| Fundamental principles | I will try to conduct this class according to the principles expressed in Ardila's Axioms particularly "Every student deserves to be treated with dignity and respect [by their teacher and their classmates]." I welcome feedback about how well I am doing, and I encourage students to talk to me if their experience (in my class or elsewhere) is not consistent with these axioms. |
| Prerequisites | MA 524 or permission of the instructor |
| Credit load | 3 credits |
| Instructor | Nathan Reading |
| Office | SAS 4118 |
| Telephone | 919-515-3261. This is an office desk phone that does not accept text messages. Email is a much better way to reach me than phone. |
| reading AT math DOT ncsu DOT edu | |
| Course website and Moodle | This site is https://nreadin.math.ncsu.edu/724. You will be responsible for material on this site. You will be notified by email or in class when new information is posted on the site (except for regularly occurring changes like posting of assignments and quiz/test solutions). There is also a Moodle page for this course, which you can find in the usual way through Wolfware. We will use the Gradebook and a few other features. |
| Class email list | There is a class email list. You will be responsible for any information emailed to the list. In particular, you should check your ncsu email account at least every day. |
| Class Sessions | Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00 to 4:15 in SAS 1218. |
| Office hours | TBA. (We can discuss this in class. Usually, but not always, I will be available Mondays and Wednesdays after class until 5:00.) |
| Prerequisites | MA 524 or permission of the instructor |
| Learning outcomes | By the end of the course, the students will be able to: - Write clear, precise and correct proofs in the area of geometric combinatorics; - Compute invariants of polytopes; - Perform Fourier-Motzkin elimination; - Solve a linear programming problem; - Create and/or identify a shelling order; - Compute h- and f-vectors; - Compute Stanley-Reisner rings and their Hilbert series; - Construct an EL-shelling; and - Apply all of these methods in unfamiliar combinatorial settings. |
| Text | Lectures on Polytopes by Günter Ziegler. We will cover most of the book. |
| If you (or I) are not well |
If you are not well, please stay home.
Class will be automatically recorded and webcast.
The webcast is available during class with a slight delay (< 1 minute).
The recordings are available soon after class.
Both webcast and recordings are at this link or on the Moodle page.
It would also be a good idea to find a "buddy" in the class (or preferably more than one) who takes good notes and is willing to send you copies of their notes after class.
Depending on how well the recordings come out, the notes may be more useful than the recordings.
I have also created folders where you can post photos of the boards.
But this is entirely crowdsourced:
If you as a class want to make this happen, make it happen.
If I am not well, but am well enough to teach online, we may move class to Zoom. There is a Zoom link on the main Moodle page. I think/hope we will not use it, but it's there so we can use it at short notice if necessary. (This is another good reason to check your email regularly.) |
| Homework |
There will be homework assignments due roughly weekly.
You can expect each assignment to be posted to the assignments page by Wednesday a week before it is due. Please contact me immediately if you have any trouble getting the assignment (for example, if I have forgotten to post it). Generally speaking, you need to turn in your homework on time. But I recognize that there is a lot to do and sometimes deadlines clash. So each student will be allowed turn in an assignment a day late up to two times in the semester, without penalty. (However, there may be some delay in getting your graded assignment back if you turn it in late.) If you find that you are needing to use these "late days" early in the semester, it is probably an indication that you need to adjust either your class schedule or your work routine or both. You may collaborate on solving the assigned problems as long as everyone in the group gains a thorough understanding of the solution. I also highly recommend that not all your thinking on the problems be in groups. Furthermore, each student must write up the solution in their own words based on their own understanding. All homework problems are asking for an answer in clear English (with math symbols allowed), giving a careful and correct explanation of how the problem is solved. Imagine you are writing to a mathematically literate person who does not know how to solve the problem. The balance of prose vs. symbols required in the solution will vary greatly, from 2-3 words followed by a symbolic or numerical calculation to several paragraphs of prose with few or no symbols. Part of the point of this course is for the student to develop judgement about how to explain mathematics. Some things that could cause you to be marked down are: using vague language; using words like "obviously" or "clearly" to hide the lack of an explanation; relying too much on the grader to figure out "what you meant;" rambling or extraneous prose that fails to focus concisely on the core issue. Just as you are not allowed to copy answers from classmates, you are not allowed to copy answers from the internet or use AI tools to write answers for you. In principle, you are allowed to learn from the internet (while in practice, I'm skeptical about how much actual learning would happen), but you must still write up the solution in your own words based on your own understanding. Here are the homework assignments. |
