Resources

Handouts

• Induction templates.
• Proof techniques from this course.
• Proof tips for navigating difficult proofs in general.
• Translation tips for going from English to formal logic.
• Sets reference sheet.
• Number theory reference sheet.
• Logical equivalences reference sheet reference sheet.
  • Version in our slides.
• Boolean algebra reference sheet reference sheet.
• Inference rules reference sheet reference sheet.
  • Version in our slides.

Textbook

There is an optional textbook relevant to the first 6–7 weeks of the course:

Rosen, Kenneth H. 2007. Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Available at UW Libraries.

Rosen’s text is useful if you like to read ahead or want a resource with many practice problems. Here is a list of relevant chapters, but it might be slightly out of order.

Older (and newer) editions are likely to have most or all of the same content, but the section numbers may be shifted.

Other Readings

If you would like readings, but do not wish to invest in a textbook (or just want a different perspective), we have some suggested alternatives:

• MIT OpenCourseWare’s textbook. Written in a traditional textbook style.
• Margaret Fleck’s Building Blocks textbook. Written in a conversational style and more like a transcript of a lecture than a textbook.
• Discrete Mathematics on Wikibooks. Useful for quick reviews and references.
• Older CSE 311 websites. You might be able to find different problems and presentations.
  • And for purely archaeological purposes, CSE 321 and CSE 370.

Wikipedia has thorough articles on most topics we discuss, but they often go very deep very quickly, making them sometimes hard to read.

With all of these resources, be careful that definitions and notations frequently differ between authors in subtle ways. Even simple sentences do not always mean what you think they mean.