resources: 7)
- Recurrence relations using big-O (Resources: 8)
- Exam 3: Tuesday, March 10. Tentative start time: 5pm. Duration 80 minutes.
Topics related to Exam 4
Focus period: February 24 - March 17
- Graphs: intro (Resources: 9A)
- Cliques, Independent sets, Ramsey numbers (Resources: 9B)
- Connectivity and trees (Resources: 9C)
- Minimum Spanning Trees (MST) (Resources: 9D)
- Exam 4: Tuesday, March 24. Tentative start time: 5pm. Duration 80 minutes.
Topics related to Exam 5
Focus period: March 18 - April 1
- Planarity (Resources: 9E)
- Vertex coloring (Resources: 9F)
- Combinatorics (Resources: 10)
- Exam 5: Wednesday, April 8. Tentative start time: 5pm. Duration 80 minutes.
Topics related to Exam 6
Focus period: April 2-17
- Probability intro (Resources: 11A)
- Conditional probability (Resources: 11B)
- Random variables (Resources: 11C)
- Indicator random variables (IRV) (Resources: 11D)
- Exam 6: Thursday, April 23. Tentative start time: 5pm. Duration 80 minutes.