Has anyone taken the Discrete Math couse at South West Texas State University? If so, how long did it take you to complete the course? If anyone else has any suggestions for preparing for this course please post.
You have many questions! I haven't taken Discrete Mathematics at your university, but I've taken it at TESC, examined the course at other colleges, and tutored it briefly. DM is sort of funny in that it's not something I would consider a standalone course. By itself it's a rather useless discipline. However, it's a great foundation for more advanced courses like Theory of Computation, Analysis of Algorithms, and so on. Most students seem to consider DM to be about as difficult as say, Calculus III. As a matter of fact, at TESC, I know that in the BACS program, one can choose either Calculus III or Discrete Mathematics (or Calculus based Linear Algebra) for the CS concentration advanced mathematics course. Discrete Mathematics doesn't require much in the way of prerequisites. At some schools, Discrete Mathematics and Data Structures are tied together, with one being a prerequisite for the other, which I don't think is necessary. All Discrete Mathematics requires is mathematical creativity and aptitude. When taking DM, if you appear to be falling behind, try to persevere - DM tries to be a comprehensive foundation course, so they try to cover a variety of subjects in a short period. Unlike Algebra, Trigonometry, or Calculus, if you screw up one module, you may find the next module to be easier.
I took this course a few years ago, and I can recommend it. I'd already been exposed to most of the material before I took the course, so it wasn't too bad (I scraped out an A), but it was probably a little tougher than I initially expected. If I remember right the assignments were on the long side, but the course is definitely doable. I don't remember how long it took me, but the length of time needed to complete the course would depend a lot on your background, aptitude, and how much time you can put into it each day/week. I think that they set a minimum of 4 weeks for completion, but that's probably not realistic unless you have a lot of time to put into it and/or already know most of the material. BTW, the school changed it's name last year to Texas State University-San Marcos.
