More commonly known as 251. The dreaded freshman-spring-semester-discrete-math-class. The class that chews kids up and spits them out. And requires them to re-take the class if they get less than a C-which isn't a 70%, closer to a 58%. That's right, the lower boundary for a C is a 58%. Twelve percent lower than normal. If that doesn't scare you, then I tip my hat to you.
Why is 251 so difficult? It's a combination of the concepts, the homework and the exams. So currently, we're learning about Definite Finite Automata (which are actually really cool-very logical) and Counting and Diagonalization. Those concepts are difficult, but it's the applications of those-that we see in the homework-that make them ridiculously difficult. The homework consists of 6 questions, most questions that have multiple parts to them, and must be typed in LaTex-which is a software used to make proofs elegant. Much, much better than Microsoft Equation Editor.
While six questions may not seem like much, there has yet to be a week that I have not pulled an all-nighter to finish this homework assignment on time, or a day late (since we have 5 late days that we can allocate, using at most 3 per assignment). Understanding the question is difficult. But it's when you finally understand the question that you realize how difficult the question really is. Yesterday, for example, I had to prove that there was no sequence of length 3 that consisted of odd numbers separated by two that consisted solely of prime numbers. First, this proof was a contradiction proof, which means I assumed the opposite and proved that to be false. Second, this proof had 12 subcases. TWELVE. And the kicker? That wasn't even what the question was asking for. This just happened to be a sub-proof that I needed to answer the question "rigorously".
Now, of course, I would be lying if I said I hated the class. Yes, it's a really hard class. Yes, I keep bombing the exams and am dangerously close to failing. But the concepts are interesting and I'm learning more about math than I ever did in high school.
And now, back to studying for the weekly quizzes that we have in this class.
Why is 251 so difficult? It's a combination of the concepts, the homework and the exams. So currently, we're learning about Definite Finite Automata (which are actually really cool-very logical) and Counting and Diagonalization. Those concepts are difficult, but it's the applications of those-that we see in the homework-that make them ridiculously difficult. The homework consists of 6 questions, most questions that have multiple parts to them, and must be typed in LaTex-which is a software used to make proofs elegant. Much, much better than Microsoft Equation Editor.
While six questions may not seem like much, there has yet to be a week that I have not pulled an all-nighter to finish this homework assignment on time, or a day late (since we have 5 late days that we can allocate, using at most 3 per assignment). Understanding the question is difficult. But it's when you finally understand the question that you realize how difficult the question really is. Yesterday, for example, I had to prove that there was no sequence of length 3 that consisted of odd numbers separated by two that consisted solely of prime numbers. First, this proof was a contradiction proof, which means I assumed the opposite and proved that to be false. Second, this proof had 12 subcases. TWELVE. And the kicker? That wasn't even what the question was asking for. This just happened to be a sub-proof that I needed to answer the question "rigorously".
Now, of course, I would be lying if I said I hated the class. Yes, it's a really hard class. Yes, I keep bombing the exams and am dangerously close to failing. But the concepts are interesting and I'm learning more about math than I ever did in high school.
And now, back to studying for the weekly quizzes that we have in this class.
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