The following information concerns students who feel over-prepared for the course and desire to either import or waive discrete math requirements.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

• I - You have taken an equivalent college-level course to discrete math in another institution and received a minimum grade of B:
  Send me the instructor the syllabus and the official transcript to decide whether or not the points should be allowed to count towards the major.
  • A - If the topics covered are equivalent to discrete math W3203, the import is approved.
  • B - If you covered all discrete topics but probability, you can still import it under the following guidelines:
  • i. If you took discrete AND another proba/stat course, we can combine your discrete math course with your probability course, and together transfer credit for COMS W3203. Send me your probability syllabus along with your discrete syllabus.
  • ii. If you took discrete that did not include probability AND did not take any proba/stat course then there are two cases:
  • 1. You have no probability backgrounds: you will need to complete Stat 4001 (or an equivalent probability/stats course) before we can transfer credit for COMS W3203. Contact me after taking the probability course so we can do the transfer.
  • 2. You do have probability background: from high school or APs or other, you can test out only on probability. If you pass the probability test, you can transfer your discrete math course.
• II - You have not taken a college-level course equivalent to discrete math but you do have discrete math background or a good portion of it: In other words, you know a very good portion of the topics covered in this course including probability. You can still waive the discrete requirement by taking the discrete test out. If you test out, you will need to substitute with something more advanced. You would need to take another course as a substitute. The replacement course should be a COMS 42XX or 62XX course (That is the first two digits should be 42 or 62 which indicates that it is a theory course) or CSOR 4231 Analysis of Algorithms. The course you take should not be used to satisfy any other CS requirements.

Action items:

• If you fall in case II, you can take a 60-minute test out discrete exam. Topics covered in the general test: logic, proofs, set theory, counting, number theory, graph theory, functions and probability.
• If you fall in case I-B-ii-2 you can take a 45-minute test out probability exam. Topics covered in the probability test: Sample space, events, conditional probability, Bayes rule, independence, Union and intersection of events, Chain rule, Random variables. Expectation, variance, distributions, Law of large numbers, Central Limit theorem.

You don't need to get a perfect score to pass and you will hear within 48 hours whether you passed. 

Note that this test is optional: you don't have to take the test even if you have the background.
Also if you test out successfully, you can still stay/decide to take the course later.