Approaching Finito

This week was our last lecture!  It all seemed to fly by so quickly, and before we know it the final exam will be upon us.  I hardly remember what the lecture was on honestly, because it wouldn't be necessary for the final exam.  My friend and I had been slaving away at assignment 3 for most of that afternoon, and by the time class rolled around I was pretty brain-dead.  What was important though was the tiny review that the professor did at the end of the class.  It gave me a great idea about how to study and what to study so that I do well in this exam.

I have very mixed feelings about this class, but overall am sad it's over.  I didn't necessarily enjoy it all that much, but what I learned was incredible.  I learned about logic in a new way and I got to freshen up my calculus.  I discovered that peers can be even better than instructors at teaching material, and that I do in fact love math and computer science.  It was hard material for me, but I think that by the time I write the exam I will be ready.  As challenging and stressful as this class was, I am glad I had to take it because it gave me a new perspective on math, logic, and what I am capable of learning.

M

halt(hammer, time)

Well we got our midterms back this week, and like most of the class I didn't do as well as I expected.  The graders were very strict it seems, docking marks for the smallest omissions and fallacies.  It makes sense if you want to learn how to write strong proofs but it does hurt when you receive your test back.  At least I know where to study the most for the final exam, which isn't too far away now!

We also did a recap of proving growth functions, and determining whether they were bounded by Big O or Big Omega.  I liked the polynomial examples I think the best because numbers are intuitive.  The generic functions were interesting too, and seemed pretty clear as well.  I am a little concerned about the calculus aspect required for some of the non-polynomial functions, because it's been so long since I have done calculus.

Then finally we took a look at some python functions to determine whether they were computable or not, using a halt(f, f) function and an initialized(f, f) function.  I couldn't quite grasp it by the end of the lecture because it was a little bit of pseudo-code, and I'm going to have to go back later and revisit it.

It's hard to believe we are nearing the end of the term.  I am a little terrified for this final exam!

M

Take Me To L'Hopital

This week was our second midterm, and I felt like it went pretty well.  I only wish I had more time to write it!  The questions were appropriately challenging, and I felt like they were a twist on our second assignment.  I will look forward to getting the solution to it, because there were a few times when I had an idea of where to go but couldn't exactly figure out how.

After the test, we moved on to proofs related to Big Oh notation.  I quickly realized that this was the hinge between the mathematical proofs and the computer science.  We took a look at some examples and techniques to prove whether a polynomial function was in Big Oh.  With enough practice, it seemed like it will be a straightforward procedure.  Then we moves to logarithmic functions and learned about L'Hopital's rule.  I found it interesting but felt a bit lost yet again.  I am already looking forward to assignment 3, because they've been the most helpful way to learn everyhing so far.  I like how this is all tying back to computer science though, and I am eager to see where this all goes.

M