This message is a test of the mailing list for my cs1323 class. If you are not in this class, please let me know and I will remove you from the list. (If you are in the class, there's no need to reply.)
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the first reading and homework assignment.
Note that you can also find this page by following the link from the main class page, http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/, which you should probably bookmark for easy reference.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 2 for credit, and Homework 3 not for credit.
(This will also be announced in class today.)
At the request of Dr. Parks in Counseling and Career Services, last week I announced in class that two students in the class (because of disabilities) need to find someone who will share his/her notes. So far there have been no volunteers for this spot. Can anyone help out? The person hired as notetaker will be paid for the task (minimum wage for three hours a week). If you are at all interested, please get in touch with Dr. Parks as soon as possible, at 999-7411. Thanks ....
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 4 for credit, and Homework 5 not for credit.
Also recall from class that more reading has been assigned -- sections 1.6 and 2.1 through 2.3.
FYI: I've revised/simplified the class Web site, home page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/index.html. In particular, there's now an "announcements" page that records/archives all the messages I send to the class mailing list (except trivial ones).
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 6 for credit, and Homework 7 not for credit.
Dr. Djordjevic found some nice Web sites related to mathematical induction. If you're having any difficulty with the presentation of this topic in the text and lectures, you might follow the links on http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/links.html. (Even if you're not, check out some of the "examples" links if you have a few minutes -- some of them contain little Java applets that let you play with examples of the thing to prove.)
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 8 for credit, and Homework 9 not for credit.
Confirming what I said in class today: There will be a review session for next Thursday's exam at 6pm Monday, lasting about an hour. Sometime between now and then (as soon as I can), I will post on the Web a short review sheet indicating what topics are fair game for exam questions -- basically, everything we've covered so far, possibly excluding what we talked about today.
The review session is completely optional; it will basically be a question-and-answer session in which you can ask about homework or other problems.
A short review sheet is available linked from the assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html summarizing topics to be covered and format of the exam.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 10 for credit, and Homework 11 not for credit.
For anyone who hasn't noticed, and in case I haven't mentioned this in class: In the back of the textbook you can find (1) answers to the "practice problems" and (2) answers to all the regular problems marked with a star. I usually choose the "not for credit" homework problems from the ones marked with stars, so that you can check your work by comparing it with the answers in the back of the book.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 12 for credit, and Homework 13 not for credit.
Also read section 3.1 in chapter 3.
A couple of last-minute comments about the homework to be turned in tomorrow:
Problem #47 on p. 141 asks you to give a recursive definition of addition for non-negative integers. An alert student pointed out to me yesterday (thanks, Brian!) that you need some other simpler operations you can use as a basis for the definition, and it isn't obvious from the way the problem is stated what you're supposed to use. For example, we were able to give a recursive definition of multiplication by using addition and subtraction as these "simpler operations". For addition, a reasonable choice is to base your definition on the operations "add1" and "sub1" (or you might prefer to call them "next", as in "next integer", and "prev", as in "previous integer"). Here are some examples of writing additions in terms of add1:
6 + 1 = add1(6)
6 + 2 = add1(add1(6))
6 + 5 = add1(add1(add1(add1(add1(6)))))
We could also write:
6 + 5 = add1(6 + sub1(5))
(And the preceding line is a hint about how to approach this problem.)
Solving problem #76 on p. 144 essentially presents the first few elements of a sequence (1200, 1800, 2700, 4050) and asks you to define and solve a recurrence relation for the whole sequence. To do this you have to figure out what pattern is being used to generate the sequence. If you don't see the pattern right off, here's a hint (which I will try to make helpful without giving away too much): Look at the differences between successive elements (1800 - 1200, 2700 - 1800, etc.). Look also at the ratios of successive elements (1800/1200, 2700/1800, etc.). One or both of these ways of looking at those first four terms should help.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 14 for credit, and Homework 15 not for credit.
Also read the rest of chapter 3.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 16 for credit, and Homework 17 not for credit.
Because of the upcoming exam (April 5), the for-credit problems will be due next *Tuesday* rather than Thursday, and they will not be accepted late. Because this is a short deadline, I am making this assignment optional: You can turn in as many or as few of the problems as you like; any points you earn will be added to your homework score as extra credit (i.e., these points are added to your "points earned" score without being added to the "points possible").
Also note that I've returned exam 1 and homeworks 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10; I've also distributed sample solutions for these assignments. Stop by after class or during office hours if you didn't get yours back.
A short review sheet is available linked from the assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html summarizing topics to be covered and format/rules of the exam.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 18 for credit, and Homework 19 not for credit.
Also read chapter 4, all sections except 4.3.
One of the problems I assigned for today (#50 on p. 308) uses material we haven't discussed in class yet. So, I'm extending the deadline for this problem set until Tuesday.
See the class assignments page at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html for the next homework assignments -- Homework 20 for extra credit, and Homework 21 not for credit.
Like Homework 16, Homework 20 is optional; you can turn in as many or as few of the problems as you like, and any points you earn will be added to your homework score as extra credit (i.e., these points are added to your "points earned" score without being added to the "points possible"). They'll be due at the start of the final exam period and won't be accepted late.
I believe I mentioned this in class, but in case I didn't: Please read sections 5.1 and 5.2 of chapter 5 (this is the material we've discussed in the last couple of lectures). You should feel free to skim over material we didn't talk about in lecture.
For those we were not in class today:
We will have a review session for the final tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4pm in HAS 228; it will probably last about an hour. I'll come prepared to talk about a few homework/exam problems that seemed to give students trouble; please bring any questions you have about homework or exam problems.
I've returned everything people have turned in and have distributed sample solutions for the exams and for-credit homeworks. If there's something you didn't get, come by my office or the review session to pick it up.
There's a short review sheet for the final on the Web linked from http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/CS1323_2001spring/assignments.html.
I should be in my office most afternoons this week if you have questions, or feel free to e-mail me.