Undergraduate Seminar in Discrete Mathematics
Instructor: Souvik Dhara
Class schedule: Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30pm - 4:00pm, Room no. 2-147
Email: sdhara@mit.edu, Office: 2-232B. Use this calender to schedule a meeting.
Communication Specialist: Malcah Effron (Office: E18-228K, Email: meffron@mit.edu) Use Calendly to schedule a meeting.
Description
Participants read and present research material from Discrete mathematics and related topics. The goal is to learn to communicate mathematical ideas both in terms of presentation and writing. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Enrollment limited.
Each student will give three talks. The first two are 35 minutes chalkboard talks. The final one is a 20 minute slide presentation (based on the final report). Before the first talk, students must schedule a 1-hour meeting with me and Malcah Effron, to practice their talk. A final report has to be submitted at the end of the course. There are two mandatory preliminary report submissions, on which, feedback will be provided. There will also be two quizes based on the topics covered in the course.
There will be four workshops run by communication specialist Malcah Effron. Two workshops will be on presentation, one on writing, and one peer-review session.
Grading and Attendance policy
15% for the first chalkboard presentation and 20% for the second chalkboard presentation (35% total), 25% for the term paper, 20% for the slide presentation, 10% for each quiz (20% total).
Missing one's own talk, or missing more than three classes, will automatically result in a failure for the course. Exceptions will be granted only for students who have a note from Student Support Services.
Granding rubric for presentation and writing.
Reading material
Ten Lessons I wish I had been taught, by Gian-Carlo Rota.
Notes on Practical suggestions for mathematical speaking, by Bjorn Poonen.
Notes on Practical suggestions for mathematical writing, by Bjorn Poonen.