Math for Computer Science: Discrete Math

What is Discrete Mathematics?

Discrete mathematics is a branch of mathematics concerned with the study of

objects that can be represented finitely (or countably). It encompasses a wide
array of topics that can be used to answer many tangible questions that arise in
everyday life:

Logic: Is a given argument logically sound, or does it contain a fallacy? (http://ldig.it/1OzieDu)

Number theory: If a leap year happens every 4 years and US Senators are elected
every 6 years, how frequently is a Senate election held in a leap year? Search
Counting: How many different outfits can you make from the clothes in your
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closet?
Probability: What are your chances of winning the lottery? (Hint: very, very low)
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Recurrences: How much will you pay over the lifetime of a mortgage if interest is
compounded monthly? Summer 2022 Course Schedule (https://mpcs-

Graph theory: What is the fastest way to get from your home to your workplace? courses.cs.uchicago.edu/2022-23/summer/courses)

All of these topics are covered in the MPCS Discrete Mathematics immersion Autumn 2022 Course Schedule (https://mpcs-

course. courses.cs.uchicago.edu/2022-23/autumn/courses)

AY 2022-23 Course Schedule (https://mpcs-

How is discrete mathematics used in computer
courses.cs.uchicago.edu/2022-23/courses)
science?
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Discrete Mathematics provides an essential foundation for virtually every area of
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computer science, and its applications are correspondingly vast.
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At the most fundamental level, all of a computer’s data is represented as bits wform)

(zeros and ones). Computers make calculations by modifying these bits in

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accordance with the laws of Boolean algebra, which form the basis of all digital
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circuits (which are represented as graphs). Low-level programming languages
rely directly on logical operators such as and, not, and or. Software developers CS Job Board (https://jobboard.cs.uchicago.edu/)
using high-level languages will often work to optimize their code by minimizing
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the number of low-level operations, and may even operate directly on bits.
Programmers also use Boolean logic to control program flow -- that is, which Department of Computer Science
instructions are executed under certain conditions. (http://cs.uchicago.edu/)

When programming, it is important to be confident that your code will achieve

the desired results. Programs can be described precisely with mathematics, and
the tools of propositional logic can be used to reason about their correctness.
This skill is critical to the design and analysis of algorithms, a core area of
computer science. Iterative programming and functional programming are two
major paradigms which rely upon the principle of mathematical induction to
verify their loops (for and while) and recursive function calls, respectively. Logic
is the language used for most formal specification languages, and is
fundamental for understanding much of the literature in verification and in
programming language foundations and design. For instance, languages in the
SQL family are just implementations of relational logic with added features, and
many other domain specific languages are similarly implementations of some
particular logical calculus. Program verification and formal methods are seeing
increasing adoption in industry, and are being used in tandem with traditional
testing techniques to increase the confidence that software behaves as it is
supposed to.

Induction and recursion are key concepts in understanding the functional

paradigm for programming, which is seeing increased adoption in industry with
companies such as Apple (Swift), Microsoft (F#), Microsoft Research (F*,
Haskell), Oracle (Java 8, Javascript), Facebook (Haskell), and Amazon adopting
the paradigm both for niche tasks and general use. Recurrences are also a
common way of defining algorithms and data structures, even if the concrete
implementation is defined iteratively. Furthermore, they form the backbone for
many models of computation and for more theoretical areas of computer
science. They are also fundamental for software verification, another area of
computer science that is increasing in adoption, as the correctness and security
properties of software become increasingly more critical in sensitive
applications.

Number theory has critical applications across blockchain, cryptography, and

computer security. Modern cryptographic systems must be mathematically
correct in order to secure users’ data from malicious adversaries. Modular
arithmetic is the mathematical basis for hash functions, which are extremely
useful tools with many applications. Checksums, based on hashing, can verify
that files transferred over the internet do not contain errors. Data structures
such as hash maps rely on modular arithmetic for efficient operations. Number
theory also has memory-related uses in computer architecture and operating
systems.

Counting techniques are used to develop quantitative intuition. For example,

they can be used to determine the number of valid passwords which can be
formed from a given set of rules, and how long it would take for an attacker to
brute force all of them. The pigeonhole principle explains why there is no
universal lossless compression algorithm: every compression algorithm must
make certain files smaller and others larger. Therefore each compression
algorithm is designed for compressing a different type of file (text, images,
video, etc). Counting is helpful in analyzing the complexity of algorithms. In
real-world applications there are complicated tradeoffs between several
different resources that are available. Certain tasks need fast algorithms and can
afford using a lot of space for achieving speed, while others do not have much
space and therefore need to sacrifice time for space. In more complex situations,
a sweet spot in resource usage needs to be achieved so that the system is not
starved of a resource and can keep running. Counting is the basis for making
such considerations in a structured manner and can in fact be used to give
formal guarantees about resource usage.

Probability is ubiquitous not only in Computer Science but also in other

quantitative fields. Software engineers use probability to assess risk. For
example, when designing a certain system, probability can be used to calculate
the likelihood that the system will experience a peak load beyond its capacities
and crash. Similarly, probability can be used to measure the reliability of a
network. Conditional probability has many applications in machine learning,
which is used for tasks ranging from calibration of spam filters to developing
better medical treatments by folding proteins. Randomized algorithms are often
more efficient in practice, and sometimes are the best known algorithms for
approximating tasks that are too hard to compute exactly. Probability is also one
of the foundations of statistics, and therefore, also of data science, one of the
hottest fields in industry at present. Studying probability in the context of
computer science gives students a quantitative intuition which is useful
throughout their careers and everyday life.

Graphs are powerful data structures which are used to model relationships and
answer questions about said data: for example, your navigation app uses a graph
search algorithm to find the fastest route from your house to your workplace.
Linked-In uses a graph to model your professional network, as does your
telecommunications company for its cellular network (in fact, network is an
alternate name for a graph). Computer scientists use graphs extensively: to
represent file systems, for version control, and in functional programming, deep
learning, databases, and many more applications.

How do MPCS students benefit from learning

discrete mathematics?

Mastering discrete mathematics positions an MPCS student for success in both

the Masters Program and also a career in software engineering or a similar
technical field. Principles of discrete mathematics are utilized in many courses
in the MPCS, including Algorithms, Computer Architecture, Computer Systems,
Databases, Distributed Systems, Functional Programing, Machine Learning,
Networks, Computer Security, and Operating Systems. 

The problem-solving techniques honed in discrete mathematics are necessary

for writing complicated software. Students who are successful in discrete
mathematics will be able to generalize from a single instance of a problem to an
entire class of problems, and to identify and abstract patterns from data. These
are valuable real-world skills, particularly because, unlike knowledge of a
specific framework, platform, or programming language, they are highly
transferable. 

Finally, discrete mathematics and algorithms constitute a lingua franca for

computer scientists and software developers. Since these concepts are both
universal and essential to the field, they are widely used to communicate with
peers, and form a major component of many technical interviews.

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