Sunday, October 26, 2014

CSC165 WEEK6


We finished the study of proofs and started to learn algorithm analysis this week.  
 
By taking this week's lecture , I  learned that sometimes we need to discuss different situations in a problem and prove the problem by cases.For example, we need to assume a number n as both odd and even numbers, which splits the proof into two cases. Just as many math problems, we need to consider all possible cases to find the result. And the professor gave us an extreme example of proof by cases: the four colour theorem, which states that four colours are enough to colour any map, so that no two adjacent regions will have same colour. Although it seems not difficult to prove since the four colour map shows the feature visibly, it actually takes a computer 1000 hours to solve it and all counter-example of proof  can be at least 1936 cases! And this makes me understand that we need to be really careful to find all cases in a proof. And I feel fortunate that most  problems in csc165 only  require up to 3 cases.

The professor also showed us a ' funny' video titled as "the right emotion about finding a proof'. The man who found a difficult proof felt so agitated and can't help crying. It looks funny, but I understood we should enjoy the sense of achievement of finding out a proof so that we can take those proof problems seriously.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

CSC165H1 Week5

We got our term test paper back this week and the average score is so high which really surprised me! Although the test is not very hard , I still have a strong sense of competition, feeling  hat everybody works hard in CSC165! I think this feeling can also encourage me to work harder and do better in next exam.

This week we learned more about proofs. Just as what I guessed last week, these questions look like mathematical problems and require us to understand those functions completely. We even learned the proof of limits!Actually I found they are not as difficult as I thought after listening the lecture, however I still feel chaotic when I tried to prove some questions. A friend who learned CSC165 last semester told me more practice is needed to improve the ability of proof. But I am so busy recently since I have two tests next week and another two the week after next week .(TOT) So I do hope next lecture won't be too hard and I can understand those proofs better after it.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

CSC165H1 week4

We finished CSC165 term test1 this week. The questions are not very hard since they seem to be similar to the past exams. But I found that the exam time is not very sufficient for me and I almost don't have time to check my answers.So I think I should practice more from now to be skilled.

Besides, we learned more about proof this week.But in the tutorial, we are told that we don't need to know and to write down every step of proving. So this week's concept focus more on the standard format of proofs.But I am wondering whether we will learn how to prove these questions.Many questions of them are like math problems and require math knowledge, and I hope I won't unable to prove many questions only because of my poor math.....

BTW,
Happy thanksgiving!

Friday, October 3, 2014

CSC165H1 WEEK3


This week we learned something about Bi-implications,transitivity mixed quantifiers and some proofs. As the condition of statements become more complex, it is difficult sometimes to write the statement symbolically and negate it.


Also,we did assignment 1 this week. Though it seems simple, I found some questions through the process of finishing it. The first is how to understand the word "unless" in sentences. I still remember "unless"' is equal to "if not" according to Professor Danny Heap. However, my partner views that the statement “all acronyms are  catheterized unless they are  bifurcated " implies that  an acronym is either catheterized or  bifurcated but cannot be both, while I argue that an acronym can be both catheterized and bifurcated. And  we cannot persuade each other. So we decided to ask the professor next week and hope we can get a result. 

Another problem is that I found it's hard for me to choose "" or "^" when change a sentence into symbolic form. For example, "There exists an A that is B", should it be "AB" or "A^B"? Ok, another question awaits to ask! ==