I learned a lot this week in CSC165. A couple symbols were introduced, which are conjunction ∧, disjunction∨ , and negation ¬. I really enjoyed learning about the concept of vacuous truth, where a “false” statement can be proven true. For example, ∀x∈R, x2-2x+2=0 ⇔ x>x+5, can technically be proven true because to disprove an equivalence you have to find a counter example. However, for the statement mentioned earlier there are no solutions to x2-2x+2=0 and x>x+5, meaning that no counter examples exist. As a result, no counter examples exist, meaning the statement can only be true. This blew my mind and also Timothy. He also wrote that it confused him in his blog. The problem-solving session on Friday was also something I enjoyed. The class learned to look at a problem like a computer science function in a way. Thinking of the problem as a set of inputs and outputs helped make the problem easier to solve.

First SLOG of the year!

The first two weeks of University was not as bad as I thought it would be. Time went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I feel like it is because I learned a lot from my courses, such as CSC165. On Monday, before heading to CSC165, I looked over the PDF slides and I wondered what the heck is an upside down "A" and a backwards "E"? After attending class, I learned that ∀ means "for all" and ∃ means "there exists." Also, I found an example of implication Mr. Heap amusing. In his PDF he wrote "if you eat your vegetables, then you can have dessert" and said that his mother said that to him. From that example I learned how an implication does not necessarily go both ways, so having dessert does not necessarily mean you ate your vegetables.

As of now, I feel fairly confident about the material I learned this week. However, earlier this week I did not feel confident. I felt very confused and was unsure about the material because I'm taking MAT135. In MAT135 the professor never went over the symbols and terminology, so I was at a disadvantage from those who took MAT137 because their professor did go over symbols and terminology. Right after the lecture I felt lost in I started reading the course notes to catch up and went ahead of the class. The lectures after that felt like a breeze and it was a good decision to read the course notes.