Module Information

This course introduces mathematical tools required in the study of computer science. Topics include: (1) Logic and proof techniques: propositions, conditionals, quantifications. (2) Relations and Functions: Equivalence relations and partitions. Partially ordered sets. Well-Ordering Principle. Function equality. Boolean/identity/inverse functions. Bijection. (3) Mathematical formulation of data models (linear model, trees, graphs). (4) Counting and Combinatoric: Pigeonhole Principle. Inclusion-Exclusion Principle. Number of relations on a set, number of injections from one finite set to another, Diagonalisation proof: An infinite countable set has an uncountable power set; Algorithmic proof: An infinite set has a countably infinite subset. Subsets of countable sets are countable.

~ NUSMods

Personal thoughts

Personally, I feel that this module is an IQ test and is very new to me.

During the previous education phases in my life, I have not touched anything related to logic. The different laws of boolean algebra and how to manipulate them felt really weird for me. Individually, each of the laws made sense. However, when using them in conjunction, it does not seem intuitive to me initially.

During the start of the semester, I had to use a lot of time to understand each of them at the deeper level.

The extra time spent really helped me understand the topics which were taught later. The mid terms for my semester was really easy, many of my friends also scored very well. However, the finals are really hard, during the paper collection, many students had an empty last page for the final question.

We are allowed to bring a 2 page cheat sheet. Some of the cheat sheets can be found in the links section below.

I actually expected myself to score lower but somehow got a B+. The bell curve gods have answered my prayers.

  • Expected Grades: B
  • Actual Grades: B+
  1. NUSMods

Notes

  1. Summarized Cheat sheet

Textbooks

  1. Discrete Math with applications
  2. Introduction to Advanced Mathematics
  3. CS1231 Ref Book
  4. Handbook of Discrete and combinatorial mathematics

Papers

  1. Assignment 1 Answer
  2. Assignment 2
  3. Exam 17 S1
  4. Exam 19/20 S1

Other Reviews

  1. ZhongJun’s Review
  2. Bernard’s Review