Tag: assignment

OpenLab #8: Advice for the Future

Assignment (due Thursday, December 15).  Imagine that you are invited to speak on the first day of MAT 2071, to give advice to entering students.  Write at least three sentences responding to at least one of the following, describing what you would tell them.

  1. What do you wish that you had been told at the start of this class, to help you succeed?
  2. Choose one topic in the course that is especially challenging. Identify it, and give advice to students trying to master that topic.
  3. What is the most important prior knowledge (not taught in the class) that you need in order to succeed?  Why is it important?

Extra Credit.  Respond to someone else’s comment.  Do you agree? disagree? Have anything to add?

OpenLab #3: The MIU puzzle

We are going to play a game with strings of symbols.  This game was invented by a man named Douglas Hofstadter and found in his book Gödel, Escher, Bach. Here are the rules:

Suppose there are the symbols ‘M’, ‘I’, and ‘U’, which can be combined to produce strings of symbols called “words”, like MUI or MIUUU. The MIU game asks one to start with the word MI and transform it using the following rules, to obtain some goal word (which is given to you).  The rules state:

  1. You must always begin with the word MI.
  2. You may add a U to the end of any string ending in I. For example: MI to MIU, or MUUII to MUUIIU.
  3. You may double any string after the M (that is, change Mx, to Mxx, where ‘x’ represents any string of symbols). For example: MIU to MIUIU
  4. You may replace any III with a U. For example: MUIIIU to MUUU
  5. You may remove any UU. For example: MUUU to MU

WARM UP.  In each example, start with the axiomatic word MI and show, step-by-step, how to obtain the goal word (in each step, state which of the rules you used). These are just for practice (you do NOT need to submit your answers).

Example 1: Goal word MIU
Example 2: Goal word MIIU
Example 3: Goal word MIIUIIU
Example 4: Goal word MUUII
Example 5: Goal word MUUIIUIIU

Example: Goal word MUI
Solution:
Step 1: MI  (we always start with this word)
Step 2: MI to MII (rule 3)
Step 3: MII to MIIII (rule 3)
Step 4: MIIII to MUI (rule 4)
DONE!

Assignment (due Thursday, 9/15): Your assignment has three parts.

PART 1.  First, create an MIU puzzle — that is, make up a goal word, and post it in the comments. Your goal word should be between 8 and 16 letters long.  Try to make it tricky to reach, requiring at least four steps to reach (but the more the better!).  See if you can find a clever use of the rules!

PART 2.  The second part of your assignment is to solve someone else’s puzzle.   Type your solution step-by-step, indicating which rule you used at each step.  Leave your comment as a response to their puzzle.  Only one solution per puzzle!

PART 3.  The third part of your assignment is to write a short paragraph (at least 3 sentences) responding to the following prompt.  Be sure to respond to each part:

Writing Prompt, MIU puzzle:  Did you enjoy this assignment? Why or why not?  Describe a connection between this assignment and our work in the class.  (If you don’t believe there is a connection, try to imagine why we are doing this).  Leave your response in the comments.

Week 1 Assignments

Hi everyone,

Your first homework assignment will be exclusively in the book (you do NOT have a WeBWorK assignment this week), and is due on Tuesday.  Your first OpenLab Assignment is due on Thursday.

Welcome back,
Prof. Reitz

Week 1 Assignments
Written work  due Tuesday August 30th –  Sec 1.1 p.7: 1, 12, 19, 26, 29, 35
NOTE: On this assignment, odd problems are worth 2 points and even problems worth 4 points.
WeBWorK – none
OpenLab – Register for the OpenLab and join this course (instructions provided in a separate post).  “OpenLab #1: Advice from the Past” due Thurs Sept 1.