Assigning of Timings

So,  after the end of the first midterm wave, the second one awaits. But during that time we have an assignment due for 236. I find this assignment really interesting. Especially the first question. The way things get linked always excite me. While finding the solution for it, thought I'm not done completely, I found that the algorithm behaves very closely to a fibonacci series. I couldn't see it when I read the problem a first few times but after trying for a few hours and working with a friend (we worked separately, but were at the same location), we both arrived at the same solution which he said is what he saw on Danny's board. So, I guess we are on the right path.

I forgot to post on this blog for a week I guess, and I feel sorry for that. As the requirements of this slog state that we are supposed to post a mathematical/logical proof/problem solution, I will do that soon enough when I encounter some really interesting problem and hopefully, be able to derive the solution.

The Time Has Come

So, after a well formed midterm, which increased my grasp on proofs, we have started time analysis.
I don't like time analysis as such and I'd have to work on it so that I can keep up with the course. So far, I've been able to do that.

Complete induction make more sense to me now. In this week's tutorial, we had to prove a lower bound using mathematical induction. I wasn't able to do that because it didn't occur to me how to go from the nth term to n+1th term. I plan to work on trying to use mathematical induction to solve the time analysis questions so that it increases my understanding of both mathematical induction and time analysis. 

The Recursion has started

I spent a little time on thinking of a clever name for the courSe bLog (aka, SLOG), but I guess the capacity of human brain to function at its best has an inverse relationship with how late it is in the night. So, for 2:45 am 'Recursion of Proof and Posts' isn't too bad.
Reading through the SLOG handout, it occurred to me that this is a very neat way of getting some feeding from students, for a professor.
As far as the course is concerned, it seems manageable till now and I like the fact that its organized. Plus, i really love that Prof. Heap kinda makes us walk our own way through the process of finding proofs during the lectures instead of just proving it outright.

Yesterday, I saw a lot of people working on the first assignment (some of them started on the day it was due!) and not being able to understand how to prove stuff. When I asked a few people why they were stuck, they just replied - 'I don't get it'. On further inquiry, I get to know that the same people skipped a few lectures and didn't bother to go to office hours and to top that off, started the assignment on its due date. I didn't want to be mean to them, but in my head I was like "There is a reason why the assignment was posted a week ago and not on the day its due" (My friends tell me I condescend quite often, but I'm practicing to give that up). Personally, I think the assignment was fair enough and was a good exercise.