Finishing With Proofs

Hello Readers,

            Recently in CSC165, we have finished learning about proofs. And although they are quite difficult, once you finish a proof correctly, it is really rewarding. Some different types of proofs we learned about were:

• Proving Existence (Proving that a set is non-empty)
• Proving a Claim About a Sequence (define a sequence and then prove something about that sequence)
• Contradiction, which is a special case of contrapositive. 
• Non-boolean Functions, expressing a proof about a function that returns a non-boolean value (e.g: number, integer)
• Proof By Cases (splitting you arguments to show all possibilities)
• Proving Something False (Prove the negation of the claim)
• Proof About Limits (you usually have to pick a certain value to make the proof work)

            There are definitely many other types of proofs but these are the main ones we have learned. Assignment 2 is all about proofs, and I hope to do well on that with the same partners I worked with last time. 

            Since finishing with proofs, we have started learning about sorting strategies. This concept is not new to me because I learned many different sorting algorithms in my grade 12 computer science class, so I'm hoping this will not be too challenging for me. I am quite confident with the different types of sorts, especially:

• Insertion Sort:  Each iteration, insertion sort removes one element from the data, inserts it where it belongs in the list and repeats until everything is sorted.
• Bubble Sort: Repeated checks each pair of adjacent items in the data and switches them if they are out of order, quite inefficient for big lists
• Selection Sort: Cycles through the entire list looking for the next item in the list and once it knows which item to take, places it in the correct position.

I do not know much about mergesort and quicksort, but I do know they are very efficient so I can't wait to learn about them! 

          CSC165 is still my most challenging class, but also still my favourite class. I will keep you updated on how the unit on sorts turns out and how I will be preparing for my next term test. Thanks for reading!

Past Two Weeks

Dear Blog,

            I apologize that I have been slow on the blog posts. As stated in my previous blog, I've been really sick lately with the stomach flu, so sick that I could not write my first term test. In the past few weeks, Professor Heap has begun to teach us proofs. He started by teaching us proof structures then moved onto actual proof statements. I'm trying to keep up with the lectures even though I haven't been able to attend all of them. After midterms, when I am hopefully no longer sick, I hope to buckle down hard and really practice the different kinds of proofs until I know exactly what I am doing. I was prepared for the first term test, but I need to be even more prepared for the second, especially with how high it is weighted for me now. I will keep you updated with my struggles.

Thanks
- J.M

Term Test

           This week was pretty interesting. Let me paint you a picture. It's the week of my first term test, and CSC165 being one of my relatively harder classes, I study quite hard for it and make a pretty awesome aid sheet. Now, I do not think I could have been any more prepared for this test, I was ready to ace it, but guess what happens next. I wake up with the stomach flu, but because I was so prepared I thought I would tough it out and try to write that test. So, the TA hands out the test papers and I read the first question. "Booya!", I thought in my head, I know this. I got this test in the bag. Well, the only thing in the bag that day was my vomit because I had to excuse myself for the rest of the test with an upset stomach. This is pretty frustrating because now my second term test is doubled in weight and it puts a lot of pressure on it, but I will just have to study ridiculously hard and ace it. Thanks for reading.
     -J.M.