Discreet Math / Foundation of Computing classes

[halik]

Proofs, Reuctions, Cantor's crazy theorems... you name it.

I honestly think people's grades in these courses can be derived with one exam... some people just see this stuff and have it click in their head...I'll get it after 20 mins of staring at it.

I'll always do about same (under average) on this stuff, whether i spend my life studying or not.

Anyone else feel the same? I'm taking a foundations/computing class right now and i just can't escape the feeling that I'll end up with a b-/c+ no matter what...

 

[ngvepforever2]

it's true that some people get the stuff right away, but not most of the people do. Normal people work hard, study and do their best. As long as you practice some problems(that's key) and ask questions in class you will be ok.

just my 2 cents

ng

 

[oboeguy]

It's a matter of developing your mathematical maturity. Everybody pays his or her pain somewhere along the way. Me? I skipped the first two years of college math classes (heh, good HS), got spanked in my first major-level classes and went on from there. Then we I started taking Ph.D. courses my senior year, I got spanked again, but adjusted. Think of it being like baseball. A-ball is tough at first, but then you get better, move on to AA, then AAA and finally the Major Leagues.

 

[purbeast0]

heh discrete math was the weeding out class, as mentioned in the other thread thats active right now about the weed-out classes.

it was definitely a tough class at UMD. the average on our final was a 29%. I got a 39% so I did okay on it, but still ... its ridiculous. my roomie failed 3 times and had to switch majors.

what a worthless course too. id on't use any kind of discrete math crap now in the real world.

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless course too. id on't use any kind of discrete math crap now in the real world.

And this kind of attitude is why people don't do well in the course. It's more useful than you'll ever notice. The point is not necessarily to learn about the difference between countable and uncountable infinity or what relatively prime means, you know. If you buy into the program, so to speak, you become a much more organized thinker.

 

[ngvepforever2]

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless course too. id on't use any kind of discrete math crap now in the real world.

And this kind of attitude is why people don't do well in the course. It's more useful than you'll ever notice. The point is not necessarily to learn about the difference between countable and uncountable infinity or what relatively prime means, you know. If you buy into the program, so to speak, you become a much more organized thinker.

QFT. Besides if you are CS major, it is not true that you don't use discrete math in the real world. You might not use the theory, but you tend to use the foundations and the logic you should learn when you take the class. In other words, it makes you think and look at stuff from another point of view.

Regards

ng

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: ngvepforever2

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless course too. id on't use any kind of discrete math crap now in the real world.

And this kind of attitude is why people don't do well in the course. It's more useful than you'll ever notice. The point is not necessarily to learn about the difference between countable and uncountable infinity or what relatively prime means, you know. If you buy into the program, so to speak, you become a much more organized thinker.

QFT. Besides if you are CS major, it is not true that you don't use discrete math in the real world. You might not use the theory, but you tend to use the foundations and the logic you should learn when you take the class. In other words, it makes you think and look at stuff from another point of view.

Regards

ng

You will probably use the basic ideas that I could summarize in a 5 minute speech. Unless you want to:
a) Teach it
b) Be locked in the basement and do mathetmathics

You'll never *EVER* see a pumping lemma or completment of Atm anywhere.

 

[Gibson486]

I remember that class. I Hated it and I love math. That class was the tip of the iceberg that prompted me to move into EE from CE. For some reason, I thought the CE classes were easier, but teh concepts were much more difficult to grasp (Data structure, how i hate thee). EE, on the other hand, the classes were harder, but I ended up grasping the ideas easily in the end, even if i did do poorly in class.

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: halik
You will probably use the basic ideas that I could summarize in a 5 minute speech. Unless you want to:
a) Teach it
b) Be locked in the basement and do mathetmathics

You'll never *EVER* see a pumping lemma or completment of Atm anywhere.

You obviously didn't get the message then. :brokenheart:

 

[DrPizza]

I remember the class.... 5 people sat there bored (myself included) and aced every exam. No one earned B's. The rest were C's or lower.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: ngvepforever2

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless course too. id on't use any kind of discrete math crap now in the real world.

And this kind of attitude is why people don't do well in the course. It's more useful than you'll ever notice. The point is not necessarily to learn about the difference between countable and uncountable infinity or what relatively prime means, you know. If you buy into the program, so to speak, you become a much more organized thinker.

