Math 371 – Graph Theory – Fall 2019
Agreement
A goal of this course is to
offer a rigorous, welcoming, and rewarding experience to every student; you
will build that experience by devoting your strongest available effort to the
class. You will be challenged and supported. Please be prepared to take an
active, critical, patient, and generous role in your own learning and that of
your classmates.
General Information
Lecture: TT 1-2:20pm in Duncker 3
Professor: Laura Escobar
Office hours: Tuesdays 4-5pm, Wednesdays 3-4pm, or by appointment,
in Cupples I 211A
Email: laurae (at)
wustl (dot) edu
Website: Canvas, www.math.wustl.edu/~escobar/teaching/math371Fall19.html
Prerequisites
Math 310 or a roughly equivalent course, or permission of instructor. Students should know what a proof is and how to produce one. Some informal understanding of probability will be helpful, but students need not have taken a probability course.
Textbook and Topics
Introduction to Graph Theory (2nd edition) by Douglas B. West
You are encouraged to supplement lectures by reading the corresponding topics in the book. A detailed schedule will be kept in Canvas and updated as the course progresses.
Grading Information
|
Homework |
10% |
Due
weekly on Thursdays |
|
|
Quizzes |
10% |
Weekly on Thursdays |
|
|
Midterm |
30% |
October
24 |
|
|
Presentation |
15% |
November
19-21 |
~10
minute long |
|
Final |
35% |
December 17, 1-3pm |
Cumulative |
If you
miss the midterm for any reason, the missed exam grade will be replaced with
your final exam grade.
Absences on the final exam require a documented excuse
and meeting with the professor.
You are expected to regularly attend lectures, but especially all lectures during the week of presentations.
Letter grades will be given based on your overall score. The cutoffs will be no higher than the following: A-: 85%, B-: 70%, C-: 60%, D: 50%
Quizzes
There will be a quiz each week. It will consist of one problem from the homework due on that day. Your lowest quiz score will be dropped.
Homework
Learning graph theory requires constantly practicing solving problems. For this reason there will be weekly homework. The problems will be posted in Canvas and you will submit your solutions through Crowdmark.
Homework will be graded based on completion. Your
lowest homework assignment score will be dropped. For this reason, there will
be no late homework allowed. If, for whatever reason, you cannot or forget to
turn in a homework, it will count as your dropped homework score.
Collaboration and Citations: Group work on assignments is . You must acknowledge any collaborations, with a statement such as “I worked on problem 1 with XYZ and received help on problem 2 from ABC”. You are also allowed to use any resources to solve the homework provided you cite them properly. However, homework should be written up independently and using your own words.
Citations and acknowledgments are worth one point for each HW problem. Being honest about how you came up with the solutions will in no way affect your grade, but it is merely a matter of academic honesty. Failure to do so may lead to an academic integrity charge.
Academic Integrity
All students are expected to adhere to the University's academic integrity policy.
Plagiarism
is a form of cheating or fraud; it occurs when a student misrepresents the work
of another as their own. See above for details on what is allowed.
Do not
post any course materials online without my permission.
Presentation
During the week of November 19-21
there will be ~10-minute in class student presentations on a topic of each of
the students’ choice. It could be about a topic from the book, a solution to an
exercise, a paper in graph theory, or an application of graph theory to
industry.
Disability Resources (DR)
Special accommodations for exams are offered to students who have registered in a timely manner at Disability Resources (DR). Information about DR may be found at https://students.wustl.edu/disability-resources/. Students who desire to use this service should go to the DR early in the semester, well before the first exam. Once approved for accommodations, students should work with DR for these exams.
Academic Support
If you are looking for support in the areas of time management, navigating resources, managing procrastination, effective study strategies and test anxiety, meet with one of The Learning Center’s peer academic coaches (https://learningcenter.wustl.edu/academic-programs/develop-skills//) for strategies.
Acknowledgements
This syllabus is based on syllabi from previous semesters which were prepared by various Professors. Parts of this syllabus are based on Professor Federico Ardila’s syllabi for his courses at SFSU and Professor Alexander Yong’s courses at UIUC.