A1

1 comments Posted by vivichan at 9:58 PM

I didn't know whether to put this under Week Three or Week Four, but anyway, I finished assignment 1 yesterday, a few hours before it was due. It wasn't all that bad in the end.. but I did have a lot of trouble starting the assignment and figuring out exactly what I needed to do. Question 2 really stumped me because I thought we actually had to prove that our technique works using induction. Instead, the TA told me just to use it to come up with a solution for n+1 meals. I sincerely hope that was what Prof. Heap wanted, otherwise I would have messed up a whole question. 


Anyway, I don't know what more to say about it. I started the actual writing of the assignment pretty much on Sunday, which was not such a great idea. The assignment was definitely tricky because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish it. Somehow, I managed to pull through. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and will start the next assignment early. On a totally different note, TA's are very helpful when you're stuck. I'm so glad there are so many office hours since I can't make more than half of them.

 

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Week 3 in a nutshell

1 comments Posted by vivichan at 3:01 PM

I'm still working on the assignment.. so I'm going to have to keep this entry short. 


Firstly, problem set 2 was nice and simple, in my opinion. The first part was very similar to what we had done in class. Compared to the simple induction method we saw last year in 165, this one was very different, yet it still made so much sense. I would have never thought up this sort of solution on my own though. I just used logic to explain the second part. Hopefully what I did was alright.

We looked at how the Principle of Well-ordering and the two different types of induction were equivalent this week. I understand some parts, but not all of it yet. The example in the book didn't seem to help me either. I'll take a look at it after the assignment. We also dealt with simple induction with bases that were larger than 0 and examples of improper proofs. I had no trouble with bases greater than 0, but I did have a little bit of trouble spotting some of the errors in the proofs we looked at on Friday, particularly the hexagon one.

In any case, I was more comfortable with this week's material than the last. I guess I'm still a bit edgy with complete induction. I'll do more practice after the assignment, which I am quite a bit behind on at the moment. Sorry for any incoherences as I am rushing through this entry so I can continue working on A1.

 

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Post numero 2!

1 comments Posted by vivichan at 9:09 PM

So, the third week of classes are beginning already, yet I still feel an extreme lack of motivation and concentration. I know I should start focussing before I fall behind, but I'm constantly feeling tired from my super spread out schedule, 3 night classes, cooking, cleaning, and my part-time job. I need to work out some sort of schedule to be better organized :S


I started and finished my first problem set on thursday. Luckily, it wasn't difficult. The first problem was very similar to what we had done in class. The second one required more thinking, but was just as straightforward. The solution I wrote up seemed like a "dumbed down" version of the solution posted today. The one posted seemed much more mathematical and precise than my own. I hope we aren't graded too roughly on how we decide to present our solutions. Like, would it make any difference if I were to say "1 is either 1, 2, or 3" rather than "1 is in the set {1, 2, 3}?

Anyway, so we looked at another flavor of induction last week: complete induction. I don't really like complete induction. Sometimes it just takes me a while to work out what I need to do in order to complete my proof, and that's really frustrating. For example, the examples we did in class - although I saw what the patterns were or what the recursive factor was, I just couldn't put it into words. When Prof. Heap asked the class to scribble down ideas, I just didn't know what to write down sometimes. Perhaps I'm just one of those people that need more time to think about something. Whatever it is, it was still pretty frustrating. I still haven't found time to read the course notes yet. I read on someone's blog that after reading the book, induction made more sense to them? I don't know if it will help me solve more problems, but I should read up in any case. 

On a completely different note, I really like how Prof. Heap is using his tablet PC to present his lectures with, but there are a couple of concerns I'd like to address. Firstly, I don't print the blank slides (perhaps I should), and I find that sometimes, usually at the end of a slide, the slides change too quickly and I don't catch what was written last. Luckily, the slides are posted online, so I can find what I had missed. Secondly, sometimes when the Prof is trying to emphasize a point, he scrolls his cursor around the word or point. The cursor is actually kind of hard to notice because it's a tiny green dot that sometimes blends with the words themselves. Usually, I am able to catch it while it's making its loops, but I'd just like to point out that its not always easy to see. 

That's enough blogging for me tonight, I think. I've got a looooong day ahead of me tomorrow.

 

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CSC236... Begins!

1 comments Posted by vivichan at 2:21 PM

School has finally started again. It feels like only yesterday that I was still in first year...  except my memory seems to tell me otherwise; I've failed to retain anything after my brain turned off for four whole months. I guess what I meant to say was, summer sure went by quickly. I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer. I know I did. :)


So after last semester of SLoG writing for CSC165, I find myself SLoG writing, not surprisingly, for CSC236 this semester. Although I am not a big fan of recording and reflecting about a particular course, I suppose this will force myself into reviewing problems that I didn't understand in class and into solving problems Prof. Heap gives us to think about. 

We focussed on simple induction for the first week of classes. Although I can follow what is being explained, I find that I am having a bit of trouble coming up with the "key" step on my own. I guess I just need a bit of time for my brain to pick up the pace again. Other than that.. I think classes are pretty straightforward and going at a good pace. We've gotten rid of the very rigid structure of presenting our proofs from CSC165 and replaced it with something more flexible. I think there are good and bad things about this. Firstly, it is great to know that we can write up our proofs without having to worry about indenting and formatting. The proof can also flow better; however, this also means that half the marks we got last year for just the structure is not as easily attainable. It is also easier to miss crucial components to your proof while writing in paragraph form because you can't just spot it like you would in the 165 structure. 

Anyway, I hope this class will turn out as interesting as CSC165, if not more. I am not really enjoying CSC236, but I definitely do not feel as much hate as I did at the beginning of CSC165. I should probably get started on my problem set as well as some reading for this course now.

 

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