QFT. Besides if you are CS major, it is not true that you don't use discrete math in the real world. You might not use the theory, but you tend to use the foundations and the logic you should learn when you take the class. In other words, it makes you think and look at stuff from another point of view.

Regards

ng

yea i know its all about a "way of thinking" but regardless, as someone else said, you could be taught to think outside the box in a much different manner than the stupid class that was discrete math IMO.

and oboeguy, i did fine in the course ... i ended up with a B+ which was great for the class, considering he gave out 10 A's out of 250 people.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: halik
You will probably use the basic ideas that I could summarize in a 5 minute speech. Unless you want to:
a) Teach it
b) Be locked in the basement and do mathetmathics

You'll never *EVER* see a pumping lemma or completment of Atm anywhere.

You obviously didn't get the message then. :brokenheart:

do you mind telling me what you do for living?

 

[Mayfriday0529]

If you can't handle Pre-Cal and Discreet Math, you got problems and should consider fixing that before proceeding to other classes. Sure you could pass the classes with a D or C, but you will get the same or fail higher classes.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
I remember the class.... 5 people sat there bored (myself included) and aced every exam. No one earned B's. The rest were C's or lower.

you shush...you don't count...you are a math god😉

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: halik
You will probably use the basic ideas that I could summarize in a 5 minute speech. Unless you want to:
a) Teach it
b) Be locked in the basement and do mathetmathics

You'll never *EVER* see a pumping lemma or completment of Atm anywhere.

You obviously didn't get the message then. :brokenheart:

do you mind telling me what you do for living?

YGPM in a sec.

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: ngvepforever2

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless course too. id on't use any kind of discrete math crap now in the real world.

And this kind of attitude is why people don't do well in the course. It's more useful than you'll ever notice. The point is not necessarily to learn about the difference between countable and uncountable infinity or what relatively prime means, you know. If you buy into the program, so to speak, you become a much more organized thinker.

QFT. Besides if you are CS major, it is not true that you don't use discrete math in the real world. You might not use the theory, but you tend to use the foundations and the logic you should learn when you take the class. In other words, it makes you think and look at stuff from another point of view.

Regards

ng

yea i know its all about a "way of thinking" but regardless, as someone else said, you could be taught to think outside the box in a much different manner than the stupid class that was discrete math IMO.

and oboeguy, i did fine in the course ... i ended up with a B+ which was great for the class, considering he gave out 10 A's out of 250 people.

Heh, I wasn't suggesting that you personally did not do well, but that sort of attitude without natural talent or an already developed math maturity will lead to a bad grade.

Also, DM is not about "thinking outside the box", but more about "not thinking like a scatterbrained no0b". 😀

 

[iotone]

i found discrete math highly useful myself... i mean, at the minimum discrete math taught me how to properly debug if statements...

granted it's not something you'll use everyday if you're just a programmer, but more advanced levels of CS do use much of this stuff (did my Master's, used quite a bit of discrete math for doing analysis)

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: halik
Proofs, Reuctions, Cantor's crazy theorems... you name it.

I honestly think people's grades in these courses can be derived with one exam... some people just see this stuff and have it click in their head...I'll get it after 20 mins of staring at it.

I'll always do about same (under average) on this stuff, whether i spend my life studying or not.

Anyone else feel the same? I'm taking a foundations/computing class right now and i just can't escape the feeling that I'll end up with a b-/c+ no matter what...

This is very true, at least from my observations. I whizzed through DM with no problem simply because it all seemed like "common sense" to me. Because of that, learning to program was an absolute cinch.

Unfortunately, I have memory retention problems (I always struggled with classes that required a lot of memorization)... so when learning a language I usually have far more difficulty remembering the libraries rather than putting them to good use.

 

[screw3d]

It's discrete math.

The difficulty depends a lot on the professor that teaches it.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: screw3d
It's discrete math.

The difficulty depends a lot on the professor that teaches it.

Thanks... the rest of us had absolutely no clue what this thread was about until you clarified the spelling 😉 .

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: screw3d
It's discrete math.

The difficulty depends a lot on the professor that teaches it.

I noticed the typo too but I figured bashing the OP for sucking at math is harsh enough. No need to knock on spelling skills too. 😉