In high school you think that if you're smart enough you can eventually solve any problem. It turns out that's not true. Some problems intrinsically are unsolvable. In our theory of computation we're looking at new techniques for understanding the complexity of problems. There hasn't been a formal theory of continuous complexity before and I think we're starting to get one.
Discrete mathematics is the mathematics behind theoretical computer science.
But the syllabus for Discrete Math II wasn't very interesting. I tried to come up with something that would make the class more interesting. There's another kind of mathematics, related to theoretical computer science, that comes up a lot but wasn't covered in our curriculum. It has to do with using algebra and number theory in algorithm design. At the end of the semester some people in the Department suggested that I submit a proposal for a Quality Enhancement Project to work on a new design for the course.