Computer Science 250: Introduction to Computation, Syllabus, Spring 2009

The course material can be divided into four parts of roughly equal size:
  1. Mathematical Foundations and Elementary Number Theory
  2. Recursion and Induction
  3. Graphs, Trees, Search
  4. Finite State Machines and Computation
There is an evening exam after each of the first three parts of the course, and a cumulative final at the end of the course. The following schedule is tentative, and will be refined during the course of the semester.

Reading: Please read the sections indicated in brackets from the textbook before the lecture. This is especially important for the discussion sections.

Part 1: Mathematical Foundations and Number Theory
M Jan 26 No discussion in the first week
Tu Jan 27 Lecture 1: Propositional Logic [1.1, 1.2]
Th Jan 29 Lecture 2: Predicates and Quantifiers [1.3,1.4]
M Feb 02 Discussion 1: Proofs [1.6]
Tu Feb 03 Lecture 3: Rules of Inference [1.5]
Th Feb 05 Lecture 4: Sets [2.1, 2.2]
M Feb 09 Discussion 2: Rules of Inference
Tu Feb 10 Lecture 5: Set Operations, Functions [2.2, 2.3]
Th Feb 12 Lecture 6: More on Functions, Cardinality, Relations [2.3, 2.4]
Tu Feb 17 Lecture 7: Relations [8.1]
Th Feb 19 First Evening Exam, 7:00-8:00, LGRT 101
M Feb 23 Discussion 3: Modular Arithmetic [3.4]
Tu Feb 24 Lecture 8: Equivalence Relations, Number Theory [8.5, 3.5]
Th Feb 26 Lecture 9: More Number Theory, Modular Exponentiation [3.5, 3.6]
M Mar 02 Discussion 4: (Snow Day)
Tu Mar 03 Lecture 10: Euclidean Algorithm, Chinese Remainder Theorem [3.6, 3.7]
Th Mar 05 Lecture 11: Partial Orders [8.6]
M Mar 09 Discussion 5: Relations Review [8.1, 8.5, 8.6]
Part 2: Recursion and Induction
Tu Mar 10 Lecture 12: Induction [4.1]
Th Mar 12 Lecture 13: More on Induction [4.1]
M Mar 23 Discussion 6: Review
Tu Mar 24 Lecture 14: Strong Induction [4.2]
Th Mar 26 Second Exam, 2:30-3:30, LGRC A301
M Mar 30 Discussion 7: Induction Practice
Tu Mar 31 Lecture 15: Recursive Definitions and Structural Induction [4.3]
Th Apr 02 Lecture 16: Regular Expressions [12.4 pp. 817-819 "Regular Sets"]
M Apr 06 Discussion 8: Peano Axioms
Part 3: Graphs, Trees, Search
Tu Apr 07 Lecture 17: Graphs [9.1, 9.2, 9.3]
Th Apr 09 Lecture 18: Paths and Connectivity [9.4, 9.5]
M Apr 13 Discussion 9: Graphs
Tu Apr 14 Lecture 19: Trees [10.1, 10.2]
Th Apr 16 Lecture 20: Tree Traversal and Simple Search Techniques [10.3, 10.4]
Tu Apr 21 Discussion 10: Review
Th Apr 23 Third Exam, 2:30-3:30, LGRC A301
M Apr 27 Discussion 11: Game Trees [10.2]
Tu Apr 28 Lecture 21: Advanced Search Techniques [10.4, 9.6]
Part 4: Finite State Machines and Computation
Th Apr 30 Lecture 22: Formal Languages, Grammars and Automata [12.1, 12.3]
M May 04 Discussion 12: Language Homomorphisms
Tu May 05 Lecture 23: Nondeterminism, Regular Expressions and Kleene's Theorem [12.3, 12.4]
Th May 07 Lecture 24: Minimal Automata and Myhill-Nerode Theorem
M May 11 Discussion 13: Regular Languages and Minimal Automata
Tu May 12 Lecture 25: Turing Machines and Computation [12.5]
M May 18 Final Exam, 4:00-6:00, LGRT 101

Main Course Page
Last modified: Wed May 13 11:41:34 EDT 2009