CS103: Mathematical Foundations of Computing
Spring 2025. MWF 3:00 - 4:20 PM in Gates B1 (basement level).
๐บ๏ธ Your Week 1 Task Map
Welcome to CS103! This website is under construction for the first couple days to update it from Winter quarter to Spring quarter, but if you have any pressing questions in the mean time, we'll be happy to answer on the course Ed. (Note: office hours begin in Week 2)
Course Overview and Welcome
Hi there ๐, and welcome to CS103: Mathematical Foundations of Computing! This class is an introduction to discrete mathematics (mathematical logic, proofs, and discrete structures such as sets, functions, and graphs), computability theory, and complexity theory. Over the course of the quarter, youโll see some of the most impressive โ and intellectually beautiful โ mathematical results of the last 150 years. As we go, youโll hone your ability to write clean, elegant, well-structured proofs. Youโll untangle interesting puzzles and encounter surprising mathematical results. In the latter half of the course, youโll learn how to think about computation itself, how to show that certain problems are impossible to solve, and youโll get a sense of what lies beyond the current frontier of computer science โ especially with respect to the biggest open problem in math and computer science, the P = NP problem.
Weโre excited to share our love of this material with you, and we have a superb team of TAs who will support you on your journey through this course. We hope you will ultimately find the class enriching and fulfilling and that you enjoy the fascinating topics we discuss along the way!
Teaching Team










