Distributed Computing through Combinatorial Topology

Although computer science itself is based on discrete mathematics, combinatorial topology and its applications may still be unfamiliar to many computer scientists. For this reason, this course provides a self-contained, elementary introduction to the concepts from combinatorial topology needed to analyze distributed computing. Conversely, while the systems and models used here are standard in computer science, they may be unfamiliar to students with a background in pure or applied mathematics. For this reason, this course also provides a self-contained, elementary description of standard notions of distributed computing. CSCI 0220 required, CSCI 1760 recommended