Course: MCS 584: Enumerative Combinatorics
Call no: 43425
Time: MWF 11:00-11:50pm
Place: 202 Lincoln Hall (in person)

Professor: Dhruv Mubayi
Office: 620 SEO
E-mail: mubayi@uic.edu
Course Web Page: http://www.math.uic.edu/~mubayi/584/584Fall25Syllabus.html
Office Hours: W 2-4 and by appointment

Grading Policies and Points Breakdown:
Your grade will be based on homework assignments roughly every 2-3 weeks and occasional pop quizes (80%), and attendance and participation (20%). A grade of 80% on homework and pop quizzes (meaning 16/20 for each homework or pop quiz) will usually correlate with an A in the course, assuming good attendance and participation. You can discuss homework with each other but must write it up independently with no help from anyone else. Do not search the web for solutions, but you are permitted to search the web for definitions (or just email me)

Homework *MUST* be typed in Latex and posted on blackboard as a pdf file before class begins on the day it is due.

Accommodations: Disability Policy - Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and participation in this course must be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Please contact ODS a 312/413/-2183 (voice) or 312/413-0123 (TTY).

Prerequisite: Undergraduate mathematics (algebra, analysis, probability, combinatorics) and the mathematical maturity of a beginning graduate student.

Course Description: This course is a general introduction to discrete structures, which include graphs, partially ordered sets, hypergraphs, codes and designs. We will cover a very broad array of topics, focusing on enumerative questions and results. The emphasis is on methods, and we will showcase these via algebraic, probabilistic, and analytic techniques. Since combinatorics plays such an important role in a variety of areas of mathematics, statistics, and computer science, the course should provide something useful to students in all these areas.

Course Goals and Learning Objectives: To gain proficiency in understanding the fundamental discrete structures of mathematics

Optional Coure Materials: A course in Combinatorics, Van Lint and Wilson

Policy for missed or late work, including acceptance of revised work: Homework turned in late will not be graded unless prior approval of the instructor has been obtained.

Attendance/Participation Policy: Attendance is required and students are expected to actively participate and engage with the material during lectures.

Community Agreement/Classroom Conduct Policy: Community Agreement: Ground Rules for a Safe/Brave Space

• Be present (turn off cell phones and remove yourself from other distractions)
• Be respectful
• Assume good will
• Challenge with care - approach discussion as a "think out loud"
• Take space/make space
• Identities stay, learning leaves
• Try not to make assumptions, seek to understand, not to judge
• Be open to challenges as an opportunity to learn something new
• Be open to different perspectives
• Debate the concepts not the person
• Be flexible when things dont work
• Share helpful tips
• Use preferred names and gender pronouns
• No side conversations
• Be willing to work together