Welcome to CS103!

Are there “laws of physics”

in computer science?
 Key Questions in CS103
●
What problems can you solve with a
computer?
●
Computability Theory
●
Why are some problems harder to solve
than others?
●
Complexity Theory
●
How can we be certain in our answers to
these questions?
●
Discrete Mathematics
 Sean Szumlanski Keith Schwarz Vyoma Raman Elena Sierra
(Instructor) (Instructor) (Head TA) (ACE Instructor)

Clément Dieulesaint Deven Pandya Kaia Li Kanoe Aiu Lucas Bosman

(TA) (TA) (TA) (TA) (TA)

Neel Guha Rachel Han Stanley Cao Trevor Carrell Zachary Chen
(TA) (TA) (TA) (TA) (TA)

Staff Email List (Logistics): [email protected]

 Course Website

https://cs103.stanford.edu

All course content

will be hosted
here, except for
lecture videos.
 Prerequisite / Corequisite

CS106B
Some problem sets will have small There aren't any math
coding components. We’ll also prerequisites for this course.
reference some concepts from High-school algebra should
CS106B, particularly recursion,
be enough!
throughout the quarter.
 Another Option

CS154
CS154 is more appropriate if you
have a background in the topics
from the first half of this quarter
(set theory, proofwriting, discrete
math, formal logic, graphs, etc.)
Come talk to me after class if
you’re curious about this!
 CS103 ACE
●
CS103 ACE is an optional, one-unit
companion course to CS103.
●
CS103 ACE meets Tuesdays, 3:00PM –
4:50PM and provides additional
practice with the course material in a
small group setting.
●
The first course meeting is this Friday,
and that meeting is open to everyone.
Elena Sierra
●
Interested? Apply online using (ACE Instructor)
this link.
●
The CS103 ACE materials are
available to everyone. You can pull
them up here.
 Problem Set 0
●
Your first assignment, Problem Set 0,
goes out today. It’s due Friday at 1:00PM
Pacific.
●
This assignment requires you to set up
your development environment and to
get set up on GradeScope and EdStem.
●
There’s no coding involved, but it’s good
to start early in case you encounter any
technical issues.
Recommended Reading
Grading

Assignments
Midterm 1
Midterm 2
Final Exam
Participation

Ten Problem Sets

Completed individually or
in pairs.
Grading

Assignments
Midterm 1
Midterm 2
Final Exam
Participation

First Midterm Exam

Monday, October 21st

7:00PM – 10:00PM
Grading

Assignments
Midterm 1
Midterm 2
Final Exam
Participation

Second Midterm Exam

Monday, November 11th

7:00PM – 10:00PM
Grading

Assignments
Midterm 1
Midterm 2
Final Exam
Participation

Final Exam

Wednesday, December 11th

3:30PM – 6:30PM
Grading

Assignments
Midterm 1
Midterm 2
Final Exam
Participation

Lecture Participation

Details on Monday of next

week!
 Approaching this Course
●
The material in this class is challenging, but you are well-
equipped to succeed.
●
Key recommendations:
●
Attend lecture in person. This ensures you stay current with the
concepts and gives time to digest the content.
●
Take notes by hand. Explaining concepts in your own words
improves learning and identifies questions to ask.
●
Ask questions! That’s what we’re here for. Feel free to ask in lecture,
after class, on EdStem, or in office hours.
●
Read the Guides. We post supplementary readings on the website in
the form of “Guides to X.” Those are the main readings for the course.
●
Focus on learning. Problem sets are worth much less than the
exams. Prioritize building skills over completion.
●
CS103 is more like building a rocket than learning a language:
there’s less frequent feedback you’ll need to review in more
depth.
We've got a big journey ahead of us.

Let's get started!

Introduction to Set Theory
 “CS103 students”

“Cool people”
“The chemical elements”

“Cute animals”
“US coins”
 , , ,
Set notation: Curly braces
with commas separating out
the elements

A set is an unordered collection of distinct

objects, which may be anything, including other
sets.
 =
, , , ,

These are two

descriptions of the
same set.

Two sets are equal when they have the same

contents, ignoring order.
 = , , ,
, ,
, ,

These are two

descriptions of the
same set.

Sets cannot contain duplicate elements.

Any repeated elements are ignored.
 ∈
, , ,
This symbol means “is
an element of.”

The objects that make up a set are called the

elements of that set.
 ∉
, , ,
This symbol means “is
not an element of.”

The objects that make up a set are called the

elements of that set.
 = Ø
The empty set We denote the
is the set with empty set using
no elements. this symbol.

