CSI210

Fall 2009

Discrete Structures

Announcements
 12/22/09   Grading
Data 		   (Tuesday, December 22) There is some missing/erroneous data
in the original spreadsheet. A corrected display is now posted.
Any necessary grade changes will be submitted.
For a brief display sorted by ID# showing a grade and final average,
click here. For more complete results as a pdf file, click here.
 11/27/09   Answers
to Quizzes 		   Answer keys to the bonus quizzes are available. For the first quiz,
click here. For the second quiz, click here.

Answer keys are also now posted for Assignments 6 and 7.

 11/24/09   Review
Session 		   Sean Spillane will be holding a review session on Monday, Nov. 30.
It will be from 6-8pm in HU39.
 11/23/09   Sample
questions 		   Notice that a second "Sample questions" option has been added to those on the
left side of the main web page. These are medium to challenging problems
(with answers) that make good practice for Exams IIa & IIb;
remember that they are on Tuesday, December 1 and Thursday, December 3.

We will try to keep questions on the actual exam reasonable. (BUT COME TO CLASS & STUDY!)
The exam will be curved if necessary, and the curve will be announced here.

 11/21/09   Assignment 7
(OPTIONAL) 		   Assignment Seven is now posted.
We will not collect and formally grade this assignment. There will be an
answer key posted right around the end of Thanksgiving weekend. You should do
these problems as part of your preparation for Exams IIa and IIb.
 11/16/09   Cancellation    Unfortunately, word came Monday morning, 11/16, that Mr. Bloom
will be unable to speak to us this Tuesday.
 11/15/09   SIRF    The university's Student Instructional Rating Form (SIRF) system is
moving to the web this fall. You'll get email notification.
Click here for more details.
 11/11/09   Events    Two events of interest are coming up. First, we will have a guest speaker,
at about 3:30 on Tuesday, November 17. The speaker is Bill Bloom, one of
the CCI Advisory Board members, who also graduated from UAlbany with
a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Click here for more
on Mr. Bloom's industry experience.

Secondly, the college is holding its 4th wii event also on Tuesday,
November 17th from 7-10 in CC 375. All CCI students are welcome.
There will be food (a turkey dinner, I believe).

 11/9/09   Exam I    There were lingering typos; if your student ID ends in
07839, 26635, 41419, 91452, 40135, or 33689, double check.
(Most of you have already checked via email)
 11/9/09   Khadi's Hours    Sorry for the late notice. Khadi will have office hours Monday
from 9:20 to 10:20am Monday, 11/9. She will not be able to make her
regular office time on Wed., 11/11 from 10:15 - 11:15am.
 11/6/09   Assignment 6    Assignment Six is now posted.
 11/5/09   Posting    The posting of Exam I grades had a few typos, now corrected.
You might want to recheck. We regret any inconvenience.
 11/2/09   Exam I    Exam I grades are done! NOW posted by last 5 digits of Student ID -- and sorted!
Click here. The curve is also posted. Sorry (again) for the delay. (Bonus quiz Thursday)
 10/26/09   BONUS
POINTS!
Improve
your grade! 		   On Thursday, November 5 (when Assignment 5 is due), there will be a short
bonus quiz at the end of class. It will be about 3-4 short questions
based on recent in-class material. There will be another 2 wks. later on 11/19.
(By "recent" we mean about 2 weeks up to and including that class day.)

For each correct answer, your final average will increase by a point.
Getting 6 questions would take you from, e.g., 77 (C+) to 83 (B), or from
84 (B) to 90 (A-). This is offered to boost comprehension and performance
while providing an opportunity to improve your grade.

Note that this is a bonus only; incurring a penalty is not possible.

 10/26/09   Sean's hours    Sean's has moved to LI-95C -- just across the hall from LI-95D.
He has also added an extra office hour Mondays at 3-4pm.
 10/22/09   Code Camp    You are invited to participate in the Tech Valley Code Camp on November 7
in the Campus Center. You can find more info and register online at
http://www.techvalleycodecamp.com .
 10/21/09   Assignment 5    Assignment Five is now posted.
 10/20/09   Luncheon    Please join the CCI community for lunch on October 22 at noon in
Campus Center 375 to share eight students' experiences
at the Grace Hopper Conference. Lunch will be served.

RSVP to jgoodall@uamail.albany.edu.

