2020-21 Academic Catalog

This course introduces some of the formal tools of computer science, using a variety of applications as a vehicle. You'll learn how to encode data so that when you scratch the back of a DVD, it still plays just fine; how to distribute "shares" of your floor's PIN so that any five of you can withdraw money from the floor bank account (but no four of you can); how to play chess; and more. Topics that we'll explore along the way include: logic and proofs, number theory, elementary complexity theory and recurrence relations, basic probability, counting techniques, and graphs. Prerequisite: Computer Science 111 and Mathematics 111 or instructor permission