| Reading Assignments, Lecture Schedule and Tests | Students are expected to read the text in addition to attending lectures. Here is the most up-to-date schedule for the class. This schedule (except for test dates) is subject to change as the course progresses. |
| Midterm exams | There will one midterm exam in class. The date for the exam is Wednesday, March 5. |
| Final Exam | The final exam is Friday, April 25, 3:30--6:00 p.m., in the usual room. |
| Comments and answers |
Here are some Comments and answers on quizzes and tests. |
| Grading |
The components of your grade are: Homework: 50% of grade Midterm: 20% of grade Final exam: 30% of grade. |
| Grades on Moodle | We will be keeping track of your grades on Moodle, and you can always see them there. |
| Succeeding in this course | There is no shortcut to learning this material. You will need to engage intellectually with the lectures, the book, and the homework.
And you will need to organize your time so that you can start the homework early. If you are working hard and still struggling, please get in contact with me and we can talk. |
| N.C. State Polices, Regulations, and Rules |
Students are responsible for reviewing the NC State University Policies, Rules, and Regulations (PRRs) which pertain to their course rights and responsibilities, including those referenced both below and above in this syllabus: Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Policy Statement with additional references at https://oied.ncsu.edu/divweb/policies/ Code of Student Conduct. |
| Policy on Attendance and Make-ups | Attending every lecture is considered part of the course requirement. No provisions will be made for students to make up missed work or tests except as spelled out in the University's attendance regulation available at http://policies.ncsu.edu/regulation/reg-02-20-03 . Excused absences: If you have an excused absense on a quiz or test day, email me (Nathan Reading) as soon as possible. |
| Policy on Incompletes | Incompletes are not offered except in cases where special circumstances (such as outlined in the attendance regulation mentioned above) make it impossible for a student to complete the course. Even in these special circumstances, incompletes will not be offered unless the student was in a position to pass the class before the special circumstance arose. In particular, incompletes cannot be used as a way to "bail out" when a student feels that they cannot pass the course or feels they cannot do all the work that they put off until the end of the semester. |
| Statement on privacy | Students may be required to disclose personally identifiable information to other students in the course, via digital tools, such as email or web-postings, where relevant to the course. Examples include online discussions of class topics, and posting of student coursework. All students are expected to respect the privacy of each other by not sharing or using such information outside the course. |
| Statement for students with disabilities | Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with the Disability Resource Office at Holmes Hall, Suite 304, 2751 Cates Avenue, Campus Box 7509, 919-515-7653. For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation (NCSU REG02.20.01). |
| Academic Integrity | Students are expected to conform to standards of academic integrity as described in the Code of Student Conduct, which can be found in the Code of Student Conduct. The student, by signing or writing their name on a homework assignment or test, affirms that they have neither given nor received unauthorized aid. (See "Homework Assignments" above for guidelines on acceptable collaboration on homework.) Violations of academic integrity will be handled in accordance with the Student Discipline Procedures (NCSU REG 11.35.02). |
| NCSU Counseling center | The Counseling Center offers confidential counseling to NC State students experiencing personal, academic or vocational problems. Check out counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu. |
| Help for students in distress | Although the counseling center is a great help, sometimes it's hard to recognize when we need help. So we need to look out for each other too. Occasionally, you may come across a fellow student whose behavior worries you. You can and should report worrisome behavior to the NC State Cares website: https://prevention.dasa.ncsu.edu/nc-state-cares/about/. You can report anonymously, but if you share your contact information, they can follow-up with you personally. |