In this class, you will use careful mathematical modeling, problem solving, and clear and precise communication to explore key questions in Computer Science. (1) How do we decide (and prove) what's true? (2) How do we use mathematics to give multiple representations of data and computation?
Use our Calendar to get links to class times and notes. Submit your work for this class on Gradescope. Reach out to me (minnes@eng.ucsd.edu) or one of the other CSE 20 team members if you have questions. This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion; find our class page on Piazza.
Here are our plans for CSE 20, keeping in mind we may need to be flexible in response to campus and public health guidance.
We encourage you to work on homework in groups of up to three CSE 20 classmates. To find group members: reach out to people sitting around you in class, in discussion section, or during office hours. The pre-survey also asks if you want help finding group members: the CSE 20 instructional team can help you connect with other students. Working within the campus safety guidelines, you may choose to meet with your group mates in person (find ideas for where to study on campus), or online. If you're working with one another remotely, we highly recommend meeting synchronously so that you can work through the homework problems *together*. Your @ucsd.edu account gives you access to Zoom, login at https://ucsd.zoom.us/ to schedule a meeting. Pro tip: if you change the meeting URL from https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/MEETING-ID to https://ucsd.zoom/us/wc/join/MEETING-ID, it will allow the user to join via the browser and not just through the app. The Zoom support page has details on hosting and joining meetings.
We will provide all required material for this class on this website. There is no required textbook for this class. Lecture material is available in PDF and html formats so you can download and annotate or print it if you'd like. In class, we'll work through examples. Some of these examples will have multiple choice questions so you can test and deepen your understanding. Other examples will be open-ended problems to practice the critical thinking and communication skills we are developing in CSE 20.
Previous versions of the course used reference textbooks, including Discrete Mathematics and its Applications by Kenneth Rosen, which has online self-assessments and extra examples.
All submitted homework for this class must be typed. Diagrams may be hand-drawn and scanned and included in the typed document. You can use a word processing editor if you like (Microsoft Word, Open Office, Notepad, Vim, Google Docs, etc.) but you might find it useful to take this opportunity to learn LaTeX. LaTeX is a markup language used widely in computer science and mathematics. The homework assignments are typed using LaTeX and you can use the source files as templates for typesetting your solutions.
If you have never used LaTeX, we recommend cloud resources that don't require you to download and install LaTeX on your local machine. A good example is Overleaf, which has lots of documentation. Overleaf works similar to Google Docs in that all members can edit the file in parallel and changes are updated in real time. There is a way to directly invite group members to your document, but the free version of Overleaf only allows two people to work at the same time. To get around this, turn on link sharing: Click on “Share” in the top right, Click “Turn on link sharing”, Copy the displayed link and share it with your group members. To export your work, click on the “Download PDF” button on the right-hand side If you want to export the raw source files, click on the “Menu” button in the top-left, then click on “Source”
This open source LaTeX reference can be helpful when getting started, and you can use the .tex source of all the files we use in class as templates.
Alternatively, you can use Google Docs, which is available through your @ucsd.edu account. You can create documents and then share them with your group members with manual invites or a shareable link. Google Docs has a LaTex add-on that lets you type formulas in a math typesetting environment: search for "Auto-LaTeX Equations" if you want to try this option. You'll need to use the display environment (start and end with $) for all the portions you want rendered with LaTeX.
Grades in this class are designed to reflect your work and to document evidence of your learning this core material. They are also designed to accommodate the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and to allow flexibility in the face of uncertain public health situations. By working together to explore the CSE 20 material with integrity, we can each help ensure a fair and interesting quarter of building the foundations needed for your continued development in Computer Science. Please reach out to me (minnes@eng.ucsd.edu) if you have extenuating circumstances that you think will impede your ability to participate in the planned CSE 20 activities; I'd like to work out a solution together.
The graded components for CSE 20 will be Review quizzes, Homework, Project, and Final exam. Your overall grade for CSE 20 will be computed using the weights
The UC San Diego Academic Integrity pledge is here. Academic integrity violations will be taken seriously and reported to the campus-wide Academic Integrity Office. Key facts about academic integrity related to CSE 20:
UCSD has fantastic resources to support your learning, with integrity. Of course, the instructional team for CSE 20 is here to help you navigate the course content. The Jacobs School of Engineering IDEA Center organizes group study sessions and can connect you with student organizations. The Teaching and Learning Commons continues to offer their full suite of student success programs.
Regrades need to be requested within three days of announcement of grades. The regrade window will be set in Gradescope. In the regrade request, include a brief but detailed explanation of why you think there was an error in the grading. A regrade request may lead to us reviewing the entire assignment and may lead to the score being adjusted up or down depending on any errors found in the original grading. All regrades will be considered once the regrade window closes; thank you in advance for your patience while we carefully look through them.
We would like to work with each of you to make this course accessible and approachable. All course material is available in multiple formats to improve support for screen readers. Videos will also be captioned (to the best of our abilities). We need to hear from you if additional accommodations would improve your experience in the course. If you have documented need for accommodations because of a disability, please work with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) to get a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter. The office is located in University Center 202 behind Center Hall and also provides the OSD Student Portal. We ask that you work to organize the AFA and to let us know about it as early in the quarter as possible so that we can best support your needs. For more information, see Disability Resources at UCSD.
My lectures and course materials, including videos, assignments, and similar materials, are protected by U.S. copyright law and by University policy. I am the exclusive owner of the copyright in those materials I create. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own use. You may also share those materials with another student who is enrolled in or auditing this course. You may not reproduce, distribute or display (post/upload) lecture notes or recordings or course materials in any other way — whether or not a fee is charged — without my express prior written consent. You also may not allow others to do so. If you do so, you may be subject to student conduct proceedings under the UC San Diego Student Code of Conduct.
Similarly, you own the copyright in your original work. If I am interested in posting your answers or papers on the course web site, I will ask for your written permission.
Individuals are not permitted to approach students to offer services of any kind in exchange for pay, including tutoring services. This is considered solicitation for business and is strictly prohibited by University policy.
This class is participating in research to understand an array of specific classroom and learning experience that students have in response to the pedagogical and curricular decisions instructors make and to address the following research questions:
Answers to these questions will inform teaching practice at UC San Diego, and also have the potential to contribute to the global knowledge base of how to improve student learning in a large university setting. Specifically for this quarter, CSE 20 is participating in a project on retention and sense of community in UCSD majors; see research plan. If you consent to participate in this study, no action is needed. If you DO NOT consent to participate in this study, or you choose to opt-out at any time during the academic year, sign and submit this form to the research contact at retentionstudy@cs.ucsd.edu.
You can find the learning outcomes for CSE 20 in this overview page.
