Math 353: Advanced Topics in Discrete Applied Mathematics:
Applied Algebraic Combinatorics
Course meets: MWF 1:10-2:30pm in Burton 307.
Office hours: Monday 1-3pm, Wednesday 1-3pm, Thursday 3-4pm, and by appointment.
Course description: (From the course catalog) "DNA and RNA can each be represented as a sequence of letters (nucleotides). Combinatorial properties of these sequences---the order of the letters, matchings between sequences or within a sequence---have important biological implications. This course will focus on these combinatorial properties, studying different kinds of permutation groups, their generators, and their Cayley graphs. Time permitting, we will also study noncrossing matchings and their relationship with permutation groups. We will emphasize applications to molecular biology, and will describe open questions."
Prerequisites: Math 153 and Math 233, or permission of the instructor. No biology background needed.
Course readings: The course has no official textbook. Several texts are on reserve for background reading on biology, combinatorics, and algebra. We will also use research articles that can be found on the course Moodle page.