Honors Section, Spring 2003
Instructor: Vijay V. Vazirani (vazirani@cc.gatech.edu, College of
Computing room 233, 894-5850).
Office hour: Tuesday 3-4pm.
Welcome to the College of Computing's sixth offering of the Honors Section for CS 1050. This section has been specially designed for students who have had a good mathematical training in high school, and therefore may have found the usual section not exciting enough.
In mathematics, the notion of a proof occupies a central position. Rigorous, formal, elegant thinking is an important part of computer science as well. A good understanding of what a proof is and how to go about proving a statement will lead you not only to making your arguments rigorous and correct, but will also make you a deeper thinker. In this course, we will impart this understanding in the setting of discrete mathematics. Since computers use a discrete logic, concepts from discrete mathematics such as counting, probability theory and graph theory are central tools in any good computer scientist's repertoir. Additionally, we will often pick interesting computational examples to illustrate proof methodologies. Clearly, the more thorough training you will get in this Honors Section will better prepare you for future computer science courses.
Below is some preliminary information.
Notes:
We will not follow any specific textbook, since none were suitable for
the material I intend to cover. I will however give pointers to notes on the
web. The first one is:
http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/classes/6.042/spring01/handouts/fall97/homepage.html
Grading: Grades will be assigned on the following policy:
Homeworks: I cannot over-emphasize the importance of homeworks in this course. Please expect to spend 10-15 hours per week on homeworks and understanding the material. You are encouraged to verbally collaborate on solving home work problems in groups of two or three - but not more. If you do so, you must state the names of your collaborators on your home work. However, each student must write their solutions down individually. Sharing written work will constitute as cheating and is strictly forbidden. Incidents of cheating on homeworks and exams will be taken very seriously. You are encouraged to meet the TA or me about difficulties you may have. Homeworks will be due at the beginning of class, i.e. at 3pm. Any homework submitted in the next 24 hours will be penalized 20%. Subsequently, for each 24 hours, the penalty will increase by 20%; however, as soon as solutions are provided for a homework, no more late homeworks will be accepted.
Review Sessions: The TA's will hold a one-hour review class every week, besides holding office hours. You are encouraged to attend the review sessions to get your doubts cleared, seek solutions to problems not on the homework and hints to problems on the homework.
Teaching Style: I believe students learn more if they participate more: asking questions, making clever observations and giving comments. Indeed, this is the style I am most comfortable with. So, do participate!