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CS 261 Fall 2025

Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science

Note: Schedule is subject to change.

Week 1: Introduction, Logic

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 8/18

Introduction to the class
Class Introduction slides

Fill out this form to be considered for an override.

Wednesday 8/19

Propositional logic
Propositions
Truth tables
Logic operators: not, and, or, exclusive or
Implications: conditional

Reading: Chapter 1, Sections 1.1-1.2

Friday 8/21

Implications cont.: biconditional

Quiz

Week 2: Logic and Inference

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 8/25

Logical Equivalences
DeMorgan's laws

Reading: Chapter 1, Section 1.3

Wednesday 8/27

Predicate logic
Quantifiers: for all, there exists

Reading: Chapter 1, Sections 1.4 -1.5

Friday 8/29

Quantifiers cont.

Quiz

Week 3: Logic and Inference cont.

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 9/1

NO CLASS, Labor Day

Wednesday 9/3

The rules of inference

Reading: Chapter 1, Sections 1.6

Friday 9/5

Rules of inference cont.

Quiz

DROP DEADLINE SEPT 6
Last day to drop without paying tuition and receiving a W on transcript.

Week 4: Logic and Inference cont.

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 9/8

Rules of inference cont.

Wednesday 9/10

Rules of inference cont.

Friday 9/12

NO CLASS

In-Class Assignment Due at end of class

Week 5: No Class

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 9/15

NO CLASS

Homework 1 due Tuesday

Wednesday 9/17

NO CLASS

Friday 9/19

NO CLASS

Week 6: Proofs

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 9/22

Proofs
Direct proofs

Reading: Chapter 1, Section 1.7

Wednesday 9/24

Proofs cont.
Proofs by contraposition

Reading: Chapter 1, Section 1.8

Friday 9/26

Division
Dividend, divisor, quotient, and remainder
Modulo
Congruence

Quiz

Reading: Chapter 4, Section 4.1

Week 7: Number Theory

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 9/29

Base in mathematics
Representing numbers in different bases (ie: decimal, hexadecimal, octal, binary)
Bases, operations, and algorithms

Reading: Chapter 4, Section 4.2

Wednesday 10/1

Review
Propositional logic: propositions, truth tables, logical equivalence, tautologies, DeMorgan's laws, translating into sentences
Rules of inference: reasoning about hypotheses and conclusions, applying rules of inference
Predicate logic: quantifiers, DeMorgan's laws, translating into sentences
Proofs: direct proof, proof by contraposition, proof by contradiction

Number theory: divisibility, modulo operator, congruence, base conversions, primes, gcd, lcm, Euclidean algorithm. Number theory proofs

Friday 10/3

Review
Propositional logic: propositions, truth tables, logical equivalence, tautologies, DeMorgan's laws, translating into sentences
Rules of inference: reasoning about hypotheses and conclusions, applying rules of inference
Predicate logic: quantifiers, DeMorgan's laws, translating into sentences
Proofs: direct proof, proof by contraposition, proof by contradiction

Number theory: divisibility, modulo operator, congruence, base conversions, primes, gcd, lcm, Euclidean algorithm. Number theory proofs

Week 8: Exam

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 10/6

Exam 1

Exam 1

Homework 2 due Tuesday

Wednesday 10/8

NO CLASS

Friday 10/10

FALL BREAK

Week 9: Number Theory Cont.

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 10/13

Review exam 1 problems

Wednesday 10/15

Primes.Greatest common divisors and least common multiples.

Reading: Chapter 4, Section 4.3-4.4

Friday 10/17

Primes.Greatest common divisors and least common multiples. Cont.

Reading: Chapter 4, Section 4.3-4.4

Week 10: Number Theory cont. and Sets

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 10/20

Euclidean algorithm for gcds
gcds as Linear Combinations.

Reading: Chapter 4, Section 4.3-4.4

Wednesday 10/22

Euclidean algorithm for gcds
gcds as Linear Combinations.

