Both the assignment and test have been marked and returned. Fortunately I was pleased with the grades of both. They were both marked fairly and all questions were relevant to the given material, no surprises, which was nice. A cheat sheet was allowed, and I prepared one, for the test but did not need to use it at all. The greatest part of the being allowed a cheat sheet is the process to preparing one. When writing out the cheat sheet, by hand, you are forced to sit down and figure out what is important. After writing it all done in a precise and neat manner, the information just stays in your head. The cheat sheet functions as more of a tool to learn than one to aid yourself during the test.
Last week I blogged about difficulties when it comes to proofs. Fortunately this is becoming more and more clear due to continuous examples both in the lectures and tutorials. The tutorial exercises are a great way to increase your understanding and improve your speed on lecture material. Definitely something that should not be forgotten.
After working on more proof problems, reading through course notes, online websites, and aid provided during the tutorial, proofs are not so foreign anymore. The proof structure has been described in a great manner by Professor Heap: Like dominoes falling inwards. Simply complete one step from both sides and you are eventually left with some blanks to fill in. Unfortunately there is no one set plan to get past this final hurdle but a lot of the work has been done and the groundwork has been lain if the proof structure is applied. I will continue to practice proving more statements in hope of improving my speed to fill in the blanks.
There was one slight problem with my test where the answer that I had crossed out was marked instead of the one I meant to be marked. Due to limited time, I was not able to erase my incorrect answer and simply created a new box and wrote the correct answer in that area. After doing so, the old answer was crossed out. The line may have been too faint which led to a TA marking my old answer. Immediately after spotting this error, I took some pictures as proof (best I could do) and emailed the Professor as soon as possible. Hopefully after taking a look at the test, Professor Heap is able to resolve this issue. If not, I'd better get used to crossing out answers in a more obvious fashion.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Tests off the horizon... for now.
The past week has been focused on preparing for the term test not only for CSC165 but for other classes as well. Fortunately, and the reason why I love computer science, the material is not something that must be memorized. You simply need to understand it to a point where it can be applied to any type of problem. You are not simply regurgitating information but applying what you have been taught to new problems.
The main issue with the test was simply the worry about remembering the manipulation rules. They are very similar to other properties in math so the rules were not entirely new. A cheat sheet was allowed and with the help of the summarized rules in the course notes, I wrote down all the manipulation rules on one sheet of paper organized under names of the rules.
The benefit of preparing a cheat sheet is not to have the chance to look over or spend time looking over the written material during the test. Instead, at least for me, it serves as a method to remember information. Throughout the course all lecture notes are provided so writing down notes is not necessary along with being difficult while trying to listen. However, when I write something down I tend to never forget it. Everyone has their ways to memorize material, for me that is writing it down.
Lectures throughout the past week have been covering the methods of proving statements and implications. Proofs have always been the weak point and most difficult portion of any math related course. The tutorial handout is posted and contains proof related problems. I will try my best to work through this handout and with the help provided during the tutorial, both my peers and the TA, the material should begin to seem less foreign.
The main problem with proofs is figuring out where to begin. After the first step, proofs usually move along like dominoes. I am hoping to find tips, tricks, and suggestions when going over solutions during the TA. Examples and observing how others go through proofs is the most beneficial method to learn proofs.
The main issue with the test was simply the worry about remembering the manipulation rules. They are very similar to other properties in math so the rules were not entirely new. A cheat sheet was allowed and with the help of the summarized rules in the course notes, I wrote down all the manipulation rules on one sheet of paper organized under names of the rules.
The benefit of preparing a cheat sheet is not to have the chance to look over or spend time looking over the written material during the test. Instead, at least for me, it serves as a method to remember information. Throughout the course all lecture notes are provided so writing down notes is not necessary along with being difficult while trying to listen. However, when I write something down I tend to never forget it. Everyone has their ways to memorize material, for me that is writing it down.
Lectures throughout the past week have been covering the methods of proving statements and implications. Proofs have always been the weak point and most difficult portion of any math related course. The tutorial handout is posted and contains proof related problems. I will try my best to work through this handout and with the help provided during the tutorial, both my peers and the TA, the material should begin to seem less foreign.
The main problem with proofs is figuring out where to begin. After the first step, proofs usually move along like dominoes. I am hoping to find tips, tricks, and suggestions when going over solutions during the TA. Examples and observing how others go through proofs is the most beneficial method to learn proofs.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
At least it looks nice...
The past week has been focused around both understanding and completing Assignment #1. The questions on this assignment were short but took a lot of thinking because of the need to be very precise. After consulting the textbook and spending time going through possible answers, the most correct answers were selected and submitted to be marked.
It seems like other students, myself included, tend to not enjoy inserting mathematical symbols through the use of Microsoft Word. In order to combat this issue, save time and frustration in the long run, and the opportunity to learn something new, I took the initiative to learn a new programming language; LaTeX.
This programming language or more correctly document markup language allows programmers to customize and manually create their own documents. Normally, Microsoft Word does all the code portions for the user. In LaTeX, one must specifically input everything to be done ranging from document type and size to line breaks. It might seem like a lot more work to have to do everything manually but those that are efficient with the keyboard can type out the symbol syntax quicker than going through the tedious process that is the insert menu.
For those interested in learn LaTeX, the following cheat sheet has proven to be very useful: LaTeX Cheat Sheet
It seems like other students, myself included, tend to not enjoy inserting mathematical symbols through the use of Microsoft Word. In order to combat this issue, save time and frustration in the long run, and the opportunity to learn something new, I took the initiative to learn a new programming language; LaTeX.
This programming language or more correctly document markup language allows programmers to customize and manually create their own documents. Normally, Microsoft Word does all the code portions for the user. In LaTeX, one must specifically input everything to be done ranging from document type and size to line breaks. It might seem like a lot more work to have to do everything manually but those that are efficient with the keyboard can type out the symbol syntax quicker than going through the tedious process that is the insert menu.
For example: $\forall x \in Q$ would lead to replace the \forall and \in to the corresponding symbols.The language itself is not very difficult to get the hang out, only at the beginning does it seem counter intuitive. LaTeX makes your PDF documents look very nice and professional, definitely going to be used to create my future resume. So it might be wrong, but hey, at least it looks nice!
For those interested in learn LaTeX, the following cheat sheet has proven to be very useful: LaTeX Cheat Sheet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)