 10/19/09   Amanda's
Off. Hrs. 		   Amanda Danko is unable to make her office hours Tuesday, Oct. 20,
at 4:00-5:00pm in LI-96Q. If you need help with Assignment 4,
there are other hours held by various instructors, plus all three
discussions, prior to Thursday's class when it's due.
 10/14/09   Sample
Questions 		   Question 14, part b: Function f should have appeared as

f(x) = (x^2 + 1)/(x^2 + 2) (the "^" was missing)

You can deduce from the answer that this was not multiplication,
but nevertheless it's a typo that has gone unnoticed until now.

 10/8/09   Assignment
Answer Keys 		   On the assignments page, links to answer keys for the first two
are now present. A link for the third assignment also now produces
the answer key for Assignment 3.
 10/5/09   Women in
Computing 		   On Thursday, October 22, at noon in CC 375, there is a discussion over lunch
of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.
For more details, click here .
 10/5/09   Assignment 4    Assignment Four is now posted.
 10/2/09   Chad Furman's
office hours 		   Chad has been ill and warned us that he couldn't make his office hours
today (Fri., Oct 2). I did not see the email until after his scheduled time,
and I don't know if Sean managed to put up a note about the cancellation.
We regret any inconvenience.
 9/30/09   Sample
questions 		   Notice that the new option "Sample questions" has been added to those on the
left side of the main web page. These are medium to challenging problems
(with answers) that make good practice for Exam I;
remember that it is on Thursday, October 15.

We will try to keep questions on the actual exam reasonable. It is in no one's
interest to discourage students from completing CSI 210, a major or minor
in computer science, or their degree here at the University at Albany.
The exam will be curved if necessary, and the curve will be announced here.

 9/25/09   Assignment 3    Assignment Three is now posted.
 9/15/09   TA change    As demands shift, Ru Shen has been reassigned to another course.
Her replacement is Huixian Li -- details now posted.
 9/10/09   Assignment 2    Assignment Two is now posted.
 9/4/08   More resources    Note that on the main web page there is a new link to "Discussion Notes".
 9/4/08   Thanks    Thanks go to TA Sean Spillane, who will be handling class on 9/15 and 9/17.
I am away at a conference the week of 9/14-18.
If you had planned to see me during office hours that week, you can try email.
But note that we now have five TAs holding a total of 12 hours of office hours every week.
 9/3/09   NEW ROOM!    Beginning next week (Tuesday, 9/8), this class will meet in LC-6.
Seating capacity is not much more than SS256, but the room is more spacious.
The screen is larger and everyone will have a better view.
 9/2/09   Assignment 1    Assignment One is now posted.
 9/1/09   Welcome    This site is under construction and will be updated frequently over the next few days and weeks.
Check back often for current course information.
Items will be stacked -- the latest announcement will be on top.
    NOTE on
EXAMS 		   Exams will be closed book. (No calculators either.)
This does NOT mean that you have to memorize a lot of rules/definitions.
This course is meant to develop reasoning, not memorization.
Appropriate definitions will be given as part of the questions on exams.

Course Information

From the course catalog:

I Csi 210 Discrete Structures (4)

Proofs by induction; mathematical reasoning, propositions, predicates and quantifiers; sets; relations, graphs, and trees; functions; counting, permutations and combinations. Prerequisite(s) or corequisite: I Csi 201. Normally offered fall semester only.

CSI210 gives students the opportunity to learn the discrete mathematics and other theoretical foundations that underly the field. The course is challenging, but the student who learns this material is well-prepared both for classes further in the CS curriculum, as well as addressing software development problems that are fundamentally conceptual, which will occur throughout their career.

Instructor:

Professor Neil V. Murray (csi210@cs.albany.edu), Department of Computer Science.

Office Hours: (LI-95A)

Teaching Assistants:

Sean Spillane (seans@cs.albany.edu), Department of Computer Science.

Office Hours : (LI-95C, often LI-95)

Amanda Danko ( amandanko@yahoo.com), Department of Computer Science.

Office Hours : (LI-96Q, but usually LI-95)

Chad Furman (chadthefurman@gmail.com), Department of Computer Science.

Office Hours : (LI-95H, often LI-95)

Khadidiatou (Khadi) Diop (kd142715@albany.edu), Department of Computer Science.

Office Hours : (LI-95H, often LI-95)

Huixian Li (hl365284@cs.albany.edu), Department of Computer Science.

Office Hours : (LI-96Q)

Prerequisites:

CSI201 is either a prerequisite or co-requisite for CSI210.

Text:

The required text for the course is

Not Required but recommended:

Time and Place:

Lecture:

Discussion Sections:

Syllabus:

An online copy of the syllabus is available at http://www.cs.albany.edu/csi210/syllabus.html

Unless otherwise noted, original content created by George Berg and Ben Carle; modified by Neil Murray 2007. Rights reserved under a creative commons license.