Mathematical Concepts

(G6012)
Introduction

Chris Kiefer
Chichester I, Room CI-157
Office hours:
Monday 12:00 - 13:00
Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00
[email protected]
Todays Lecture
An overview of the course
Mathematics in computer science
The language of mathematics
Smile
I will record all lectures and make
recordings available on Study Direct
Dont worry only I will be visible in
the recordings

We do record attendance please fill

in the attendance sheet
Notes
Taking notes? Yes, but dont copy the
slides: Slides will always be provided
Note taking is good to
Note down questions
Note down something you understood that is not
on the slides
Note down if you need to think about something
later
Try something while I am doing it on the scanner
About the Scanner
I will use the scanner to develop stuff,
because it is easier to follow along
Most of the stuff I do on the scanner is
in the lecture notes.
But I will also use the scanner to
answer questions in detail some of
that material might not be in the notes,
but I may upload it to study direct later
Scanner
In the slides I will mark content that I
have prepared for the scanner with BB,
and there are (sometimes hidden!) slides
with the content (also, sometimes added
after lecture)
Lectures will be available on study direct
on the day before they are given.
 Course structure
2 Lectures/week (1 hour each), 1 hour seminar
in 5 groups, 2 Problem sets and a forum
contribution exercise
Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee Wee
k 1 k 2 k 3 k 4 k 5 k 6 k 7 k 8 k 9 k 10 k 11 k 12

Mon
Tue L1 L3 L5 L7 L9 L11 L13 L15 L17 L19 L21 L23
Wed
Thu C1 C2
Fri L2 L4 L6 L8 L10 L12 L14 L16 L18 L20 L22 L24

Problem sets due on Thursdays, 16:00 in the School Office

Course Content
What is this course going to cover?
Basic minimum maths skills that you will
need to study computer science
effectively
Models of computing: Automata theory
!
Some you may have seen before, some will
almost certainly be new
Topics
Math Fundamentals Automata
Introduction Regular Expressions
Numbers Finite state models
Set theory, intervals Pushdown automata
Proof by induction Turing machines
Vectors & Matrices
Norms & Distances
Functions
Differentiation &
Integration
Numerical integration
Probability theory
Statistics
Why is this course
important?
Mathematics underpins all computer
science topics you will cover in this
course
Here are some randomly chosen
fields in computer science, and a list
of the mathematics areas you would
need to understand in order to work
in them
Mathematics and Computing
in Practice: Programming
!
Numbers
Set theory, intervals
Vectors & Matrices
Norms & Distances
Functions
Differentiation &
Integration
Numerical integration
Probability theory
Statistics
Automata
Mathematics and Computing
in Practice: Gaming
!
Numbers
Set theory, intervals
Vectors & Matrices
Norms & Distances
Functions
Differentiation &
Integration
Numerical integration
Probability theory
Statistics
Mathematics and Computing in
Practice: Physical Computing

!
Numbers
Set theory, intervals
Vectors & Matrices
Norms & Distances
Functions
Differentiation &
Integration
Numerical integration
Probability theory
Statistics
Mathematics and Computing
in Practice: Robotics
!
Numbers
Set theory, intervals
Vectors & Matrices
Norms & Distances
Functions
Differentiation &
Integration
Numerical integration
Probability theory
Statistics
Seminars
Are there to answer questions
Will cover more examples
Will discuss coursework solutions
Will discuss problems similar to
coursework problems and similar to
unseen exam
Seminars will be given by myself and
GTAs. Attendance will be recorded.
Seminars
Important:
please bring a print out of the
worksheet
Bring a laptop if you like, although
the main bulk of work will be with
pen/paper.
Assessment
Problem sets: 40%
2 sets
due weeks 6,12
20% weighting each.
Unseen exam: 50%
In the January assessment period.
Forum Contribution Exercise: 10%
this runs from next week until week 12,
more details next Tuesday.
Coursework: Problem sets
Problem sets for course work will be
posted online on Study Direct, two weeks
before the deadline.

