Learning mathematics online is becoming more and more prevalent as the years go by in the world of technology. The variety of mathematics courses available online is particularly incredible.
One of the math courses available for students to take online is Discrete Mathematics. Discrete mathematics is a course that builds the foundations of topics like set theory, proofs, etc. It builds mathematical structures that are not continuous but discrete.
Having taken this course at the undergraduate level myself, I can attest to the fact that it is pretty challenging.
This course is mainly for advanced mathematics students or students at the collegiate level.
Due to the difficulty and abstract nature of this course, it is really important that you take the time to find a quality course if you attempt to take it online.
So, join me as I review several different options to take Discrete Mathematics online with proof of why you should consider possible taking them (pun intended).
Discrete Mathematics by Miran Fattah
The first course is titled, “Discrete Mathematics.”
This course was created by Miran Fattah. Mr. Fattah has a B.S. in Mathematics and Geophysics from the University of Oklahoma.
He has taught and tutored many college students in both Iraq and the United States. There are a few different aspects of Mr. Fattah’s course that make is particularly unique.
Mr. Fattah’s course has nearly 16 hours of video lectures. The great thing about these videos is that none of them are over 15 minutes long. Keeping these videos at this time limit helps keep students’ attention as they learn the various topics.
Speaking of videos, Mr. Fattah’s course preview video is presented in an organized matter that breaks down the various topics that will be taught in the course.
This really helps give students an idea of what they are going to learn before they sign up for the course. Mr. Fattah also has quizzes at the end of nearly every lesson of the course which helps check for student understanding. I think the large number of quizzes is smart to have because of how complicated this course tends to get.
There are even additional practice problems made available to students throughout the course. Overall, I would highly recommend this course to any student who would like a lot of video lectures that are supplemented with a plethora of short quizzes.
Master Discrete Mathematics: Sets, Math Logic, and More by Grant Hall
This course was developed by Grant Hall, a business and math double major. Mr. Hall has over six years of experience in tutoring mathematics and finance.
This course is just one of many courses under his belt. Mr. Hall has created a variety of quality courses available on Udemy, and this course is proof of that.
One of the aspects of Mr. Hall’s course that is advantageous to students is his video lectures. There are over six and a half hours of video lectures available for students.
While there are not as many videos available, they are on the shorter side, which helps keep students’ attention.
Mr. Hall does a great job of explaining the vocabulary involved with Discrete Mathematics. Mr. Hall’s course preview video also does a great job of explaining the many different aspects of his course There are also short quizzes available throughout the whole course.
This helps check for student understanding much like the previous course I reviewed. Overall, I would recommend this discrete mathematics course to any students who like shorter video lectures and great vocabulary explanation.
The Complete 7 Chapter Math Course by Nikoloz Sanakoevi and Mikheil Cjkheidze
The next course is titled, “Discrete Mathematics: The Complete 7 Chapter Math Course.”
This course was created by Nikoloz Sanakoevi and Mikheil Cjkheidze.
Mr. Sanakoevi and Mr. Cjkheidze both boast of being former high-achieving math students. There are several positive features of their course.
The first feature of this course that helps students in the long run is that most of the video lectures are under ten minutes long. This helps keep students engaged when they are learning the related content.
Another positive feature is that there are practice problems embedded within each video. There are also exercises and quizzes at the end of each video to check for student understanding.
Mr. Sanakoevi and Mr. Cjkheidze have also provided pre-made lecture notes and downloadable powerpoint slides for each section, so that students can spend more time practicing the concepts they learn in the class. There is even a question and answer section where students can ask the course creators questions about the course content. This course appears to be very well-organized.
I recommend this course to students who like shorter lecture videos and plenty of opportunities to practice the content they learn.
Master Discrete Mathematics-Set Theory, Relations, & More by Prateek Porwal
The next course is titled, “Master Discrete Mathematics-Set Theory, Relations, & More.”
This course was created by Prateek Porwal who has taught thousands of people in the fields of Mathematics, Physics, and Electrical Engineering.
