last post

Alright, I'm going to slip in one final post for this course for this week's material. Once again, I thought I failed last week's quiz but apparently I didn't. For the strangest reason, whenever I have the slightest disbelief in my results, I tend to do well in this course, but when I'm confident, I tend to do poorly. This is probably a terrible omen since it shows that maybe luck is involved with the assessments I do poorly in.
Anyways, I have completely slacked off this entire last two weeks. I have absolutely no clue what the professor or T.A is talking about regarding halt. All I know is that halt either returns something or it does an infinite loop. I was slightly confused throughout the entire tutorial this week - should have spoken up because I left the fifth question for the assignment blank. Nonetheless, I get 20% partial marks right? I have a feeling I will get part marks for the quiz since I could regurgitate enough material I crammed into my head that tutorial.
The assignment due this week was relatively hard at first because I couldn't find similar examples in the lecture slides or tutorial. Usually when proving if a polynomial is in big O I look immediately at the exponent. However, this week, the exponents were exactly the same degree. So immediately I looked at the coefficient infront of the variable and it didn't help either in proving. I thought the constants before it would make a difference, but proving it was not as easy at first.
Nonetheless, I pulled through and finished all the questions but the last one. Anyways this is my last post. Goodbye logic and reasoning, hello summer!

sixth

Before writing up this post, I was looking at the statistics. Apparently, I have had 95 page views. It just baffles me because blogs are so mundane, especially about academics. I'm having mixed feelings about such a discovery, knowing that there are people out there reading and analyzing my blog. Six blogs in total now, which is pretty much a failure since I'm expected to be averaging one a week but apparently I'm pulling two a week. I'm going try to sneak one more in before Friday!

Anyone else pumped that after this Friday, lectures are done for this semester? I am! 

Onto the juicy meat section of this blog; the part where I get graded. This third assignment due this Wednesday is such a nuisance in my opinion. I thought math was over for me last year, but apparently, limits and l'hopital never leave you.

According to the marking scheme, I'm supposed to devise out a plan to tackle on a problem of my choice using the approach suggest by Polya. Since it would be unwise to write up a plan to assignment three, I decided to use a problem from tutorial. 

I'm going to re-attempt to tackle question one from of the earliest tutorials (tutorial 2, question 5), since at the time I had such a bad time figuring it. Even now, I'm still unsure if I can approach it with the upmost confidence. The question is rewrite the following statement in symbols, 'some courses have several perquisites. 

1. Understanding the problem. I know what the question is asking me to do but clearly at the time, I had no idea how to even begin writing. Moreover, I wasn't even aware that we could use multiple variables to aid us.

2. Devise a plan. Whenever I notice the word 'some', it should come as a cue for me to use the "there exists" symbol. Since it is impossible from what I know to rewrite it with two variables, using a few more variables might be my best bet. So instead of using two abstract variables, x and y, I'm going to use x, y, z. 

3. Carry out the plan. (There exists a x in C, there exists and y in C, there exists a z in C, P(y,x) ^ P(z,x) ^ y != z

4. Looking back. Now that I have a solution that I deem to be correct, I should re-read through my answer to see if it corresponds to the question. In fact, translating my symbolic form structure to a sentence would be even more helpful. There exists three courses in courses. Of there three courses, y is a perquisite for x and z is a perquisite for x and course y is not the same course as course z. Basically, it shows that z and y are both perquisites for course x, but since neither of the courses are the same, it means that course x has more than one perquisites. In essence, it translates to the original question.

That was exhausting since working through question works so much faster in my head than typing it out. Nonetheless, writing down a plan is probably a better method than imagining it since you have something visual to rely on. Alright, this is all I'm writing for now! Bye!

fifth

Last Friday was midterm #2. Since the first midterm, I barely picked up the course textbook or studied at all for any of the material. The only learning I managed to absorb in was either through lectures or tutorials. Even then, there would be times in lectures where I would get lost or distracted. The only way to really pick up on the material was to sleep over Robarts that night and plow through all the material in a few hours.
What really stressed me out was the fact that I was entering the midterm with a weigh down of 20% since I missed the first midterm due to the snowstorm. I didn't have much faith entering the exam and was expecting a 50% if anything.
The first question was relatively straight-forward which really boosted up my confidence level to tackle on the next few questions. The midterm overall was straightforward and I even finished the midterm with 15 minutes to go. Despite finishing early and somewhat refreshed in my confidence level, I still predicted a 50%. If writing exams has taught me anything in university, it is that whatever you think you got on the exam, take 10% off and that's your mark.
Midterms were returned this week. To my surprise, I was far above the expected 50%. I still believe in my "10% deduct law", but I guess this midterm just wasn't within my norm.
Quiz this week was relatively straightforward. Once again, Timo (my T.A) pulled through and did a good job explaining the tutorial handout. He really solidified the proof structure for complexity as well as how f <= f prime <= g prime <= g logic.

#4 Post

Yike's its been a long time since i've last posted a blog. Probably a mixture of being forgetful, laziness, and the build-up of midterms this month. I'll try to make an effort on making this post more in depth and cover most things I've missed.

