Discrete Mathematics 2 DSBA 2025/2026

About

This page contains basic information for the course Discrete Mathematics 2 in 2025/2026 academic year at HSE Bachelor’s Programme in Data Science and Business Analytics (DSBA).

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Professors and assistants

The lecturer of the course in 2025 fall term is Boris Radislavovich Danilov (brdanilov@gmail.com).

Seminar instructors

Group	241	242	243	244	245	246
Teachers	Boris Danilov	Alyona Chislova		Igor Savitskii	Carlos Buitrago
Odd homework assistants	Polina Doronicheva	Anastasia Podolyakina		Polina Doronicheva	Irina Milova
Even homework assistants	Lewis Lesigha	Anna Votinova		Lewis Lesigha	Mark Belov

Office hours

Each teacher must be notified in advance that you want to come during consultation hours!!!

Teachers	Boris Danilov	Alyona Chislova	Igor Savitskii	Carlos Buitrago
Time	Tuesday 17.50-18.20

Interim assessment activities

Homework assignments

Homework assignments include 14 problem sets, one in a week. The last homework assignment is not assessed by tutors (it is left for self-assessment). The assessment of homework assignments is partial, that is only a minor subset of exercises from the whole homework assignment are being evaluated. Exercises to be evaluated are announced after homework deadline has passed.

Problem sets contain exercises which are labeled by an asterisk as ‘bonus’ while all the remaining exercises are considered ‘ordinary’. Deadline for submissions of ordinary exercises is the date when the task was assigned plus 7 days. Bonus exercises are assessed independently and their deadline is the date when the task was assigned plus 14 days. Late submissions score is penalized (both for compulsory and bonus parts separately) with multiplier (0.9)^H, where H is the number of hours passed after deadline, but only when H is less than 48. Submissions late for more than 48 hours are not assessed and scored zero.

Homework ordinary and bonus parts can be passed separately, but each part is passed as a whole. Re-submission of individual exercises means the re-submission of the whole part of the homework assignment with the update of the timestamp for all previously submitted exercises in that part. Only the last submission is getting assessed and scored.

Student may be required to explain orally his written solution to any problem on the colloquium, in class, or if there are suspicions of preparing the task without student's own effort on a personal appointment initiated by the teacher for the purpose of verification or defense of this particular assessment element. Student’s grade for the assessment element may be adjusted based on the additional verification or the defense. If plagiarism is detected, the assessment element will be assigned a score of "0".

Grade <HW> for homework assignments is a rational number between 0 and 15:
<HW> = min(15, 10 * (the sum of score points obtained by the student for all evaluated tasks in all homework assignments) / (the sum of nominal score points for ordinary evaluated tasks in all homework assignments)).

Quizzes

Quizzes are small tests that contain 1-3 exercises for 10-15 minutes that are held on seminars or lectures. The form of a quiz is a small written test. Students aren't allowed to use any materials during the quiz. Some questions of the quiz are sometimes labeled as ‘bonus’ whilst the others are ‘ordinary’ questions.

Grade <QZ> for quizzes is the rational number between 0 and 15:
<QZ> = min(15, 10 * (the sum of score points obtained by the student for all tasks in all quizzes) / (the sum of nominal score points for ordinary tasks in all quizzes)).

Knowledge test

Knowledge test is a written control work that is held at the end of the 1st module. Students may not consult any sources during the knowledge test that takes about 60 minutes and contains 5-7 problems. Some problems of the knowledge test are labeled as ‘bonus’ whilst the others are ‘ordinary’. Each problem is graded on the scale from 0 to 6 integer points.

Grade <KT> for the knowledge test is the rational number between 0 and 15:
<KT> = min(15, 10 * (the sum of score points obtained by the student for all tasks) / (the sum of nominal score points for ordinary tasks))

Colloquium

Colloquium is an oral activity where student receives one practical question (a problem similar to those that are assigned in homework) and two theoretical questions aligned with definitions and proofs from lectures. Student has 60 minutes to prepare his answer before defending it to a tutor (or several tutors).

Grade <CO> for the colloquium is the rational number between 0 and 10 that is based on answers of the student, where the answer for the practical question is graded out of 2 parts and answers for theoretical question are graded out of 3 parts each. Furthermore, 2 remaining parts of the grade are gained by answering additional questions on definitions and statements of theorems from the course.

Examination control work

Written examination control work is held at the end of the course. Students may not consult any sources during the examination control work that takes about 120 minutes and contains 8-10 problems. Some problems of the examination control work are labeled as ‘bonus’ whilst the others are ‘ordinary’. Each problem is graded on the scale from 0 to 6 integer points.

Grade <EX> for the examination control work is the rational number between 0 and 15:
<EX> = min(15, 10 * (the sum of score points obtained by the student for all tasks) / (the sum of nominal score points for ordinary tasks))

Retake principles:

On the first and second retakes, the cumulative course grade is taken into consideration. In case of receiving an unsatisfactory final grade after the first retake, the student may refuse to participate in the second retake and instead repeat the course according to the individual curriculum. The cumulative grade is formed again as a result of repeated courses. After completing the repeated course, the student is given a second retake only, which the student previously refused.

Grading

Final Grade

Grade <Final grade> for the course is determined by the formula:

<Final grade> = min(10, round(0.11 * <HW> + 0.14 * <QZ> + 0.17 * <KT> + 0.23 * <CO> + 0.35 * <EX>)),

where <HW>, <QZ>, <KT>, <CO>, <EX> are grades for interim assessment activities:

• <HW> - Homework assignments
• <QZ> - Quizzes
• <KT> - Knowledge test
• <CO> - Colloquium
• <EX> - Examination control work

Rounding rules:

Arithmetic rounding works for students with attendance between 30% and 70%. For students with attendance less than 30% a number X with fractional part below or equal to 0.7 is rounded "below" (to the highest integer non exceeding X). For students with attendance greater than 70% a number Y with fractional part above or equal to 0.3 is rounded "above" (to the smallest integer greater than Y). Rounding in the formula means rounding to the nearest integer, tie-values are rounded up.

Automatic pass

Students who have good performance and attendance are eligible for automatic pass.

If student's attendance is greater than 60% and <AU> by the formula below is greater or equal to 7.0 without rounding then by automatic pass <Final grade> = round(<AU>) (special rounding rules are NOT applied)

<AU> = min(10, 0.17 * <HW> + 0.22 * <QZ> + 0.26 * <KT> + 0.35 * <CO>)

Please note that expression for <AU> does NOT include rounding.
Decision to apply for automatic pass must be made prior to taking the exam. Attendance at the exam automatically cancels automatic pass.

Plagiarism rules

If plagiarism is detected (including material generated with the help of generative AI without prior approval from the teacher), the assessment element will be assigned a score of "0".
If there is a suspicion that the task was not completed independently, the teacher has the right to initiate an additional verification or a defense of this particular assessment element. The final grade for the element will be based on the results of such verification or defense.
The teacher also reserves the right to randomly invite any student to defend any assessment element, regardless of plagiarism or suspicion. If the student refuses or fails to defend the work, the grade for this element will be annulled and recorded as "0".