Discrete Structures  ·  Fall 2026  ·  LUMS

Discrete Structures

Instructor Dr. Mudassir Shabbir Office Hours MW 12:00–1:00 Office SSE 9-G47A Slack Join Slack (link TBD) LMS Check announcements regularly

Announcements

Stay current via LMS and Slack.

Lecture Materials

Lecture notes are mostly scribed by students and may contain errors or omissions. Please verify with official materials.

To contribute lecture notes:

  • Clone: https://github.com/amessbee/if26
  • Create a branch from main named with your student ID for your lecture notes.
  • Email (and tag) TF/TAs; post announcement to Slack channel.

Lecture Breakdown (Tentative)

Review Sessions (Tentative)

Grading

Component Weight
Exams 20% + 25% + 30% = 75%
Homework Assignments 10%
Classroom Worksheets 10%
Slack/GitHub Participation 5% (2+2+1)
Total 100%

Grading Scale

Average Assigned Grade
≥ 90 A category
80 — 89.9 B category
70 — 79.9 C category
60 — 69.9 D category
< 60 F
Final cutoffs determined via relative grading at semester end.

Exams

Midterm I 20%
Midterm II 25%
Final Exam 30%
  • Midterms held in-person during regular class hours.
  • No make-up exams

Homework

  • Use LaTeX for submissions.
  • Discuss freely but write your own solutions.
  • No late submissions.
  • LUMS academic honesty policy strictly enforced.
  • Cite all resources used.
  • Be able to defend your solutions orally or in writing.
  • Homework questions may appear in exams.

Classroom Worksheets

  • Short exercises during lectures — participation matters.
  • Almost weekly; can be done in pairs.
  • No make-up for missed worksheets.

Slack/GitHub Participation

Online engagement: questions, helping peers, live commentary of work, fixing/improving lecture notes.

Weight: 2% + 2% + 1%.

Lecture Notes (0%)

Student-created notes for shared learning and clarity.

Rules of the Game

  • Turn off phones and electronics; be on time.
  • No whispering — talk to the instructor instead; be honest.
  • Register for PollEv: PollEv.com/cs.

About Your Instructor

  • Hi there! I'm Dr. Mudassir Shabbir.
  • Associate Professor at CS.
  • Background includes Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ITU, Bloomberg, Punjab University.

Interests: Combinatorics, Graph Neural Networks, Discrete Geometry.

Teaching Team

Reaching Out

Communication

  • Keep up with course announcements on LMS and Slack.
  • Office Hours: MW 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Office Location: SSE 9-G47A

Email

  • Email: mudassir.shabbir@lums.edu.pk
  • Always write Discrete Structures in the subject line along with topic.
  • Always CC the TA team.

Suggested format

Subject: Question Regarding HW 3 Problem 1 | Discrete Structures

Dear Dr. Mudassir,

My name is Sophie (ID: BSCS23439), and I am a student in your Discrete Structures class section A. I am writing to ask for your guidance on a problem I encountered while working on homework 3 Problem 1.

Specifically, I am having difficulty with [briefly describe the problem or the specific part of the problem you're struggling with]. I have reviewed the course materials and attempted to approach the problem in various ways, but I am still uncertain about [what exactly you are unsure about—e.g., the method, the concept, or the solution].

Could you please provide some clarification or suggest any resources that might help me better understand this issue? I would greatly appreciate any advice or direction you could offer.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Course Overview

Rules of the Game

  • Turn off phones and electronics.
  • Be on time; engage by asking questions.
  • Register for PollEv.
  • Be honest and courteous.

Grading Components

Exams 20% + 25% + 30% = 75%
Homework 10%
Classroom Worksheets 10%
Slack/GitHub Participation 5% (2+2+1)
Total 100%

Outcomes

  • Apply formal logic and proof techniques to mathematical problems.
  • Understand sets, relations, and functions rigorously.
  • Solve combinatorial counting problems.
  • Analyze graphs and trees with discrete math foundations.

Study Tips

  • Mile wide, foot deep — do not fall behind.
  • Ask questions; be active.
  • Practice proofs consistently; precision matters.

Recommended Books

Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications

Kenneth H. Rosen — 8th Edition, McGraw-Hill. The primary textbook for this course.

Discrete Mathematics

Richard Johnsonbaugh — 8th Edition, Pearson. Clear exposition with many examples.

Concrete Mathematics

Graham, Knuth, Patashnik — 2nd Edition, Addison-Wesley. Deep dive into counting and recurrences.