This course will attempt to give you a familiarity with the basic tools of combinatorics as well as many basic objects of study, including graphs, permutations and partitions. We will also cover some basic principles and useful theorems, among them the principle of inclusion-exclusion, generating functions, and recursion relations.

Solving problems and communicating one's solutions is a very important skill we learn from our mathematics courses. Also, it seems to be the case that most people learn by doing. Thus we will have a fair ammount of homework. I take this very seriously, and have structured the course's grading system to reflect this. Keeping within this spirit, I give the following guidelines: I expect your homework assignments to be stapled together, with your name, the due date, and the assignment written on the top of the top sheet. Each problem is to be numbered, and the question clearly indicated, if it is short, write it out, otherwise paraphrase it. Your solutions are to be written neatly in complete sentences where appropriate, and with a clear and legible indication of your work. Whenever possible copy solutions from scratch sheets, do not hand in scratch work. Rough drafts are not acceptable for English classes, and they certainly are not acceptable for Mathematics courses, where we also have a high standard of exposition. Remember, an important part of your education is learning to write mathematics well.

There are a few obvious, but apparently not universally recognized paths for academic success. One of the most important things that you can do for yourself is to be diligent in your work: Attend class regularly and do the homeworks completely and on time. I have found a remarkable correlation between student's marks and their class attendance and how often they do their homeworks. In fact, most poor students do not spend enough time on their work. I urge you to take this one step further, and strive to never get behind in a class, in fact your goal should be to be ahead in all of your classes. By that I mean you should never come to a lecture without completely understanding what transpired during the previous lecture. Many people (including me) found that while we were students we learned as much from our friends as we did fom lectures. You should also use your peers as a resource; often another student will understand something you don't, and you will both benefit from sharing your ideas about the course. By this piece of advice, I am not advocating collaboration on all aspects of the course; for example, the answers on your homework should be your own. If you simply copy from someone else's homework, not only will you not learn a thing, but if caught, but you will also fry.