Discrete Mathematics (Mathematical Methods for Computer Science 1)
2026-2027 in Fribourg
Lectures: Monday 13:15 - 15:00 in lecture hall 2.52 of the physics building PER 08.
Exercises: Monday 15-17h in lecture hall 2.52 of the physics building PER 08.
Content
Basic preparation for math (logic, set theory, and methods of proof), Basic combinatorics such as counting rules, binomial and multinomial coefficients, and the inclusion-exclusion principle. Graph theory, Propositional logic.
For students in Computer Science, there is a continuation in the spring semester: Advanced combinatorial topics such as generating functions and Catalan numbers. Formal languages and finite automata.
Program
The course will follow these Lecture notes.
Sometimes, there will be slides in French or English.
For the exercise series, the weekly progress, and summary videos, visit the course's Moodle page.
Exercises
There will be 12 exercise sheets per semester. In order to be allowed to take the exam for the respective semester, students who take this course as Mathematical Methods for Computer Science have to get their solutions to 9 exercise sheets accepted. A solution gets accepted if it shows that you worked thoroughly on at least three problems on the sheet. You can work in groups of three.
Completed homework assignments must be handed in before Monday noon, either via Moodle or in the appropriate box next to room 2.52.
Exam information
MMCS: a written exam (2 hours) at the end of every semester. Four handwritten A4 sheets can be taken to the exam (you can write on both sides of the sheet).
Discrete Math: a written exam (2 hours) at the end of every semester. Four handwritten A4 sheets can be taken to the exam (you can write on both sides of the sheet).
Exam requirements: you should be familiar with concepts and theorems introduced in the lecture. You can use theorems from the course without giving their proofs, but please describe exactly what theorem you are using. You will be expected to be able to solve new exercise-style problems.
Extra Literature
Matousek, Nesetril "Invitation to discrete mathematics"
Aigner "A course in enumeration"
Bondy, Murty "Graph theory with applications"
Gallier "Logic for computer science"
Huth, Ryan "Logic in computer science"
Hopcroft, Ullman "Introduction to automata theory, languages, and computation"