CSE20

Instructional team

We will be communicating with you and making announcements through an online question and answer platform called Piazza (sign up link: piazza.com/ucsd/spring2016/cse20). We ask that when you have a question about the class that might be relevant to other students, you post your question on Piazza instead of emailing us. That way, everyone can benefit from the response. You should not post about graded homework questions on Piazza. The best way for us to answer homework questions is in office hours. The exceptions to this rule are if you suspect a typo in the assignment, or if you don't understand what the question is asking you to do. In those cases only, you may post about homework questions on Piazza. You can also post private messages to instructors on Piazza, which we prefer to email. Our office hours can be found in the calendar above.

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Welcome Message

Welcome to CSE20! If you ever wondered "What sort of mathematics do I need for computer science?", this course will provide some of the answers. In particular, you will have the opportunity to learn basic concepts about algorithms, computer arithmetic, number systems, Boolean algebras, logic, proofs, program correctness, loop invariants, modular arithmetic, linear and partial orders, recurrences, and induction, among other things. These are some of the essential ingredients in the toolkit of every computer scientist.

Course Description:

Please click here for a course description as given in the undergraduate course listing.

Learning Goals:

CSE 20 will teach you the basic tools for representing, analyzing, solving, and reasoning about computational problems. Specifically, on successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe and trace simple algorithms using English and pseudocode.
• Identify and prove (or informally justify) termination and correctness of some algorithms.
• Define and use classical algorithms and algorithmic paradigms e.g. Euclidean algorithm, greedy optimization.
• Use multiple representations of numbers to illustrate properties of the numbers and develop algorithms.
• Understand the logical structure and meaning of a sentence expressing a property, fact, or specification.
• Reason about the truth or falsity of complicated statements using Boolean connectives, quantifiers, and basic definitions.
• Relate boolean operations to applications, e.g. logic puzzles, set operations, combinatorial circuits.
• Prove propositional equivalences.
• Apply proof techniques, including direct proofs and proofs by contradiction.
• Distinguish valid from invalid arguments.
• Reason about modular arithmetic.
• Prove program correctness using loop invariants and pre-conditions /post-conditions.
• Use mathematical induction to prove statements about mathematical identities and inequalities.
• Apply structural induction to prove statements about recursively defined objects.
• Identify and be able to prove basic properties of sets, functions, and relations.
• Distinguish between finite, countable, and uncountable sets.

Grading:

Course grades will be computed using the following weights.

Grading
Exams	65%
Homework and participation	35%

Exams: There will be two midterm exams and one final exam. The midterms will be given during the usual lecture time and place and you must attend the lecture for which you are registered. No makeup tests will be given. The exams will test all material covered up to the day of the exam. In particular, the final exam will be cumulative and will cover all material from the whole term. You may not use calculators on any exams but you may use a double-sided sheet of handwritten notes on 8.5x11 inch paper. The weighting of the exam scores will be

MAX ( (Final 35%, First Exam 15%, Second Exam 15%), (Final 50%, Best Exam 15%)).

You must have a passing score on the final exam (50%) in order to pass the course.

The weighting of the homework and participation will be
MAX ( (Homework 30%, Participation 5%), Homework 35 %)

Homework: There will be eight homework assignments. Working through them will be crucial to helping you gain mastery of the techniques we will study. When computing the homework portion of the course grade, the lowest of your eight homework scores will be dropped and the average computed using the remaining seven assignments.

Homework should be done in groups of one to three people. You are free to change group members at any time throughout the quarter. Problems should be solved together, not divided up between partners.

Homework solutions should be neatly written or typed and turned in through Gradescope by 11:59pm on the due date. No late homeworks will be accepted for any reason. You will be able to look at your scanned work before submitting it. Please ensure that your submission is legible (neatly written and not too faint) or your homework may not be graded. Submit only one submission per group. One representative group member can upload the submission through their gradescope account and then add the other group member(s) to the Gradescope submission: make sure to select their names when you "Add Group Members" to the submission; it's not enough to just list their names on the page. For step-by-step instructions on scanning and uploading your homework, see this handout.