His course has many positive aspects that benefit students in the long run.
One positive feature of this course is that there are 64 lectures spread out over nearly seven hours of video content.
There are also quizzes at the end of each unit to help students check for their understanding of the challenging content in this course.
I know I have mentioned quizzes being present in all of the courses I have reviewed so far, but having these quizzes is key for students to really make sure they are understanding the material.
Mr. Porwal says in his course overview video that the quizzes at the end of each unit allow students to revise the lectures in the course to help them focus on areas they are struggling with.
I recommend this course for students who like having the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and work toward mastery of the material.
Master Discrete Math: Complete Basic-To-Advanced Course by Kody Armour
The next course is actually a book titled, “Master Discrete Math: Complete Basic-To-Advanced Course.”
This course was created by Kody Amour, a university professor of mathematics.
There are many positive aspects of this course.
The first positive aspect of this course is that there are over 300 plus lectures and quizzes spread out over about 16 hours of video content.
In addition to the lectures and quizzes, there are 30 assignments with over 500 questions.
The great thing about these assignments is that Mr. Amour also includes very detailed solutions to the questions in the assignments.
Because of how difficult this course can get, it is extremely important for students to do as many practice problems as possible.
This course also has 125 downloadable resources which is the greatest number of downloadable resources I have seen so far out of all the course I have reviewed so far.
Additionally, Mr. Amour’s course preview video is the most eye-catching course preview video I have seen thus far.
It is because of all these positive features that I recommend this course to any potential discrete mathematics students.
Discrete Mathematics by Dominik Scheder
The next course is titled, “Discrete Mathematics.”
This course was created by Dominik Scheder, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Shagnhai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China.
He currently has nearly 30,000 learners enrolled in his course.
The first positive feature of this course is how well organized it is.
When you look at the course syllabus, you can see that the instructor has indicated the approximate number of hours it will take to get through each unit.
In each unit, there are videos to help students learn the content in each lesson.
On top of the videos for each unit, there are also practice exercises embedded in the units.
The interesting thing about the practice exercises is there is an approximate length of time written next to each exercise.
This indicates about how long it will take to do each exercise. I would recommend this course to anyone who likes to pace themselves when taking an online mathematics course.
Discrete Mathematics DeMYSTiFied by Steven Krantz
The next course is actually a book titled, “Discrete Mathematics DeMYSTiFied.”
This book was written by Steven Krantz, a Professor of Mathematics and Deputy Director at the American Institute of Mathematics. Mr. Krantz is an award-winning author who has written several mathematics book in his “DeMYSTiFied” series.
The first positive aspect of this book is that it is filled with hundreds of exercises with worked out solutions. There are even exercises at the end of each chapter of the book with solutions.
The book also includes a final exam for students to take. As stated earlier, it is extremely important to do as many practice problems as possible because of the difficult concepts contained in the course.
Speaking of difficult concepts, this book covers all the possible topics that could appear in a typical Discrete Mathematics course. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Discrete Mathematics.
Now that you have read about the various options available to take Discrete Mathematics online, the following section of this article answers some frequently asked questions that are posed by potential Discrete Mathematics students (high school math students and college students alike).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Discrete Mathematics?
Discrete mathematics is a course that builds the foundations of topics like set theory, proofs, etc. It builds mathematical structures that are not continuous but discrete. It works mainly with numbers that are countable such as whole numbers.
Who should take Discrete Mathematics?
Discrete mathematics should only be taken by college students or very advanced high school mathematics students. This is mainly due to the fact that discrete mathematics contains very advanced topics like mathematical induction, truth tables, proofs, function notation, and even coding just to name a few. This class is really designed for students who will eventually become computer programmers or engineers.
Can you finish this course in a month?
It is not recommended that you try to finish this course in a month. This mainly due to the fact that a lot of the topics in this course are not clearly connected. So, you would need to constantly readjust your learning styles to account for the many different topics.
How do you prepare for Discrete Mathematics?
The good news is that there is not a lot of prep work needed to take Discrete Mathematics. You will only need a basic understanding of basic number operations and basic algebraic equations.