Reading: Chapter 4, Section 4.3-4.4

Friday 10/24

Chinese remainder theorem. Introduction to sets
Set description: roster method and set builder notation
Important numerical sets
Intervals
Equality of sets
Subsets and proper subsets
Venn diagrams

Reading: Chapter 2, Section 2.1-2.2

Week 11: Sets cont. and Time Complexity of Algorithms

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 10/27

Power sets
n-tuples and ordered pairs
Cartesian product
Introduction to set operations

Reading: Chapter 2, Section 2.3-2.4

Wednesday 10/29

Introduction to cardinality. Set operations
Union
Intersection
Difference
Symmetric Difference
Complement

Reading Chapter 2, Section 2.5-2.6

Friday 10/31

The growth of functions and complexity of algorithms.

Reading: Chapter 3, Section 3.2-3.3

Week 12: Induction, recursion and sequences

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 11/3

Introduction to induction.

Reading: Chapter 5, Section 5.1-5.2

Wednesday 11/5

Sequences and recursion.

Reading: Chapter 5, Section 5.3-5.5 

Homework 3 Due

Friday 11/7

Sequences and recursion. Cont

Reading: Chapter 5, Section 5.3-5.5

Week 13: Relations cont. and Exam 2

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 11/10

Introduction to Counting and Combinatorics
Product rule
Sum rule.

Reading: Chapter 6, Section 6.1-6.3

Wednesday 11/12

Review
Number Theory: Euclidean algorithm, finding inverses, Chinese Remainder Theorem
Sets: set builder notation, Venn diagrams, cardinality, power set and Cartesian product, subsets and proper subsets, set operations: union, intersection, complement, difference, set identities, proofs with sets
Functions: functions as mappings from one set to another, domain and co-domain, one-to-one, onto, one-to-one correspondence, invertible
Sequences and Sums: calculating terms in a sequence given a definition, arithmetic and geometric sequences, recurrence relations, solutions to recurrence relations, finding a definition given the sequence, calculating basic sums

Friday 11/14

Exam 2

Week 14: Relations cont.

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 11/17

Bayes’ Theorem and Recurrence relations.

Reading: Chapter 7, Section 7.3
Reading: Chapter 8, Section 8.1-8.2

Wednesday 11/19

Recurrence relations cont.

Reading: Chapter 8, Section 8.3-8.5

Friday 11/21

Graphs, Euler and Hamilton paths, shortest-path problems.

Reading: Chapter 10, Section 10.5-10.8

Week 15: Trees cont. and State Machines

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 11/24

Introduction to trees and boolean algebra

Reading: Chapter 11, Section 11.1-11.2

Wednesday 11/26

State machines.

Reading: Chapter 13, Section 13.1-13.5

Homework 4 Due

Friday 11/28

THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week 16: Final Exam

DAY

TOPIC

HOMEWORK DUE

Monday 12/1

Review
Propositional logic: propositions, truth tables, logical equivalence, tautologies, DeMorgan's laws, translating into sentences
Rules of inference: reasoning about hypotheses and conclusions, applying rules of inference
Predicate logic: quantifiers, DeMorgan's laws, translating into sentences
Proofs: direct proof, proof by contraposition, proof by contradiction

Number theory: divisibility, modulo operator, congruence, base conversions, primes, gcd, lcm, Euclidean algorithm. Number theory proofs, Euclidean algorithm, finding inverses, Chinese Remainder Theorem

Sets: set builder notation, Venn diagrams, cardinality, power set and Cartesian product, subsets and proper subsets, set operations: union, intersection, complement, difference, set identities, proofs with sets
Functions: functions as mappings from one set to another, domain and co-domain, one-to-one, onto, one-to-one correspondence, invertible

Sequences and Sums: calculating terms in a sequence given a definition, arithemetic and geometric sequences, recurrance relations, solutions to recurrance relations, finding a definition given the sequence, calculating basic sums

Counting and Combinatorics: product rule, sum rule.

Wednesday 12/3

Final Exam part 1

Final Exam part 1

Friday 12/5

Final Exam part 2

Final Exam part 2

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