The 27 Nov 2005 entry has a meme that I never finished.
The 01 Dec 2005 entry has my Nanowrimo time log (punch in, punch out, write on, write off, Bana-san) for this year. No pain, no gain!
I should have written another "can u pls help me" diatribe yesterday, but instead I'll just mention that today
martinsamuel, Tim, Fengyou, Joseph, and I talked about the MATH 510 issue that I've expounded upon to zengeneral and masaga at length. You see, we have a Discrete Math course that is supposed to be taken by sophomores in their 3rd or 4th semester, but is often deferred until the 5th-8th.Reasons:
- 1. Our discrete math is not a generic discrete mathematical structures course but a full course in set theory and combinatorics with topics in number theory and abstract algebra.
- 2. Students are ill-prepared for it as a result, or, nearly as often, chicken out because of the reputation of the course.
- 3. They then defer CIS 505 (Programming Languages), CIS 570 (Formal Languages, Automata, and Theory of Computation), and CIS 575 (Intro to Algorithm Analysis) for lack of some foundational concepts.
- 4. They are also ill-prepared for 700-level (upper-division undergrad and first/second-year grad courses) for similar reasons.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Something has to be done!
Apropos of which: to all you CS majors - what do you think is absolutely essential in a second-year discrete math course, and what is accessible?
--
Banazir