For starters, I missed my midterm exam one due the snow storm. Long story short, the bus that normally takes me 15 minutes to get from my house to finch station ended up taking taking 2 hours to barely travel half the distance I needed. Nonetheless, I phoned the professor and got some documentation from the bus driver to prove that I was indeed on the bus.

Short after, I was glad that professor Heap posted and took up the midterm in class so solidify some parts that I didn't understand prior to the exam. 

Since the new chapter has begun, proofs seem to be such a struggle for most people. I'm so used to just computing calculus questions whether that be from MAT135 or MAT235, or even STA255, but to actually proof why is such a hassle. I guess the two years have math really haven't given me much opportunity to actually practice proofs but only to regurgitate things I've memorized. I guess this is the fundamental difference between this course and any math course I've ever taken is actually in this course, there is no room for memorizing but only understand. As complex as multiple integrals can be, I can go from integrating the function and then back to taking the differential to prove each side because it simple computation. However, proofing a simple abstract equation is so much more complex in my opinion. Proving two abstract variables equating each other requires me to dig deep to express each step precisely and accurately. The only proof experience I've had prior to this course is probably back in grade 12 where we proofed trigonometric functions such as sin^2x + cos^2x = 1. 

My only saving grace is actually knowing that the structure of my proof will count as part marks even though I could fail the entire way of proving. BUT, the great side all these worries is that my T.A did a great job last tutorial explaining step-by-step the ways of dealing with proving and disproving such as; taking the contrapositives, and negating all together. So definitely props to him on clarifying. 

Alright, that is all for now, but I'll definitely try to make an effort on making more frequent posts. 

CSC SLOG #3

It's been a month since the start of class and I'm just slightly behind. Not so far behind that it is near impossible to catch-up. From time-to-time I wonder what relevance this course has to computer programming. Where would I ever have to implement abstract symbols in my code. Nonetheless, the only relative connection I can see is that both coding and reasoning train you to break down problems into smaller problems.
This weeks tutorial was very familiar since into STA255 we did distributive, and DeMorgan's law. The only difference with what I learned in statistics and here was that in stats we applied DeMorgan's law using complements symbols (A-bar, B-bar). The quiz was relatively easy, since the T.A did a pretty good job refreshing and explaining the different laws. He even threw in some tips as to what the professor would like to see on the exams when proving. (explain the step that you took to get from a) to b). I think I got perfect on this quiz?

CSC165H1 SLOG #2

The end of week three is approaching and there is the slightest feeling that I'm already falling behind. The reason being that the homework for tutorial #2 proved somewhat difficult. At first I felt embarrassed knowing that I would walk into the room with little to no confidence in my answers, but within minutes of the tutorial, my group of six classmates felt my anguish. Their answers weren't much better. I guess the idea of all of us being on the same boat relieved some of our anxiety -- at least for me.

What proved to be struggling was the symbols and set notations to use. What I mean is if the questions states that a course has several prerequisite, my first instinct is to use '> 1' somewhere, but the course textbook/readings mentioned nothing about situations like what I mentioned above. Therefore, I questioned what I could and could not do...

Even after half an hour of discussion, none of us could come to a consensus of what answer was truly correct. Solutions were soon posted on the blackboard, but even with an explanation from the T.A, I felt even more discouraged in my ability to score perfect on this quiz. As I predicted, I probably wasn't going to score perfect, but I would be content with part marks.

The problem was that I  am an example-solution orientated student. The course readings offered minimal of each. In my opinion, much of the content was theory and words. A course such as logic and reasoning where symbols dominate words, examples and solutions are crucial.

My worries have been lifted as the professor has decided that he would post examples and solutions on the website from previous years. Furthermore, in lecture, he announced that our 'quizzes' in class will follow the same format as our tutorial quizzes.

That's all for this week.

First Slog

From what I recall, I was ranked 5th on the waiting list before ROSI decided to declare a free-for-all war amongst those who were not enrolled into CSC165 yet. As war rages on between fellow peers, I kept refreshing the ROSI web page every half an hour. To my excitement, I remembered a spot had opened up sometime around 7 am in the morning.
Every student's resolution for a fresh semester is to start strong and hopefully finish strong as well. I am no exception to this university mentality. Trying to bring on the A game early was to motivate myself to keep consistency throughout the term.
Venn Diagrams and set notations...no matter where I go, somehow they reappear in my life or maybe that is because I am a statistics major? Luckily for me, Venn Diagrams and set notations comes naturally at present time. In courses such as MAT233 and STA255, Venn Diagrams and set notations are a common staple to statistic students as rice is a common staple to an Asian family. 
However, being too arrogant too fast is just setting yourself up for a huge fall. To combat these emotions of feeling arrogant, I do review notes and read course material atleast twice. New material is storming up fast, and to keep myself up to pace, it is mandatory that reviewing notes on a frequent basis, asking for help and making a huge effort are key-roles. 
Overall, so far the topics taught do play to my strengths, but things will change for the worse. What also fustrates me alot is how each meeting is an hour long which doesn't give me the incentive to go to lecture especially when commuting is such a hassle (an hour of TTC) and when CSC165 is the only course you have the day. But I take complete fault in designing my timetable this way. 
- 'stay strong, finish strong!'