UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

(all rights reserved)

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES
COLLEGE OF BASIC AND APPLIED SCIENCES
BSc/BA

First Semester of 2021/2022 Academic Year

Course Syllabus

Course Code: MATH 359

Course Tittle: Discrete Mathematics
Credits: Three(3)
Course Instructors :

Name Benedict Vasco Normenyo, PhD

Office Room 29, Mathematics Building
E-mail bvnormenyo@ug.edu.gh OR bvnormenyo@staff.ug.edu.gh
Office Hours Thursday (1:30pm-4:30pm)

COURSE OVERVIEW: This course is a study of discrete rather than continuous mathemati-
cal structures. Topics include elementary number theory and its applications to cryptography,
boolean algebra, counting techniques, recurrence relations, asymptotic analysis, graph theory
and finite state machines.

ASSIGNMENTS, QUIZZES AND EVALUATION: There will be quizzes, tests and an end-of-
semester examination. Assessment will be conducted as follows:

1. Tests and quizzes=50%

2. End of semester exam=50%

The grading scale is the following.

F E D D+ C C+ B B+ A
0 − 44 45 − 49 50 − 54 55 − 59 60 − 64 65 − 69 70 − 74 75 − 79 80 − 100

Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and shall be treated as a se-
rious offence. Appropriate sanctions, as stipulated in the Plagiarism Policy, will be applied
when students are found to have violated the Plagiarism policy. The policy is available at

bvnormenyo@ug.edu.gh MATH359 @2021/2022 1

http://www.ug.edu.gh/aqau/policies-guidelines. ALL students are expected to familiarize them-
selves with the contents of the Policy.

INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD: There will be face-to-face lectures. Course materials will be

made available on Sakai.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

1. E. G. Goodaire and M. M. Parmenter, Discrete Mathematics with Graph Theory, 3rd

edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

2. K. H. Rosen, Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2007.

3. K. A. Ross and C. R. B. Wright, Discrete Mathematics, 5th edition, Prentice Hall, 2003.

4. S. G. Krantz, Discrete Mathematics Demystified, McGraw-Hill, 2009.

5. G. Shanker Rao, Discrete Mathematical Structures, 2nd Edition, New Age International
(P) Limited, 2002.

6. D. M. Burton, Elementary Number Theory, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2002.

COURSE CONTENTS:

1. ELEMENTARY NUMBER THEORY AND CRYPTOGRAPHY

(a) Linear congruences.

(b) Some applications of congruence in cryptography.
i. Caesar cipher.
ii. Vigenère cipher.
iii. Hill cipher.

2. BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

(a) Definition and Properties of Boolean Algebras.

(b) Boolean Expressions and Boolean Functions.
(c) Sum-of-Products Expansion.
(d) Logic Gates.
(e) Minimization of Circuits.

3. COUNTING TECHNIQUES

(a) Product Rule and Sum Rule.

(b) The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle.
(c) The Pigeonhole Principle.
(d) Permutations and combinations.

4. RECURRENCE RELATIONS

(a) Solving recurrence Relations.

bvnormenyo@ug.edu.gh MATH359 @2021/2022 2

 (b) Generating Functions.

5. ASYMPTOTIC ANALYSIS

(a) The Growth of Functions.

(b) Complexity of Algorithms.

6. GRAPH THEORY

(a) Planarity.
(b) Euler circuits.
(c) Shortest-Path Algorithm.

7. FINITE-STATE MACHINES

LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of this course, students should be able to, at least:

(a) solve some divisibility problems using the theory of congruences;

(b) solve linear congruences and systems of linear congruences;
(c) encrypt and decrypt messages using congruences;
(d) prove some properties of Boolean algebras;
(e) find the values of a Boolean function;
(f) find the sum-of-products expansion for a Boolean function;
(g) construct circuits using logic gates;
(h) minimise Boolean functions using Karnaugh Maps or the Quine-McCluskey Method;
(i) solve counting problems using the Product Rule, Sum Rule, Inclusion-Exclusion Prin-
ciple and Pigeonhole Principle;
(j) solve counting problems using permutations and combinations;
(k) solve linear recurrence relations;
(l) show that one function is big-oh of another function or otherwise;
(m) show that one function is big-Omega of another function or otherwise;
(n) solve problems relating to graph theory;
(o) solve problems using finite-state machines.

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