This course covers the mathematical foundations of Computer Science. Topics include logic, sets, counting techniques, cardinality, relations, functions and sequences, matrices, mathematical induction, and computer science applications.
Course Web-site:
http://www.cis.gvsu.edu/~mcguire/teaching/225/
Course-materials are available there.
Instructor: Hugh McGuire
Remember, at any random time,
if you have a question, try sending it
to
mcguire@cis.gvsu.edu ;
I may be able to help you thus even outside of office hours.
Tutors:
GVSU has many resources to facilitate your work;
for a schedule for tutors, see
http://www.gvsu.edu/tc/ .
For mathematical tutors, see
http://www.gvsu.edu/math/students/mathlab.html .
Regarding being with people working on computers
such as
at office hours,
here's a little note about computer etiquette:
To be polite,
when someone is typing a password,
look away from their hands at the keyboard.
Class Sessions
| MWF 1:00 to 1:50 p.m. at MAK A-1-165 |
Prerequisite: MTH 122 or equivalent:
College Algebra[:] functions [...] including polynomial, rational, radical, exponential, logarithmic, and inverse functions; [...] sequences and series[;] equations, inequalities, and systems of nonlinear equations.
Weighting of Work (tentative)
Participation: 2%,
Homework assignments: 53%,
Midterm examination: 15%,
Final examination: 30%.
Within each category of work, individual items (such as individual
assignments) have weights
depending on their importance.
Tests
As specified by the
GVSU's
Registrar's Office,
the final examination
should
be
on
April 21 (Tuesday)
from 2:00 to 3:50 p.m.
I may ask you to bring an 8.5×11-inches
'blue-book' for the final examination.
But other than that,
you
shouldn't need to bring any 'scantron' forms
or blue-books for
test(s):
with the other test(s),
I'll provide
spaces for you to write
your answers.
Participation
When I call upon you during lecture,
you earn the credit for participation by simply saying one pertinent thing.
You do not need to answer a question completely correctly;
if I want more than the answer you give,
I can call upon more people.
If you really don't want me to call on you during lectures, just tell me and I won't.
Beyond being called upon, further opportunities for you to earn credit for participation may include your asking pertinent questions, and/or in-class exercises/activities.
Home-/Lab-Assignments:
You'll have assignments
due approximately each week at lectures.
At the top on the front of your submission,
you should identify your work with your names.
I need you to
submit
printed/written (a.k.a. 'hard') copies of your work
(because
having hardcopies
facilitates grading in various ways).
Please Do Homework in Teams of Two for this class
While each of you needs to learn all the course material here,
e.g. so you'll know it for tests,
I actually want you to
do
homework in teams of two for this course.
(In case it's not clear, this means working together and doing only one
submission rather than having two submissions, one from each teammate.)
An advantage for you to do this is that
you should get scores higher than you would otherwise,
because
I expect that you'd be checking each other's work.
An advantage for me if you do this is that
it would cut in half my workload for grading —
in some sense, your checking each other's work would be doing some of the
work of grading.
But then,
considering how your
working in teams would shift some of my workload to you that way,
plus considering
the hassle it may be for you to coordinate working with another person,
I'll reward people who work in teams of two
by increasing their score by five percent.
But if you still won't work in a team of two even considering the advantages/rewards I've indicated for that (say because you just can't do it for some reason), don't worry about other people receiving higher grades than you unfairly, just because they work in teams and you don't: I will determine grade cutoffs ("A-"/"B+", "B"/"B-", etc.) according to the base scores, not the scores with those extra rewards added. That is to say, even if you work alone, you can still get scores that are considered perfect and thus get an "A" in this course.
Incidentally, this policy is for this particular class that I'm teaching. Other classes — even other classes that I teach — may have different policies. So, you shouldn't think that working in teams is OK in other classes unless the policies given to you in those other classes say that it's OK.
One last point about this is as follows:
Don't do homework in teams of more than two here:
I would actually
consider that excessive sharing/division of work for this course.
Special Needs?
If there is any student in this class who has special needs because of
a learning, physical, or other disability, please contact me and
Disability Support Services (DSS)
(via 616.331.2490). Furthermore, if you have a
disability and think you will need assistance evacuating our classroom
and/or building in an emergency situation, please make me aware so I can
develop a plan to assist you.
Drop Deadline
Just in case,
note that the Registrar's deadline for you to drop a course this semester is
5:00 p.m. March 6 (Friday).
If you remain enrolled past that deadline,
then you will definitely get some grade for this course
recorded in your transcript.