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CO 430Algebraic Enumeration

Units
0.50
Faculty
Mathematics
Subject
Combinatorics and Optimization

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

The Lagrange Implicit Function Theorem, the MacMahon Master Theorem. Enumeration of planar triangulations. The transfer matrix method. Sieve methods, inclusion/exclusion, Mobius inversion. Polya enumeration, Enumeration of trees. Basic hypergeometric series, q-analogues, Rogers-Ramanujan identities. Asymptotic methods.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • CO330 - Combinatorial Enumeration (0.50)
    • Earned a minimum cumulative overall average of 80

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00159750 / 20MW 14:30–15:50
LEC 70123473 / 9999Online or by arrangement

Reviewed on UW Flow

100% liked it38% easy50% useful

From 6 ratings and 2 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Course was tricky as shit, but interesting. Counting is hard. Generalized mobius inversion is great. Symmetric functions are interesting, although their endless bases are horrifically confusing. The representation theory stuff at the end seemed super shoe-horned in and didn't really fit nicely with the rest of what we were doing.

    Mar 2014 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This is an algebra heavy course, that the only "CO" thing I could say about this course is that we ended up using the whole theory to count things. That being said, having maturity in algebra (like having taken an algebra course before) would be really useful -- and is much more essential than the combinatorics counterpart of the course. This is also a professor dependent course. Prof. Oliver decided to dedicated more time on posets rather than species for our offering. In general, we discussed partial ordered sets, algebra of power and laurent series, OGFS, q-integers and q-binomials, (minimal) category theory for enumeration, species theory and its EGFS, mobius functions on posets, group…

    Apr 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

10 posts and comments in 9 threads mention CO 430, August 2014 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2024

Winter 2021

Plan your degree! 562 points, 127 comments

“Hey UW, hope you all had an amazing break!!! We are extremely proud to announce the launch of UWPath today! …”

u/kirito_feng: “CO Major specific error: taking CO255 allows for the CO 351/353/367 requirement to be replaced with any of CO 430-471. Source.”

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Fall 2018

Spring 2018

Winter 2018

CO course recommendation 3 points, 9 comments

u/StarryHeaven101: “… I need one course from the following list: CO 331 Coding Theory CO 342 Introduction to Graph Theory CO 351 Network Flow Theory CO 353 Computational Discrete Optimization CO 430-487, excluding CO 480 Your help is much appreciated thanks! P.S. …”

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Winter 2017

Good CO courses? 4 points, 7 comments

“Wondering if there are any good CO courses that anyone would recommend? Also would you recommend taking the prerequisites or just override them, this is coming from a student that's not in the math …”

u/GenesisTK: “From the courses I've seen other people take, CO 444, CO 446, CO 471, CO 466, CO 463, CO 450, CO 430.”

u/RecurrentWalk: “… CO 330 and 430 (algebraic enumeration) This is the follow-up to all the generating functions you saw in Math 239. If you enjoyed counting things with generating functions and want to take it further I recommend taking these courses. …”

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Spring 2015

Opinions on Women's Studies? 10 points, 35 comments

“I am planning on taking WS in the fall term. Has anyone taken it before? I am a dude, I am wondering if this course is majority girls. Is this course easy? Are there any participation marks? …”

u/Gibstick: “Paging /u/MrSanToeKnee”

u/ehashman: “… OTOH I think I was the only woman officially enrolled in CO 430 by the end of the class, as all the grad students dropped it. Yes, I'm grouping CO and PM together here. Definitely prefer the CO culture to PMATH though. I found the latter kind of toxic. …”

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Winter 2015

What is your favourite course you've taken at UW? 18 points, 63 comments

“I'd rather not stick to the exact beaten path of my major. I'd like to add in a few cool courses in my four years here. What's your favourite course?”

u/ehashman: “My top three are undoubtedly: - CO 430/630: Algebraic enumeration - MATH 147: Introduction to Analysis (or Advanced Calc 1 for Math Majors) - MATH 245: Advanced Linear Algebra 2 Taking the advanced classes was one of the best decisions of my university career. …”

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Spring 2014

Favorite CO 300/400 course? 12 points, 7 comments

“I'm going for the CO minor and need 1 more CO 3xx or 4xx course. I am taking/have taken CO 456 & 487 (Game Theory & Applied Cryptography), but now I'm not sure what else I find interesting... …”

u/Tyr42: “I really enjoyed CO 330 and CO 430, Combinatorial Enumeration. 330 has really great course notes, and you can learn everything in the course from them, so if you can only fit one it, I think you can take 430 if you do a little catch up work. Really great course notes. …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar