For computer scientists, the word complexity denotes the amount of work required to solve a problem using a given algorithm. An algorithm is the sequence of arithmetic and logical operations that lead to the solution of a problem. Computer scientists measure the complexity of an algorithm by comparing the number of instructions that a computer…
Category: Videos
Why study searching and sorting algorithms?
Why program a computer to perform a task that people can do by hand?People can sort short lists by hand. Computers become indispensable when the number or length of the lists to be sorted become very large. We study two algorithms for searching and three algorithms for sorting in our first course. If you continue…
Genius in teamwork
Computer scientists have created some of the most complex objects that human beings have ever designed and built. The largest programs contain tens of millions of instructions. If printed on paper and bound in books a single large program would fill hundreds of volumes. No single person can fully comprehend a large program. Large teams…
Get to know more professors
I am guessing that a typical student at my small college studies with a quarter of the members of the faculty but sees little of the other three quarters. Could we commit ourselves to an effort to create opportunities and incentives that would make it easier for students to meet a larger fraction of the…
Learn with and from one another
Could we commit ourselves to finding ways of making it easier and more attractive for members of the faculty to enroll in one another\’s courses for a term or a part of a term? The spouse of a colleague enrolled in a course that I taught in the autumn. Her presence in the classroom added…
The importance of a good example
One of the ways in which we teach our students how to learn is by showing them how we learn. We model for them the attitudes and habits that we hope they will develop. We want our students to be curious. We take an interest in many subjects. We want our students to think independently…
A student makes his professor proud
Trevis Rothwell spoke about developing software for the iPhone at a meeting of the Cedar Rapids Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers on June 20, 2010. His presentation drew a large audience. Some of our colleagues in Minnesota also listened to his talk and viewed his slides through an electronic link that…
The beauty of a proof or machine
“The beauty of a proof or machine lies in a happy marriage of simplicity and power.” —David Gelernter
Advice to a student who wants to do better.
Here are some words that I wrote for a student who needed to make a case for himself to a committee that reviewed the cases of struggling students. You can make a strong case for yourself by demonstrating your readiness to: make fuller use of the resources available to you at the college commit to…
A common cause of troubles
A student was struggling. The committee on which I was serving had already placed him on probation. It could now ask him to leave thecollege. The student asked the committee for more time in which to improve his academic record. He listed the special problems that had affected his performance. He had come to the…