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MATH-F307

Mathématiques discrètes

academic year
2026-2027

Course teacher(s)

Samuel FIORINI (Coordinator)

ECTS credits

5

Language(s) of instruction

french

Course content

Mathematical proofs: techniques. Elementary arithmetic. Graphs and trees. Orders and relations. Elementary counting: factorials, binomial and multinomial coefficients. Inclusion-exclusion formula. Linear recurrences. Non-linear recurrences, including "divide-and-conquer" recurrences and the Master Theorem. Generating functions. Asymptotics, including Stirling's formula. Fibonacci, Catalan, Bernouilli and harmonic numbers.

Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)

After completing this teaching unit, the student will be able to:
  • write proofs of mathematical statements;
  • solve counting problems;
  • estimate the asymptotic behavior of series, including in particular the solution of a "divide-and-conquer" equation.
  • think formally about (or using) graphs and relations.
 

Prerequisites and Corequisites

Required and Corequired knowledge and skills

 

Required and corequired courses

Courses requiring this course

Cours ayant celui-ci comme co-requis

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures. Exercise sessions.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

  • Lehman, Leighton and Meyer. Mathematics for Computer Science, 2018.
  • Graham, Knuth and Patashnik, Concrete mathematics. Addison-Wesley, 1989.
  • Cameron, Combinatorics: Topics, Techniques, Algorithms. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Van Lint and Wilson, A Course in Combinatorics. Cambridge University Press 2001.
  • Flajolet and Sedgewick, Analytic Combinatorics. Cambridge University Press 2009.

Course notes

  • Syllabus
  • Université virtuelle

Other information

Additional information

 

Contacts

Samuel Fiorini <Samuel.Fiorini@ulb.be>

Campus

Plaine

Evaluation

Method(s) of evaluation

  • Other

Other

A written exam will be held during the January exam period.

For students who have not passed the course by the end of the January exam period, a written exam will be held during the second exam period, in August–September.

These written exams will last approximately 3 hours and will cover the course theory and exercises.

The instructor reserves the right to invite any student to a supplementary oral interview to verify their personal mastery of the exam content, particularly when inconsistencies in the exam prevent the instructor from accurately assessing the student’s level of mastery of the knowledge and skills covered in the course.

Language(s) of evaluation

  • french

Programmes