Computer Science 2802: Discrete Structures - Honors
Fall, 2020

Prof. Joe Halpern

• Course policies and general information
• Staff (including office hours)
• Lecture notes
• Homework assignments

• Dec. 16: Office hours and recitations continue as usual until the exam starts, except that Sophie's recitation has been moved back from Sunday to Friday.
• Dec. 16: I had talked about having a course participation grade. After thinking about it, I decided that, given the time differences, it didn't make sense to require students to attend class. So the "course participation grade" will be 1% for filling in the course evaluation, which I take seriously. (I don't get to see the evaluations until after I've handed in final grades, and they're anonymous, so nothing you say will affect your grade, but if you have suggestions on how to improve the course, please let me know! Emails about how to improve the course woulda also be welcome.
• Dec. 6: As I said on discord, the final will start on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 PM (Ithaca time) and will be due 48 hours later, on Monday, Dec. 21 at 7:30 PM. As usual, you'll have to sign an integrity form, and everything will be available on gradescope. I've posted a practice final on the homework page.
• Nov. 13: We will have office hour and recitations as usual up to Sunday night this week (i.e., up to Nov. 15). Next there are no recitations. I will hold my office hours as usual next Wednesday (Nov. 18), and we may have one or two other office hours (watch for the announcements on Piazza/Discord), although the default is that there won't be office hours next week (during semi-final week). There are definitely no office hours or recitations during Thanksgiving week. We start with our usual schedule again after Thanksgiving, on Nov. 30 (when HW11 is due ...).
• Nov. 1: The second prelim will be handed out at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, Nov. 11, on Gradescope, and due 24 hours later, at 7:30 PM on Thursday, Nov. 12. It will cover everything we do up to this Friday (Nov. 6), which is also what's tested on this week's homework (HW10). It will work the same way as the first prelim: it will be a takehome, open book/open web, but you can't talk to anyone about the prelim in the interval between when it's handed out and due, other than asking me clarification questions by email. Again, you'll have to sign an "academic integrity statement" saying that you understand this. The integrity statement will also be posted on Gradescope at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, and due before midnight on Wednesday. If you have problems with the timing (e.g., two other prelims then), please let me know, and I'll see what I can work out. To help you prepare, I'll try to arrange extended recitation sessions on Nov. 5-8. I have also posted an old prelim I gave in CS2800 (it's on the homework page).
• Oct. 30: Another announcement: Considering a career in research and/or a PhD? If you are interested, you will want to attend the Explore CS Research Workshop! Event date: Saturday, November 7th noon-4pm! On zoom. See details at https://www.cs.cornell.edu/events/explore-cs-research. Event will feature Cornell alumni who are currently graduate students. After the workshop, attendees who contribute to diversity in the computing field will have the opportunity to apply for funding to attend a conference in their area; to cover fees for Ph.D. program applications; as well as explore awards for summer research experience for undergraduates. Awards supported by Google’s ExploreCSR program. To participate you need to fill out the qualtrics form by Friday, October 30. Previous research experience not required.
• Oct. 3: Update on the prelim: The prelim will be a takehome. It will be handed out at 7:30 PM on Monday, Oct. 12, on Gradescope, and due 24 hours later, at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, Oct. 13. It will be open book/open web. You can look things up on the internet. (I'm going to try to come up with questions that you can't find on the internet; that turns out to be not so easy!). However, you can't talk to anyone about the prelim in the interval between when it's handed out and due, other than asking me clarification questions by email. Talking to someone about the prelim is a violation of academic integrity. You'll have to sign an "academic integrity statement" saying that you understand this; it will also be posted on Gradescope at 7:30 PM on Monday, and due before midnight on Monday. If you have problems with the timing (e.g., two other prelims then), please let me know, and I'll see what I can work out. My hope is that the prelim will be like a medium-length homework, that you can get done in about 3 hours. I have posted some past prelims from CS 2800/2802 for practice (see the homework page). The recitations sessions on Oct. 8-11 will also be a bit longer in case you want to work on extra problems for the prelim.
• Sept. 27: Three important announcements about the class:
  • Class on Monday will be taught by Spencer Peters, my Ph.D. student (who is a really good teacher!). For Monday only, please use the following zoom link: https://cornell.zoom.us/j/6909205221?pwd=bmt3c1JTeFNvTnd5Tkx5eEZEMmdndz09.
  • Since I did not finish covering transitive closure this week, you're not responsible for Additional Problem 3 on HW4. We'll delay it to next week's problem set. Spencer will be starting a new section on number theory on Monday, so I'll cover the material on transitive closure on Wednesday.
  • The prelim will be a takehome, and will be held from Sunday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 PM or Monday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 until Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 PM. (I'm still trying to figure out if it will be 24 hours or 48 hours.) If those times will be a problem for you, please let me know as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more details.
• Sept. 16: Two more announcements:
  • If you're interested in finding study partners, you may want to check out the Learning Strategies Center web page: http://lsc.cornell.edu/studying-together/
