Math 109 Section C (Winter 2026) [ARCHIVE]

Lecture Time: MWF 2pm to 2:50pm
Lecture Location: Peterson Hall 102
Textbook: Book of Proof, Third Edition by Richard Hammack

Discussion Section:
Section C01: Th 9am to 9:50am at AP&M 2402
Section C02: Th 10am to 10:50am at AP&M 2402

Course Personnel:
Instructor: Karthik Ganapathy Venkitachalam
Teaching Assistant: Johann Birnick
Note: To contact us, please use Piazza. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TA, and myself. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza.

Office Hours:
Karthik: WF 12:20pm to 1:50pm in AP&M 1230 and Zoom, or by appointment.
Johann: F 8:30am to 10:30am in HSS 4012

Homework:
Homework assignments will be posted here and on Canvas almost every week by Friday. Normally you will have one week to submit your completed homework via Gradescope. Your lowest homework assignment will be dropped at the end of the course when computing your grade.

Exam:
There will be two midterm exams and one final exam. No makeup exams will be given in this course.
Note: It is standard Math Department practice to utilize different versions of exams, both within each lecture's exam, and between lectures whose exams are at different times.

Midterm I: It will be on Sunday, Jan 24 from 7pm to 8:20pm in PETERSON 104. No cheat sheets are allowed.
Midterm II: It will be on Wednesday, Feb 18 from 7pm to 8:20pm in PETERSON 104. No cheat sheets are allowed.
Final exam: It will be on Wednesday March 16 from 3pm to 6pm in PETERSON 102. The detailed exam instruction is TBA.

Regrades: Regrade requests will be made using the built-in regrade request feature in Gradescope. There will be a limited window of time after the exams are made available during which the regrade request feature will be active. This time window will be announced when the exam scores are released. Only the regrade requests sent within the time window will be considered.

Grading Policy:

The grades will be determined via the following scheme: 20% Homework, 20% Midterm Exam I, 20% Midterm Exam II, 40% Final Exam.

The curve for this course will be determined at the end but will be at least as generous as the standard one (97 for A+; 94 for A; 90 for A-; 87 for B+; 84 for B; 80 for B-; 77 for C+; 74 for C; 70 for C-). No D grades will be assigned.

Attendance Policy: You are expected to attend every session of the lectures and discussion section you are enrolled in. Students who do not attend class rarely succeed in this course.  If you must miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to catch up on the material. You are also responsible for the information given in any announcements made during class. To help you with this, I will record every lectures in the event you are unable to attend. Lecture recordings can be found at UCSD Podcast.

Academic Integrity: Academic dishonesty is considered a serious offense at UCSD. Students caught cheating will face an administrative sanction which may include suspension or expulsion from the university. It is in your best interest to take pride in your work maintain your academic integrity.

Accommodations: Students requesting accommodations for this course due to a disability must provide a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter issued by the Office for Students with Disabilities (https://osd.ucsd.edu/.) Students are required to discuss accommodation arrangements with instructors and OSD liaisons in the department in advance of any exams or assignments.

Food Support for Students: If you are skipping and stretching meals, or having difficulties affording or accessing food, you may be eligible for CalFresh, California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that can provide up to $298 a month on a debit card to buy food. Students can apply at benefitscal.com/r/ucsandiegocalfresh. And don’t forget to recertify every six months to continue receiving benefits.

The Hub Basic Needs Center empowers all students by connecting them to resources for food, stable housing and financial literacy. Visit their site at basicneeds.ucsd.edu.

Here are some resources from other UCSD instructors that you may find useful:
1) Prof. Rayan Saab's notes from Math 109, Spring 2017: Basic Logic; Methods of Proof; Set theory; Functions; Counting; More counting;
2) Dr. John Eggers' lists: Tautologies; Terminology;
3) Prof. Sasha Knop's amazing videos: Logic; Proofs; 

January 05: First day of classes

January 16: Deadline to join the class

January 24: Midterm 1

January 30: Deadline to drop the class without a W

February 13: Deadline to drop the class with a W

February 18: Midterm 2

March 13: Final day of classes

March 16: Final exam