COMPSCI 250, Introduction to Computation, is a four-credit course. The prerequisites are CICS 160 and MATH 132. It is one of the four core courses for the Computer Science major, and along with COMPSCI 240, deals with "discrete mathematics". The primary topics are logic, number theory, induction proofs, search algorithms, regular languages, finite-state machines, and computability.
David Mix Barrington, barring@cs.umass.edu, 210 Computer Science Building, 545-4329, private zoom number 459 532 6175, office hours for Fall 2023: Tuesday and Friday 3-4 pm in my office, Wednesday 10-11 on Zoom.
Ghazaleh Parvini, gparvini@cs.umass.edu, A231 LGRC, office hours for Fall 2023: TBA.
Information about other course staff is on the course main page.
Lecture Section -01 (Dave): MWF 1:25-2:15, ELAB II 119.
Lecture Section -02 (Ghazaleh): MWF 10:10, Goessmann 20
There are nine discussion sections, at various times on Wednesday, see SPIRE for more details. Section -99AJ, at 11:15-12:05, has been moved from CS 140 to FLINT 103.
This is a course about mathematical proof -- how and why to prove things about the objects of digital computation. In order to write programs, you need to think clearly about them, and the techniques of mathematical proof are an essential tool for that. The single most important tool is mathematical induction, which allows us to prove statements about any system that is defined in terms of itself. The natural numbers are the most familar such system, but in computing we create other structures by recursive definition, and process them with recursive algorithms. We show you recursion and induction using a variety of systems that are used in actual computation.
This page lists specific things that might be asked on a final exam.
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 (last year for $60, probably a bit more this year). 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.
This page indicates the dates and topics of each lecture and discussion, including the sections of the textbook used in each.
Your grade in COMPSCI 250 will be based on the following:
Together they will count for 20% of your final grade, with only the best five counting for 4% each. (The lowest grade will be dropped.) Homework must be turned in as PDF files on the Gradescope site for the course. This will allow the TA's to grade it and give you feedback without the necessity of moving large quantities of paper around. PDF files may be generated in a variety of ways -- I would probably do it using Latex, but Word and other word processing software has options to produce PDF's. (On a Mac, any print command has a "save PDF" option.) You can also scan a handwritten document to produce a PDF which you can then turn in. (But what you submit must be readable -- you are responsible for reviewing your PDF yourself to see that it is. Cel phone pictures of bad handwriting will in general not work.)
For full credit, homework must be submitted by the deadline. Late homework will be accepted up to 24 hours after the deadline, with a 20% penalty unless (a) the penalty is waived for some reason or (b) this assignment is the best of your late homeworks. Students with Disability Services accommodations may use the late day with no penalty. Work after the late day will in general not be accepted -- we'll deal with valid excuses by giving "excused" grades on particular assignments.
They will cover the material of the previous week's lectures. You will do them using the "assessment package" of the textbook, so you will need a current version of the textbook. Some small number of the quiz grades will be dropped -- the remainder will count for 6% of the total grade. A typical quiz will be 20 questions, with the grade being F for not doing it, C for half right (the expected result of guessing), and A for all right.
My (Dave's) system for computing grades is a bit unusual, so I will try to explain it here. I take every graded component of the course and assign it a number on a scale from F (0) through C (200) to A (400) and sometimes higher. These are the numbers that are averaged together by Moodle to get your "course total" at the end of the term, and this is the basis for your letter grade. (For example, if your course total is 342, the closest letter grade to this is a B+ (333) so that's what you get. There is some provision for rounding up in close cases, since a 345 is within five points of the boundary (350) between A- and B+, I would give that an A-.
For exams and homeworks, there is thus both a raw score, typically ranging from 0 to around 100, and a normalized score on the 0-400 scale. The mapping from raw score to normalized score does not always take 0 to 0. A typical scale for a homework assignment takes 30 (and lower) to 0, 45 to 100, 60 to 200, 75 to 300, 90 to 400, and higher grades above 400 by the same linear function. On each assignment, I decide after grading what raw score constitutes a 200, and what score a 400, then find the linear function that meets those two points.
All work submitted must be your own in presentation. How much outside help is allowed depends on the course component.
A good practice is to divide your work into an "ideas phase" where you collaborate and a "writeup phase" where you work alone -- enter the writeup phase with notes, but not written solutions.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to providing an equal educational opportunity for all students. If you have a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability on file with Disability Services (DS), you may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this course. If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please notify me within the first two weeks of the semester so that we can make appropriate arrangements. For more information, consult the Disability Services website at http://www.umass.edu/disability/.
We celebrate the diversity in our community and actively seek to include and listen to voices that are often silenced in the computing world. We welcome all individuals regardless of age, background, citizenship, disability, sex, education, ethnicity, family status, gender, gender identity, geographical origin, language, military experience, political views, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and work experience.
Everyone has the right to be addressed by the name and pronouns that they use for themselves. You can indicate your preferred/chosen first name and pronouns on SPIRE, which appear on class rosters. I am committed to ensuring that I address you with your chosen name and pronouns. Please let me know what name and pronouns I should use for you if they are not on the roster. Please remember: A student’s chosen name and pronouns are to be respected at all times in the classroom.
UMass is committed to fostering a safe learning environment by responding promptly and effectively to complaints of all kinds of sexual misconduct. If you have been the victim of sexual violence, gender discrimination, or sexual harassment, the university can provide you with a variety of support resources and accommodations If you experience or witness sexual misconduct and wish to report the incident, please contact the UMass Amherst Equal Opportunity (EO) Office (413-545-3464 | equalopportunity@admin.umass.edu) to request an intake meeting with EO staff. Members of the CICS community can also contact Erika Lynn Dawson Head, director of diversity and inclusive community development (erikahead@cics.umass.edu | 860-770-4770).
Along with the staff and the textbook, there are additional support resources for the course.
Last modified 14 September 2023