CS H250 Honors Colloquium: Introduction to Computation

This course is an honors colloquium for COMPSCI 250. It requires a weekly 1-hour class meeting. Students will explore and discuss topics from the CS250 curriculum in greater detail, with emphasis on logic, and then number theory, recurrences, grammars and automata. Students will do a project presentation on a topic of their choosing.

Prerequisites COMPSCI 187 and MATH 132 with a grade of C or better. Concurrent or previous enrollment (with a grade of B or better) in COMPSCI 250.

Topics (tentative)

• Binary Decision Diagrams
• Conjunctive Normal Form. Tseitin Transform
• SAT Checking
• Axiomatization, Truth and Proofs
• Resolution in Predicate Logic
• Fixpoints and Applications
• State Space Representation and Searches
• Number Theory and Cryptography
• Combinatorics and Recurrences
• Grammars and Fractals
• Countability
• Automata Minimization
• Automata Learning

Grading The final grade in this colloquium will be based on short homeworks, due weekly or biweekly, and a final project presentation on a topic of the student's choosing. The relative weights are:

• Homeworks: 70%
• Project: 30%

Collaboration and Academic Honesty Collaboration is encouraged on homework assignments. However, you should first understand and attempt the problem individually. Each student must write their own solutions. Looking at solutions from other students or any other source (including the web) is a violation of the Academic Honesty Policy. Formal charges will be pursued if cheating is suspected.

Accommodation Statement 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. In this case, you should notify the instructor within the first two weeks of the semester to make appropriate arrangements.

Inclusivity The College of Computer and Information Sciences shares UMass Amherst’s commitment to diversity. 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. We expect all members of our community to treat others with respect and civility.