What are the benefits to taking math classes online as opposed to taking them in a brick-and-mortar school?
This is a fair question. Taking mathematics classes online usually gives the student the ability to go at his or her own pace. Students can center their attention on areas that they are struggling in while advancing past concepts that might come easier to them.
Can you skip Discrete Mathematics?
I would only recommend skipping Discrete Mathematics if you do not plan on taking upper level mathematics classes. This class is really designed for students who will eventually become computer programmers or engineers. Mathematics majors at the undergraduate level will also take this course at some point in their college careers.
Is Discrete Mathematics easy?
This really depends on the student taking the course. If you are an advanced mathematics student, then this course might come easier for you. I know when I took this class in college, I struggled a little bit because of the way you need to think in this course.
Where can I find practice tests and practice problems online outside of paying for online courses?
There is a large variety of sites where practice tests are available. Here are a few good options for students to practice the related course material outside of paying for courses.
- http://db.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps102/spring07/Practice-updated-key.pdf
- https://faculty.kfupm.edu.sa/ics/darwish/ICS253-Fall2015/exams/Exam1_Sample1.pdf
- https://www.unf.edu/~wkloster/3100/3100.html
- https://uvacs2102.github.io/finalprep/
- https://trevtutor.com/discretemath/discretemath1/
- https://www.studocu.com/en-au/document/university-of-newcastle-australia/discrete-mathematics/past-exams/samplepractice-exam-2015-questions/334607/view
- https://www.cs.umb.edu/~eb/320/exam1/exam1solutions.pdf
- https://www.sanfoundry.com/1000-discrete-mathematics-questions-answers/
- http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~amoretti/3203/solution%201.pdf
- https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ceea/7511a81a5b986b9232cb908f712d62301cee.pdf
When am I ever going to use this material?
This is a fair question.
Discrete mathematics is a course that is typically taken at the college level by mathematics and computer science majors, so students will use this information in future advanced mathematics classes like Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, or Complex Analysis.
However, there are many more courses that you can use Discrete Mathematics knowledge to assist in learning new content.
Does the word self-paced mean you are teaching yourself?
This is a valid concern, but self-paced does not mean you are teaching yourself. The courses that are created to be taken online are designed by professional educators and college professors who usually include video lectures that explain the material in an easily understandable way.
These instructors also include practice problems for students to do to apply the concepts they are learning in the class with in-depth solution explanations.
Therefore, students should not feel like they are teaching themselves. However, due to the difficulty of this course, it is imperative that students keep up with the material and do any and all practice problems assigned to them by their instructor,
How do you study for tests in Discrete Mathematics?
With any math class, the most important thing a student can do is practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more. The more you practice, the more familiar you become with applying the concepts learned in the class, which means your test scores will increase overall.
Also, with Discrete Mathematics, it is really important that you study the vocabulary because of how many terms there are throughout the course.
In conclusion, no matter what online Discrete Mathematics course you take, it is imperative that the course you select has a strong structure that focuses on teaching students’ mastery of the material.
Because a lot of courses that are taken online are self-paced, students who are mastering the concepts are more likely to succeed in future higher level math courses such as Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, and even Graph Theory.
Having a firm grasp of the material taught in Discrete Mathematics will result in a good grade in any future mathematics courses and even challenging computer science classes like Computer Programming.
It is also important that students select a course with detailed and engaging video lessons that break down the material, especially if the videos are on the longer side.
The course that a student selects should be designed by a creative instructor who finds a way to make learning the material fun and interesting. To succeed in any online class, you have to remain focused and driven since there is not a physical teacher or professor in the room with you making sure that assignments get completed.
Taking a great online Discrete Mathematics class will help any student succeed in future mathematical or computer science undertakings.
I tutored full time for the Ohio Graduation Test in my home state of Ohio for one year, and I have taught Math at the high school level for over 5 years.
In my time as a high school mathematics teacher, I have taught Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Statistics, and Advanced Placement Calculus.
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