Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, we want to give plenty of options for attending lectures to match your needs and comfort levels. Excepting cases when there are mandatory in-class activities (for which we have opportunity for make-up), you may attend lecture by:
Links to your section’s zoom livestreams and recordings can be found on the Collab site.
We will generally have time-limited, and sometimes group-work, assignments during the Friday class time, and so synchronous and in-person attendance is expected then. If you are not able to attend those times make-up opportunities are available, just ask the course staff.
The course is organized around four 3-week modules:
Each module will have the following components:
Between 5 and 7 lectures
Two manually-graded paper quizzes
Two automatically-graded multiple-choice online quizzes
Optionally, one makeup quiz
One group project
You will also be expected to read instructional material and either understand it or ask questions to clarify what you found confusing. We strongly recommend forming study groups that meet at least weekly all semester long to discuss readings, as even if they appear simple at first they will often contain nuances that will only emerge with conversions.
We’ll use
We will use discord to manage course communication and provide online office hours, and office hours queues. A discord server join link is in the course’s Collab site. We recommend downloading the desktop app (at https://discord.com/), which has more features and better-quality audio and video, but the browser version should also work.
For communication about personal circumstances, contact an instructor directly via email, telephone, or office hours.
Do not contact TAs individually unless specifically invited to do so by course staff.
Our TAs are students too, with duties and work outside of their TAing. Please do not ask them to act as your TA except at the scheduled on-the-clock times they have listed as their office hours. They are also kind people; please don’t put them in the position of having to say no or (worse) being nice to you at the expense of their own schooling.
It is possible to do well in this class based only on in-class instruction. However, most students find they learn more rapidly and easily if they augment that with appropriate readings.
Our readings come from three sources:
The free online textbook Mathematics for Computer Science by Eric Lehman, Thomson Leighton, and Albert Meyer, available both on our site and on MIT’s site. Readings that begin MCS
refer to sections of that book; for example, MCS 1.7
refers to the section Proof by Cases
.
The free online textbook forall x Calgary Remix by P D Mangus et al, available both on our site and from the Open Logic Project. Readings that begin ∀x
refer to sections of that book; for example, ∀x 15.1
refers to the section The idea of a formal proof
.
Write-ups by our course staff, hosted on this site and provided by a link.
I will use .0
to mean the text before .1
; for example, ∀x 1.0
is the content of chapter 1 preceding section 1.1.
You will both write and read proofs as part of this class. If you have had a proof-heavy math class before, you know what to expect here. If not, think of proof writing as being more similar to code writing than to other forms of mathematics homework in terms of time needed and difficulty of estimating exact time needed for any given problem.
In February 2019 the CS faculty approved a definition of what we believe grades mean. We hope that the following numerical system will approximate that. If you think your score in the course does not reflect your understanding of course material, please let us know.
Your grade will be computed as a weighted average as follows:
For each module the grade breakdown is:
- 6% for each quiz (4 total) - Each of the four group projects is worth 1% of your grade
After combining your scores, your letter grade will be assigned according to the following:
| You get | if you score | Which is worth |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | near the top | 4.0 |
| A | ≥ 93% | 4.0 |
| A− | ≥ 90% | 3.7 |
| B+ | ≥ 87% | 3.3 |
| B | ≥ 83% | 3.0 |
| B− | ≥ 80% | 2.7 |
| C+ | ≥ 77% | 2.3 |
| C | ≥ 73% | 2.0 |
| C- | ≥ 70% | 1.7 |
| D+ | ≥ 67% | 1.3 |
| D | ≥ 63% | 1.0 |
| D− | ≥ 60% | 0.7 |
| F | otherwise | 0.0 |
Missed auto-graded evaluations will not be rescheduled, extended, nor made up during the semester. Missed hand-graded evaluations (including group projects) may be rescheduled or replaced with adequate notice and reasoning (sent to your instructor via email). You will be allowed to drop one (1) quiz grade (either auto-graded or hand-graded) during the semester, at which point the remaining 3 quizzes for that module will be worth 8% each.
UVA does not award credit for placement tests. Hence, you must show continuing evidence of engagement and learning throughout the course.
Behave professionally, abiding by the course pledge.
Never abuse anyone, including the emotional abuse of blaming others for your mistakes. Kindness is more important than correctness.
Let our TAs be students when they are not on the clock as TAs.
We always hope everyone will behave honestly. We know we all are tempted to do what we ought not; if you do something you regret, the sooner you tell us the sooner (and more leniently) we can correct it.
The quizzes allow consulting many resources. However, if you consult resources other than course material, you must cite any and every source you consult in the comments of the question. Talked to a friend, saw an interesting video, consulted a website, had a tutor? Tell us!
Quizzes may not be done in groups or in consultation with any resource that did not exist prior to the quiz being posted.
If we believe you have acted dishonestly, we will communicate this fact to you and propose a penalty. If you have information we lack, please share that with us; we may thereafter change our belief and/or proposed penalty.
If we are not able to come to an agreement, or if the case is particularly egregious and beyond our comfort level handling in-course, we will instead refer the case to the University Honor System and abide by their findings.
If you qualify for accommodations from the SDAC, please let your instructor know, preferably in a private conversation so we can discuss how your accommodations will interplay with the content delivery and assessment structure of this course.
We fully support the university’s stance on accommodating religious observances. If such observances or other religious beliefs impact or are likely to impact your work this semester, please let us know as soon as you are aware of this impact.
All communication relies on shared context and understanding. Because no member of our course staff has the same context and experience as you, it is likely we will inadvertently say and do things you find confusing or offensive. Please let us know if this happens! We will do our best to learn and adjust so we can become better and more welcoming communicators in the future, and do what we can to fix any problems our mistakes we’ve caused.
Bad things happen. People forget things and make mistakes. Bad days coincide with due dates. People get sick. Etc.
If you believe that circumstances warrant an change in deadline, a second chance, or some other accommodation in order to more accurately synchronize grade with knowledge, talk to your instructor and we’ll resolve the situation as best we can.