Topics in Combinatorics: Mathematics of Games and Puzzles

MATH4801, Fall 2006
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Carleton University


Instructor:
Prof. Brett Stevens,
Herzberg Physics, Office #4374
Tel: (613) 520 2600 (Ext. 2125)
Email:stevens@math.carleton.ca
http://mathstat.math.carleton.ca/~brett/

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS


General Information

Textbook: None

Prerequisites:
MATH2100, MATH3805, or equivalents.
Students who have not passed the prerequisite course should contact me and may otherwise be de-registered during the term.

Classes:
Monday 14:30-16:00, Wednesday 14:30-16:00.
Room: HP 4369.

Office hours: Tuesday 14:00-15:00 and Wednesday 12:00-13:00.

Classes begin: Monday 11 Sep. 2006. Classes end: Monday 04 Dec. 2006.

Term mark:
There will be two homeworks, each worth 30% There will be a final project, with report and presentation, that is worth the remaining 40%.
homework 1 is due November 6 in class.
homework 2 is due December 4 in class.

Evaluation:
Term mark is 60%. The final project is worth 40%.

Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism is defined in the undergraduate calendar as an instructional offense that occurs when a student uses or passes off "as one's own idea or product, work of another without expressly giving credit". This includes plagiarism involving material lifted from the Internet. Plagiarism is a serious offense. The penalties for students who have been found to have plagiarized are a failed grade at the least sever and suspension, expulsion or notation on transcripts for serious or repeated cases. Plagiarism is just one form of Cheating. All forms of cheating are taken very seriously and will be dealt with swiftly and severely.

Withdrawal: The last day for withdrawal from the course is 6 Nov. 2006. Withdrawals before 30 Sep. 2006 get 100% refund, there is NO refund after this date.

Students with Disabilities requiring academic accommodations in this course must contact a coordinator at the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities to complete the necessary Letters of Accommodation. After registering with the PMC, make an appointment to meet and discuss your needs with me in order to make the necessary arrangements as early in the term as possible. Please note the deadline for submitting completed forms to the Paul Menton Centre is November 6th, 2006 (for fall and fall/winter term courses) / March 9th, 2007 (for winter term courses)

List of Topics Covered: Rubiks Cube, permutation groups and Cayley Graphs; Sudoku and Latin squares; Rubik's Clock, Lights out, Orbix and Linear Algebra; Bridge-It and matroids; Chinese Rings, Towers of Hanoi and Gray codes; possibly: Tic-Tac-Toe on designs and geometries; Labyrinths and graph search; Peg jumping games, Fibonacci numbers and invariants

These topics are subject to change