Discrete Math Class

"The bookstore has the text? At a finite price, I hope?" That is how Professor Henry Pollak started the first lecture of our discrete math class last week. Right away, I was really glad that I decided to take his class this semester, as opposed to the one at SEAS.

I usually don't review a class until at least well after the midterm, but this time I just felt compelled to write something brief (especially, since a lot of people have been asking me about it).

Anyone can pick up a good (or even a bad) discrete math text and figure out what's going on. The benefit and enjoyment that you derive from being in a class really depends on what the Professor has to offer. Fortunately, Prof. Pollak is a fun, interesting, and engaging instructor. He has an impressive background (Harvard PhD 1951, over 30 years as the Director of Math Research at Bell Labs, and 18 years teaching at Columbia) and a delightful manner. His examples, jokes and diversions are very funny and useful (although he seems to use food in a lot of his examples - a regrettable choice for a class that meets in the 5-7pm slot).

What I found to be especially great is that Professor Pollak really understands the significance of the subject. In American schools, combinatorics is almost never taught past the middle school level. Pretty much, from the moment you enter high school, your entire math education is designed to prepare you for freshman Calculus. In addition, almost all liberal arts college programs don't have a discrete math requirement, and are content to just let the students pass two semesters of Calculus. I haven't researched the history of this curriculum choice, but I suspect that continuous mathematics was always preferred to discrete mathematics because it is more "beautifully structured." Theoretical mathematicians care a lot about elegance and beauty, while engineers care about function and practicality. In truth, the two disciplines are very interdependent, and Knuth's text on Concrete Math (CONtinuous and discRETE) is a remarkably fantastic approach. I can write extensively on the value of discrete mathematics in high school and college education (and I will, when I have some more time), so I was really delighted that Prof. Pollak seems to share a similar point of view.

Another important thing that should be noted: I was happy to learn that Professor Pollak makes it fairly easy for you to pass your computer math competency as long as you learn the material and do really well in the class. (This may seem obvious, but don't take it for granted).