updated 1/3/22

Discrete Math for CS

Content Calendar

CSE 20 Winter 2022

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, modular arithmetic, linear and partial orders, recurrences, and induction, amongst other things. 

In this class, you will use careful mathematical modeling, problem solving, and clear and precise communication to explore key questions in Computer Science. (1) How do we decide (and prove) what's true? (2) How do we use mathematics to give multiple representations of data and computation?

(Pandemic Resilience Instruction:)

Winter 2022 will start with a two-week period of fully remote teaching. We will keep a close eye on university policies and will inform the class whenever there is a change to our class policy.

After the two-week period of fully remote teaching (Jan 3-Jan 14), I personally will be returning to campus to teach in-person. I will continue to offer remote support throughout the rest of the quarter. Throughout the quarter, the "in-person" lectures will be live-streamed through zoom and recorded via "podcast.ucsd.edu". The exams will be offered "in-person" or "remote" and each student can choose which type of exam they prefer.

First and foremost is the health and safety of everyone.  Please do not come to class if you are sick or even think you might be sick.  Once the classes are back to "in-person", it is likely that the university will be requiring masks and "symptom screeners" and/or "covid tests". We expect all students to follow these rules. With all of this in mind, we expect all students to come to class when they can, but will also provide as much of the class materials as we can in a remotely viewable format. The lectures are designed to engage students in real time with opportunities for questions and discussions between instructor and students and also between students and other students.   We will also have some ways for students who participate remotely to engage in discussions with the instructors and other students, but cannot guarantee the full experience for remote students. 

(Personal note: Last quarter (FALL 2021), I ran my classes in a similar way. I was hopeful to expect that Winter quarter would be fully in person but it is clear that Covid-19 is still a concern. I have decided to continue offering the remote option for Winter 2022 mainly due to the fact that I do not know what the future will hold. There are many things about teaching remotely that I found to be great and I will try to incorporate some lessons learned from my remote teaching experience. That being said, I am excited and hopeful to teach "in-person" after the two-week remote period. I will try my best to bring a classroom experience that is the best of both worlds.
-Miles Jones) 

Prerequisites

There are no strict prerequisites but students should have a basic understanding of elementary computer programming, mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus.)

Course Logistics:

Time and Location

Lectures and review quizzes:

•  The lectures will be taught remotely for the first two weeks (Jan 4-Jan 14) and then in person for the rest of the quarter (unless otherwise specified.)
• The lectures will also stream on zoom in real time.
•  The lecture slides will be posted before class on the content calendar link.
•  You may interrupt lecture to ask questions, make comments or express doubts (For those of you in class, you can raise your hand and for those via zoom, you can use the chat feature. There will be TAs monitoring the zoom chat.)
•  All lectures will be recorded and posted for students to watch when they want.
•  If you are in class via zoom, you are not required to have a webcam.
•  There will be a short review quiz each lecture,  open until the Sunday of that week, with the same due date  for  both Tuesday and Thursday's lecture.  You will have unlimited attempts.

Instructor and Course Staff

Resources

Piazza link:

Gradescope link:

We encourage you to work on homework in groups of up to three CSE 20 classmates. To find group members: reach out to people sitting around you in class, in discussion section, or during office hours. Working within the campus safety guidelines, you may choose to meet with your group mates in person (find ideas for where to study on campus), or online. If you're working with one another remotely, we highly recommend meeting synchronously so that you can work through the homework problems *together*.

Textbook and supplies

Previous versions of the course used reference textbooks, including Discrete Mathematics and its Applications by Kenneth Rosen, which has online self-assessments and extra examples. This quarter, I will integrate the material that has been curated by Mia Minnes and several students. The hope is that all of the material you need will be available to you through the website.

Lecture material will be available in PDF format so you can download and annotate or print it if you'd like. In class, we'll work through examples. Some of these examples will have multiple choice questions so you can test and deepen your understanding. Other examples will be open-ended problems to practice the critical thinking and communication skills we are developing in CSE 20.

Typesetting (LaTeX) Resources

All submitted homework for this class must be typed. Diagrams may be hand-drawn and scanned and included in the typed document. You can use a word processing editor if you like (Microsoft Word, Open Office, Notepad, Vim, Google Docs, etc.) but you might find it useful to take this opportunity to learn LaTeX. LaTeX is a markup language used widely in computer science and mathematics. The homework assignments are typed using LaTeX and you can use the source files as templates for typesetting your solutions.

If you have never used LaTeX, we recommend cloud resources that don't require you to download and install LaTeX on your local machine. A good example is Overleaf, which has lots of documentation. Overleaf works similar to Google Docs in that all members can edit the file in parallel and changes are updated in real time. There is a way to directly invite group members to your document, but the free version of Overleaf only allows two people to work at the same time. To get around this, turn on link sharing: Click on “Share” in the top right, Click “Turn on link sharing”, Copy the displayed link and share it with your group members. To export your work, click on the “Download PDF” button on the right-hand side If you want to export the raw source files, click on the “Menu” button in the top-left, then click on “Source”

This open source LaTeX reference can be helpful when getting started, and you can use the .tex source of all the files we use in class as templates.

Alternatively, you can use Google Docs, which is available through your @ucsd.edu account. You can create documents and then share them with your group members with manual invites or a shareable link. Google Docs has a LaTex add-on that lets you type formulas in a math typesetting environment: search for "Auto-LaTeX Equations" if you want to try this option. You'll need to use the display environment (start and end with $) for all the portions you want rendered with LaTeX.

You will be deducted 1 point per handwritten question.

Grading and academic integrity

Grades in this class are designed to reflect your work and to document evidence of your learning this core material. They are also designed to accommodate the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and to allow flexibility in the face of uncertain public health situations. By working together to explore the CSE 20 material with integrity, we can each help ensure a fair and interesting quarter of building the foundations needed for your continued development in Computer Science. Please reach out to me (mej016@eng.ucsd.edu) if you have extenuating circumstances that you think will impede your ability to participate in the planned CSE 20 activities; I'd like to work out a solution together.

The graded components for CSE 20 will be Review quizzes, Homework, tests, midterm, and Final exam. Your overall grade for CSE 20 will be computed using the weights

• Review quizzes: 5% of overall score.
  
  Why? To help you track and confirm your understanding of the concepts and examples we work in class and give you immediate feedback.
  How? Quizzes can be submitted as many times (with no penalty) as you like until the quiz deadline: the three quizzes each week are all due on Sunday. The lowest three quiz scores will not be included in your overall review quiz average. You can collaborate with other CSE 20 students on review quizzes and you can ask questions about them in public posts on Piazza and in office hours.
  
  
• Homework: 30% of overall score.
  
  Why? To give you practice with the main concepts and techniques of the course, while getting to know and learn from your classmates.
  How? Weekly homework may be done individually or in groups of up to 3 students. You may switch HW partners for different HW assignments. The lowest HW score will not be included in your overall HW average. Please ensure your name(s) and PID(s) are clearly visible on the first page of your homework submission and then upload the PDF to Gradescope. If working in a group, submit only one submission per group: one partner uploads the submission through their Gradescope account and then adds the other group member(s) to the Gradescope submission by selecting their name(s) in the "Add Group Members" dialog box. You will need to re-add your group member(s) every time you resubmit a new version of your assignment. Each homework question will be graded either for correctness (including clear and precise explanations and justifications of all answers) or fair effort completeness. You may only collaborate on HW with CSE 20 students in your group; if your group has questions about a HW problem, you may ask in office hours or post a private post (visible only to the Instructors) on Piazza.
  
  
• Tests: 10% each.
  
  Why? To give you the opportunity to understand what you know and what you don't know.
  How? The tests will be administered on Canvas. The questions are randomly selected from a question bank. You will have 80 minutes to complete the test during the day of the test (24 hour window.) After the test results have been posted, you will have the option of doing a "re-test" where you can earn up to 1/3 the points you missed from the original test. You may openly ask for help for the "re-test" and you will have unlimited attempts throughout the weekend.
• Midterm: 15%
  
  Why? To give us the opportunity to assess your understanding of the first half of the content.
  How? The midterm will be administered during the scheduled classtime (80 minutes). You have the option of doing the midterm in person or remotely. The midterm is open-notes but it is forbidden to discuss the midterm while it is happening. There will not be a "re-midterm"

• Final: 30% of overall score.

Why? 

To review the entire quarter and solidify your understanding of CSE 20's foundational material.

How? 

Cumulative test on class content during exam week. The exam must reflect your own independent effort. The exam may have a combination of True/False, multiple choice, select-all-that-apply, and free-response questions.

The UC San Diego Academic Integrity pledge is here. Academic integrity violations will be taken seriously and reported to the campus-wide Academic Integrity Office. Key facts about academic integrity related to CSE 20:

• Use only resources explicitly allowed for each assignment. Resources not affiliated with this quarter's version of the class may use inconsistent notation or definitions. If you need help, please reach out to the instructor, TAs, and tutors.
• Do not share written solutions or partial solutions for homework with other students in the class who are not in your group. Doing so would dilute their learning experience and detract from their success in the class. You are free to share hints and basic techniques with others outside of your group.
• Before and during taking any individual assessment, do not attempt to obtain information about the contents of the exam from students who have already taken it or from any nonauthorized source.
• You may not ask for help from anyone while taking individual assessments since they are intended to reflect your own mastery of the material. In particular, you may not collaborate on exam questions with other students in the class and you may not post any portion of the exam on forums where others may assist you.
• After taking an exam or quiz, do not discuss its contents with anyone in the class who has not yet taken it. Do not post information about it or share information about it with others who haven't taken it.

UCSD has fantastic resources to support your learning, with integrity. Of course, the instructional team for CSE 20 is here to help you navigate the course content. The Jacobs School of Engineering IDEA Center organizes group study sessions and can connect you with student organizations. The Teaching and Learning Commons continues to offer their full suite of student success programs.