Welcome! This is the CityTech OpenLab website for an informal workshop/study group associated with the Coursera MOOC Coding the Matrix, which is running this summer from July 1 til August 23.
Let’s start with a few potential FAQs:
- What’s a MOOC? It’s an acronym for Massive Open Online Course. Basically it’s a free (hence “open”) online course that is taken by a lot of people simultaneously (hence “massive”). Coursera is one of a handful of startups that have launched in the past couple years to offer MOOCs taught by faculty from various universities (other MOOC startups include edX and Udacity). See here for more info on MOOCs in general.
- What’s Coding the Matrix about? It’s a course about the applications of linear algebra. Specifically, the course involves coding up certain linear algebra concepts and algorithms–hence the title of the course. See the course home page for a full course description.
- Should I take this course? Yes! Well, if you’re interested in applied math and computer science, and especially if you’re interested in learning linear algebra and learning how to program in Python. The course doesn’t assume any exposure to linear algebra, but obviously it would help (for CityTech students, this means Math 2580). The only prerequisite the instructor lists is some exposure to programming, since the course jumps right in with some programming assignments to get you up to speed on Python.
- How do I sign up? To sign up for the course on Coursera, go to the course page. You’ll need to create a Coursera account, which takes about one minute. If you’re a CityTech student, join the OpenLab project I’ve created here (again, you’ll need to create an OpenLab account if you haven’t already, which takes about five minutes). If you’re not a CityTech student, you’re still welcome to visit this site, where I’ll be posting some updates over the next couple months.
- What’s the purpose of this workshop/study group? Coming soon…