You should work on the problems on your

own and in your own time and submit
problem sets on Thursdays before 16:00 in
the School office.
Software
iPython can be very useful
But: You will not be required to use iPython
in this course
You are welcome to use it to cross-check
your workings but expected to do them on
your own first
I sometimes provide an example you can
run in iPython for demonstration or
additional exercises that may be fun
Textbook(s)
Everyone learns differently
You can do this class without a
textbook. I will provide online
resources and full lecture notes on
Study Direct.
If you do like to work with a
textbook: I have reserved copies of
three books in the library:
Textbook(s)
David Makinson: Sets, Logic and Maths for Computing
(Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science), Springer
2nd ed. (2012)
(for the first parts and some of the Calculus)
John A. Vince: Mathematics for Computer Graphics
(Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science), Springer
(for the linear Algebra, i.e. vectors and matrices)
John E. Hopcroft, Rajeev Motwani, Jeffrey D. Ullman:
Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and
Computation, Addison-Wesley
(for the automata content)
Important
Please check your email regularly (daily) as
important messages may be distributed
exclusively by email
Please do not collude or plagiarise when
working on assessed coursework*
If you are having difficulties please let me
know sooner rather than later
*If in any doubt about this, see
sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/resources/
misconduct and links therein.
Our Collective Maths Skills
If You Find Maths Hard
Dont panic
Anyone can understand the material in
this course given enough practice and
appropriate help.
Practice requires doing exercises until you
are perfect
You will get help
From tutors in seminars
From your peers
If You Find Maths Easy
Thats great!
Please help your fellow students if they ask.
Try to explain concepts they find difficult, however
familiar those concepts are to you
If you can demonstrate how to solve a problem,
encourage them to work it through themselves on a
similar problem.
Help them to check their working and accept
mistakes as part of practice.
Helping other people solidifies your own
understanding of mathematics
How do you approach
mathematics?
What is your learning style?
How do you like to solve a problem?
In your head?
With a pen and paper?
With a computer?
By discussing it with peers?
My thinking on it in the background?
How do you think about numbers?
5 Minute Exercise
In groups of about 3 people each,
discuss:
Why Is Learning Maths Worthwhile?
Try not to be flippant, so avoid:
Because its a required course module
Its pointless
etc.
The Advantage of Mathematics
Maths allows us to work out exact answers to
problems.
For instance, where should each (different-width)
image be laid out in a panel if you want them in an
evenly spaced row?
!
!
!
Without maths you would just have to keep trying until
it looked right, which is time-consuming and error-
prone.
The Language of Mathematics
Maths is mostly abstract, formal reasoning.
Abstract: we ignore as much detail as
possible.
Formal: the correctness of the argument can
be evaluated without knowing what it is about.
Any mathematical argument could be
written in a natural language.
But to help focus, and to save effort,
ambiguity and translations, much maths is
written using mathematical symbols.
With Symbols
In Words
The total number of gaps is one more than the total
number of images. The panels width is made up of the
total width of the gaps plus the total width of the images,
so the total width of the gaps is the difference between
the panels width and the total image width. So the width
of each gap should be equal to the difference between
the panels width and the total image width, all divided
by the total number of images plus one.






Symbols For The Win!
Effort
Look at how much writing we saved using
symbols. When you are writing line after line
of mathematical reasoning, this really counts.
Ambiguity
We said at one point divided by the total
number of images plus one.
We meant do the addition first, then the
division, but the words dont specify. In
symbols its easy to say either
or , without
ambiguity.
So Why Does ?
Sometimes you will need to learn particular
equations or results.
Modern maths has been refined by many
hard-working people for more than 2000
years.
There is a proof for everything on this
course.
And an application for everything too.
But you will have to take some answers on
trust; going further requires harder maths.
This Week
there are no seminars, but
please go through the primer on
study direct
if you are having problems with any
areas on the primer, go and read the
recommended resources
if you are still having issues, we can
talk about them in the seminars next
week
Next Lecture
Set Theory
Number Systems