SLOG 4

This week in CSC165 we continued learning about proofs. So far the examples in lecture haven't been too hard. We would focus on getting the outline of the proof, and then actually write the proof afterwards. Although it hasn't been too bad so far, I feel writing proofs is going to become a lot more complicated. Some of the proofs we did in lecture could also have been difficult to figure out by myself, and could have taken some time to figure out.

We also didn't have a tutorial this week, which was good because it gave us some extra free time, but it also meant that we would not get a chance to ask our TA's any questions that we might have.

This past week we also had our first term test, and I think I did well. I found the structure and some of the questions to be similar to a previous test that was on the CSC165 website. The test also didn't cover as much as I thought it would have, which is a good thing because there are some concepts that I don't fully understand yet, such as proving equivalency. Overall, I'm starting to feel better about this course, and hopefully this next week before reading week is easy and goes well.

SLOG 3

So this past week I worked on my assignment for CSC165. I feel it went okay, but some questions were definitely hard. I especially found questions 3 and 4 difficult, and converting a statement from English to symbolic notation, because of the ambiguity of the English language. Sometimes I would do a question, then do the same question a day later and get a different answer, which was very frustrating. It was very good practice though, and the practice questions that the prof posted were also very helpful in completing the assignment.

The tutorial went fairly well, too. My TA and another classmate helped clear some of the confusion I had about proving equivalency, and I feel I did well on the third quiz.

The material covered this past week in lecture includes more about bi-implication, limits (which I found to be very confusing), and proofs, which seem pretty complicated. I found the material this past week to be generally confusing, but I'll be looking at some of the practice questions to get a better understanding.

The midterm for CSC165 is also coming up on Friday, and I am not ready for it at all. I also have another midterm on Wednesday (I'm pretty sure most people in CSC165 have this test as well), as well multiple projects and assignments due the week of the 11th. It's going to be a bit hard trying to find time to study, but when I do get around to it, I'll check out the previous tutorial handouts, the assignment, problem questions, and previous exams. I am really getting swamped with homework now, so hopefully this next week of class and the midterm go well.

Week 2

This week, CSC165 was harder than the first week. In the past few lectures we discussed negation, implications, vacuous truths, converting English claims into symbolic ones, and using venn diagrams to illustrate implications. Understanding these concepts is becoming a challenge, and I know it's only going to become harder. The tutorial handouts and assignment are also much more difficult than what we learn in lecture. The second tutorial handout took me about 2 hours to do, and about 85% of my answers were wrong anyway, despite feeling good about the material during lectures. I'm also not sure how I did on the second quiz, and I hope I do well on the next one. I also haven't even started the assignment that's due in 4 days. Overall, my confidence in this course is dropping fast. I should probably do more readings and extra homework to make sure I understand what is going on in this course. If I am unable to keep up with CSC165, I may drop it and retake it in summer school, which isn't that bad since I'm doing summer school anyway. Right now, my goal is just to get this first assignment done. Oh well, there's only 9 weeks left of class.

CSC165 - Week 1

     I feel my first week of CSC165 went very well. I was fairly familiar with the set notation we covered in class, since I learned it in high school as well. I did forget some of it however, but I spent some time reading and relearning all the symbols that are used in sets. I also wish that the instructor included a table somewhere in the slides that just listed all the symbols used in set theory, since that way I wouldn't have spent some time during lecture trying to figure out what the symbols meant, when I should have been paying attention to the lesson instead. This wasn't a big issue however, because it only took about 20 minutes to relearn most of what I had forgotten. This was basically the only difficult part about CSC165 so far, and it wasn't all that bad. My plan for whenever I get stuck in this course is to just reread lecture notes, do practice problems, and get help whenever I need to. I prefer these methods because it allows me practice the course material in CSC165 in a comfortable environment. I was also familiar with the use of venn diagrams in set theory, so it was just a matter of relearning the concepts that are part of the diagrams. Some new things I learned this past week were quantifiers, and existential and universal claims, as well as their anti-symmetric pattern. I learned how to verify and disprove both types of claims and give proof as to why they are true or false. I also learned about the proper ways of problem solving (understanding the problem, making a plan, solving it, and then reviewing the problem). Nothing so far that we have covered in CSC165 has caused any problems or given me any real challenges, and because of this my confidence in the course material is high. My tutorial also went well and I feel I did well on the quiz. The handout for the tutorial was fairly straight forward, except the very last question, but my TA helped clear my confusion. I find the course material interesting as well because I like mathematics and may consider pursuing it as a double major. I also find statistics and probability interesting, so hopefully this course will cover some topics that are in those fields of mathematics. So far my first week of CSC165 has gone well, and hopefully I can stay on top of the material and do well in the course, but I know that I will have to work hard in order to make sure I can grasp all the concepts that will be taught.