Students should consult their textbook, class notes, lecture slides, instructors, TAs, and tutors when they need help with homework. Students should not look for answers to homework problems in other texts or sources, including the internet. Only post about graded homework questions on Piazza if you suspect a typo in the assignment, or if you don't understand what the question is asking you to do. Other questions are best addressed in office hours.

The 5% of the grade that may be earned through participation will consist of the higher score between the following two options:

• Discussion section quizzes: Each week, short quizzes will be given in discussion section. These short quizzes will be based on the readings in the textbook sections for the week. To receive credit, you should take the quiz at the beginning of section, take notes on your quiz during section, and show your quiz to your TA at the end of section. You will get 100% on the quiz by doing these things. We will drop your lowest quiz score (one week excused absence), then compute the average score of the remaining quizzes.


• iClicker Participation: There will be frequent opportunities for structured active participation during lecture and discussion section (solving problems, responding with clickers, group discussion), in which everyone is expected to participate. Additionally, alerting the instructor, TAs, and tutors when you are confused, lost, didn't hear something, or otherwise in need of additional explanation is strongly encouraged. You must register your iClicker here. We will start recording clicker points on the second day of class, so please register your clicker right away. Clicker discussion questions in lecture will be graded for participation only and not correctness of the response. Full credit for clicker points for a given day will be awarded for clicking in at least 80% of the time that day. Your two lowest lecture participation days (one week's worth of excused absences) will be automatically dropped before your average iClicker participation score is computed. Forgetting your clicker counts as missing a class, so please remember to bring it!

After your weighted average is calculated, letter grades will be assigned based on the following curved grading scale:

A+, A, A-	B+, B, B-	C+, C, C-	D, F
100-88	87-75	74-60	Below 60

The boundaries for +/- designations within each letter grades will be determined based on the grade distribution of the class. In addition, you must pass the final exam with at least a 50% in order to pass the course.

Standards for evaluation:

Your assignments in this class will be evaluated not only on the correctness of your answers, but also on your ability to present your ideas clearly and logically. You should always explain how you arrived at your conclusions, using mathematically sound reasoning. Whether you use formal proof techniques or write a more informal argument for why something is true, your answers should always be well-supported. Your goal should be to convince the reader that your results and methods are sound.

Regrades:

Please be prompt (less than three days) in reporting any errors in the grading of your work, or in the recording of your grade. All grades become permanent three days after they are recorded. All regrade requests must be made through Gradescope. You must submit a separate regrade request for each question you'd like to be regraded since Gradescope will route the request to the person who graded that question. Do not use regrade requests as a venue for explanation of the solution; Piazza posts are much better places for those questions.

Academic Integrity:

The Jacobs School of Engineering code of Academic Integrity is here. You should make yourself aware of what is and is not acceptable by reading this document. Academic integrity violations will be taken seriously and reported immediately. Ignorance of the rules will not excuse you from any violations. Key facts about academic integrity related to CSE20:

• Do not discuss homework problems with people besides your homework group members and the instructional staff.
• Do not share written solutions or partial solutions with other groups.
• Prepare your final written solution without consulting any written material except class notes and the class text.
• Do not use any external resources (other than the allowed one sheet of notes) during the in-class exams.
• Before taking an exam, do not attempt to obtain information about the contents of the exam from students who have already taken in. After taking an exam, do not discuss its contents with anyone in the class who has not yet taken it.

Accommodations:

Students requesting accommodations for this course due to a disability must provide a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter issued by the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) which is located in University Center 202 behind Center Hall. Students are required to present their AFA letters to Faculty (please make arrangements to contact me privately) and to the OSD Liaison in the department in advance (by the end of week 2, if possible) so that accommodations may be arranged. For more information, see here.

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