  • AI-Learners If you're familiar with JavaScript, have some game dev experience, and want to join a team of Cornell students developing a platform that helps kids with disabilities learn math in a fun and interactive way through personalized computer games that continuously adapt to meet a student's needs, you may want to joint AI-learners. We’ve just been accepted into the eLab Student Business Accelerator 2020-2021 cohort! We would love your help in expediting game development while part of the team focuses on turning a project into a real company that will help students nationwide. Check out our progress so far at ai-learners.com and email as2953@cornel.edu your resume if you are interested!
• Sept. 9
  • Yet another announcement: The Cornell Undergraduate Research Board (CURB) hosts many opportunities for students looking to get involved in research, both behind the scenes and in research groups. We are currently recruiting both mentors and mentees for our Peer Mentorship Program (PMP), as well as new members for our Executive Board. Students from ALL backgrounds and fields are encouraged to apply.
    • As a mentee in the Peer Mentorship Program, students will be paired with a mentor in their field of interest and learn how to get involved in research at Cornell through weekly workshops and presentations.
    • As a mentor in the Peer Mentorship Program, students will have a chance to hone their leadership skills as they assist a group of mentees in their paths to finding research.
    • As a member of our Executive Board, students will join a family of student leaders dedicated to promoting research involvement on and off campus through events such as research symposia, talks, and outreach. No research experience necessary-- just a passion for research.
    Students interested in applying can apply here: https://tinyurl.com/CURBFA2020 The deadline to apply for as a mentor is September 14. The deadline to apply as a mentee/executive board member is September 19. More information can be found on our website, curb.cornell.edu. Questions? Email curbpmp@cornell.edu for PMP questions or CURB’s Recruitment Chair, Emily Hurwitz, eh466@cornell.edu, for general application/e-board questions.
• Sept. 7
  • Recitation sections I'd like to try to set up recitations for the class. I've set up a doodle poll at https://doodle.com/poll/fk67ycz9uetfc7ke. Please fill in *all* the time that you can make a recitation section. (Sections during class times will be aligned with class times, so a recitation from 9-10 AM on Monday would actually be 9:10 - 10 AM.) We will end up having four sections. The TAs have tried to be super flexible; the times listed on the doodle poll are all the times that at least one of them is available. Since each TA will do at most one section, some pairs of times won't work (for example, we can't have a section at both 11 AM on Wednesday and Fridays, because the same TA is free at all times.) I will try to find four times that (a) work for all of you; (b) work for the TAs, and (c) result in no more than 12 students in a section, with a preference for 8-10. That means that you'll need to be flexible too. Don't just sign up for one slot, since I may not be able to offer a recitation at that time. Please fill in the doodle poll by Wednesday at noon; I'd like to start the recitations this week if possible. If you have questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me. Here's how recitations will work (at least, this is the tentative plan): Each section will do some subset of the homework problems each week as a group. A scribe will be assigned to write down the solution and hand it in. (The homework problems that will be done in the recitation will be marked.) If you attend a section and your group completes a problem, then you don't have to do that question for homework. (I don't want to increase the amount of work you have to do!) So you don't have to attend a recitation, but I would strongly encourage you to do so. Not only will you (hopefully) learn the material better, you won't have to do as much homework. That said, this is an experiment; I'm open to suggestions for how to modify it.
  • Yet another announcement about a course: Trends in Web Development will teach you fullstack development using modern, practical technologies like React, Node.js, Express and Firebase. Through this course, you will learn front-end and back-end development and how to deploy your website resulting in a portfolio ready final project! Syllabus: webdev.cornelldti.org/docs/introduction
    Application: bit.ly/web-dev-fa20 due Sept. 12 11:59PM
    Questions? Email Megan Yin (my474@cornell.edu) or Ashneel Das (ad665@cornell.edu)
• Sep 5. 3 Another announcement: INFO 1998 is a one-credit student-run class that functions as an introduction to machine learning. Students learn basic machine learning concepts while learning how to use popular packages for managing data, creating visualizations, and building models in python. The course is just 10 weeks long and will be offered from 5:30 - 6:30 PM EST on Wednesdays via Zoom. There are no prerequisites. Lectures will be recorded for students who cannot attend. The first day of our course is September 23rd, If you are interested in the course, you can register at here.
• Sept. 3 Four announcements:
  • For scheduling recitations and office hours, it's useful for me to know what time zone you are in. Fill in the the Google spreadsheet with this information. (In the time zone column, put the time relative to EDT (i.e., Ithaca time , so that, for example, if you are in California, write "EDT -3" to indicate that you are 3 hours behind Ithaca time.)
  • Office hours should start tomorrow (Friday 9/4). Check here for times and zoom links. Note that these times are still a moving target, and we'll probaby have fewer office hours once we start recitations (which I am now planning to do).
  • Women in Computing at Cornell are holding a CIS Partner Finding Event for students to meet other people in their CIS classes. The event will be held on 09/08 from 7:30-10:30PM EDT using the Glimpse platform. It will be split into class levels: 7:30-9:00PM for 1000 & 2000 level classes, and 9:00-10:30PM for 3000+ level classes. Students will need to RSVP to this form in order to receive the event link: https://tinyurl.com/yx8rcnrf.
  • It may be premature for many of you, but if you're interested in grad school, you can attend a presentation on "Grad School Demystified" by the Cornel Undergraduate Research Board. It will be held on Zoom on September 16th from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM through Zoom. If you're interested, you should register for the event at www.tinyurl.com/GradSchoolDemystified. The Zoom link and ID are https://cornell.zoom.us/j/98926374704?pwd=UUNhbElqRWxZaCtyMUVTZzR0Z3lDUT09; the Meeting ID is 989 2637 4704 Passcode: 492205 zoom