COMPSCI 250: Introduction to Computation

David Mix Barrington and Mordecai Golin

Fall 2024

This is the home page for COMPSCI 250. COMPSCI 250 is the undergraduate core course in discrete mathematics and will deal with logic, elementary number theory, proof by induction, recursion on trees, search algorithms, finite state machines, and a bit of computability.

The two lectures each day will be very similar and use very similar lecture slides. Lecture 250-01 (Dave) meets MWF 1:25-2:15 p.m. and Lecture 250-02 (Mordecai) meets MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m., with both lectures in Goessmann 20. The sections will have the same homework and exams, and will use a single Moodle site.

There are nine discussion sections each Wednesday:

250-01AA, 8:00-8:50 a.m., Flint 105
250-01AB, 10:10-1100 a.m., Flint 105
250-01AC, 11:15 a.m.-12:05 p.m., Flint 201
250-01AD, 12:20 p.m.-1:10 p.m., Flint 105
250-01AE, 4:00-4:50 p.m., Hasbrouck 137
250-02AA, 9:05-9:55 p.m., Flint 105
250-02AB, 11:15 a.m.-12:05 p.m., Flint 105
250-02AC, 1:25-2:15 p.m., Flint 105
250-02AD, 2:30-3:20 p.m., Flint 105

David Mix Barrington, 210 Computer Science Building, 545-4329, private zoom number 459 532 6175, office hours for Fall 2024:

Monday 2:30-3:30 PM in room 210 CS
Tuesday 10:00-11:00 AM on zoom, number above
Thursday 2:30-3:30 PM in room 210 CS

Mordecai Golin, A143 LGRC, office hours for Fall 2024: TBA

The best way to contact either Dave or Mordecai is by email. Dave will usually eventually answer email at barring@umass.edu, but not as quickly.

TA and UCA Information:

All TA office hours are in LGRT 220 except when announced otherwise
TA Ankur Aditya, office hours 3-5 Wednesday
TA Sabrina Zaman Ishita, office hours 10-12 Tuesday, Zoom 93050568909
TA Shreyas Kulkarni, office hours 9-11a.m. Thursday, zoom link "https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/my/svkulkarni".
TA Hector Tierno, office hours 3-5 Friday
TA Yuncong Yang, office hours 11-12 Thursday
TA Haoyu Zhen, office hours 1-2 Friday in LGRT 222
UCA Elena Li elenali@umass.edu (head TA), office hours 10-11 Friday, in LGRT, starting 20 September
UCA Alec Kurth akurth@umass.edu (head TA), office hours 10-11 Monday
UCA's Tomas Acuna, Takuto Ban, Johnathan Ferdinand, Skye Iley, Toby Kahn, Meenakshi Iyer, Daisy Labonte, Quang Hung Nguyen, Agneshka Rohra, Riddhimaan Senapati.
UCA office hours: Wed 12:20-1:10pm and 4:00-4:50 pm in LGRT 223.

General Information:

This course is primarily intended for undergraduates in computer science and related majors such as informatics, mathematics or computer engineering. CICS 160 (using data structures) and MATH 132 (Calculus II) are prerequisites and are pretty strictly enforced.

The four-credit course meets for three lecture meetings a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each discussion will meet some time on Wednesday. The locations and times for the class meetings are listed above.The two lectures will be similar and will follow the textbook pretty closely. Both lecture sections of the course will have the same assignments, exams, and grade scale.

The schedule below indicates which lectures and discussions happen which days, which sections of the book to which they refer, and when the homework assignments are due.

There is one discussion meeting per week for each of the nine sections, at various times on Wednesdays before lecture as indicated on SPIRE. Each discussion will have a written assignment which you will carry out in groups. Discussion attendance is required, so that missing a discussion will incur a grade penalty. The TA's and instructors will cover the sections in various combinations, so they will be as interchangeable as we can make them.

The textbook is the current draft of Dave's in-progress book, A Mathematical Foundation for Computer Science. This is available as an e-book from Kendall Hunt Publishing (about $70). It has an "assessment package" where you will need the current version of the book to answer quiz questions. The book and package can be obtained from the eCampus site or directly from Kendall Hunt. (Dave does not get royalties for purchases from students in the course -- they are contributed to the David Mix Barrington Scholarship in Computer Science.)

The course is using the Canvas course management system and the Piazza system for student discussion. We will also use a free system called ClassQuestion, which replaces the iClicker system we used in prior years. They will be used in grading only for classroom attendance. Basic information about the course will be on this site, and specifics of the course will be off of the Moodle main page once it is established.

Announcements (17 October 2024):

The preliminary course page is up. Not much is changing from the Spring 2024 offering of the course, and the main page for that offering is here . Note that the TA and UCA listings are not yet updated for Fall 2024 -- many of the same staff will be there, but not all.

TA and UCA info is up -- it's still possible that some staff might be moved before term starts.

(23 Aug) TA roster updated.

(29 Aug) Location of Dave's lecture updated -- both are in Goessmann 20.

(3 Sept) Update for some changed discussion times and rooms.

(10 Sept) Some minor adjustments, including office hours.

(17 Oct) The exam paper and solutions are up for the first midterm.

Last modified 17 October 2024