Set

Sets can contain any number of elements.

 1 ≠ 1
This is a
number. 1
1
This is a set.
It contains a {1}
number.

Question: Are these objects equal?

 Ø ≠ Ø
This is the
empty set. Ø

This is a set
Ø with the empty {Ø}
set in it.

Question: Are these objects equal?

 x ≠ x
This is x
itself. x
x This is a box
that has x {x}
inside it.

No object x is equal to the set containing x.

 Infinite Sets
●
Some sets contain infinitely many elements!
●
The set ℕ = { 0, 1, 2, 3, …} is the set of all the
natural numbers.
●
Some mathematicians don't include zero; in this
class, assume that 0 is a natural number.
●
The set ℤ = { …, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, … } is the set of
all the integers.
●
Z is from German “Zahlen.”
●
The set ℝ is the set of all real numbers.
●
e ∈ ℝ, and 4 ∈ ℝ, and -137 ∈ ℝ,
 Describing Complex Sets
●
Here are some English descriptions of
infinite sets:
“The set of all even natural numbers.”
“The set of all real numbers less than 137.”
“The set of all Python programs.”
●
To describe complex sets like these
mathematically, we'll use set-builder
notation.
 Even Natural Numbers

{ n | n ∈ ℕ and n is even }

The set of all n

where
n is a natural
number

and n is even

{ 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, … }

 Set Builder Notation
●
A set may be specified in set-builder
notation:
{ x | some property x satisfies }
{ x ∈ S | some property x satisfies }
●
For example:
{ n | n ∈ ℕ and n is even }
{ C | C is a set of US coins }
{r∈ℝ|r<3}
{ n ∈ ℕ | n < 3 } (the set {0, 1, 2})
Combining Sets
 Venn Diagrams

1 4

3 A
2 5

A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

1 4

3 B
2 5

A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

1 4
Union
3 A∪B
2 5 { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }

A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

1 4
Intersection
3 A∩B
2 5 {3}
A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

1 4
Difference
3 A–B
2 5 { 1, 2 }
A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

1 4
Difference
3 A\B
2 5 { 1, 2 }
A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

1 4 Symmetric
Difference
3 AΔB
2 5 { 1, 2, 4, 5 }
A B

A = { 1, 2, 3 }
B = { 3, 4, 5 }
 Venn Diagrams

A B

AΔB
Subsets and Power Sets
 Subsets
●
A set S is called a subset of a set T
(denoted S ⊆ T) when all elements of S
are also elements of T.
●
Examples:
●
{ 1, 2, 3 } ⊆ { 1, 2, 3, 4 }
●
{ b, c } ⊆ { a, b, c, d }
●
{ H, He, Li } ⊆ { H, He, Li }
●
ℕ ⊆ ℤ (every natural number is an integer)
●
ℤ ⊆ ℝ (every integer is a real number)
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

S = { 2, , {2}, , }
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

General intuition:
x ∈ S means you
can point at x {2} ∈ S
inside of S.
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

{ , 2} ⊆ S
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

{ , 2} ∉ S
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

{ 2 }∈ S
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

General intuition:
A ⊆ B if you can
form A by circling
elements of B. { 2 }⊆ S
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

(Since 2

2 ⊆S isn't a set.)
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

Ø ⊆ S
 Subsets and Elements
Set S

{2}
2

Ø ∉ S
 Subsets and Elements
●
We say that S ∈ T when, among the elements of T,
one of them is exactly the object S.
●
We say that S ⊆ T when S is a set and every
element of S is also an element of T. (S has to be a
set for the statement S ⊆ T to be true.)
●
Although these concepts are similar, they are not
the same! Not all elements of a set are subsets of
that set and vice-versa.
●
We have a resource on the course website, the
Guide to Elements and Subsets, that explores this
in more depth.
 S= ,

℘(S) =
Ø, , , ,
This is the power set of S, the set of
all subsets of S. We write the power
set of S as ℘(S).
Formally, ℘(S) = { T | T ⊆ S }.
(Do you see why?)
 What is ℘(Ø)?

Answer: {Ø}

Remember that Ø ≠ {Ø}!

Cardinality
 Cardinality
●
The cardinality of a set is the number of
elements it contains.
●
If S is a set, we denote its cardinality as |S|.
●
Examples:
●
|{whimsy, mirth}| = 2
●
|{{a, b}, {c, d, e, f, g}, {h}}| = 3
●
|{1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3}| = 3
●
|{ n ∈ ℕ | n < 4 }| = |{0, 1, 2, 3}| = 4
●
|Ø|=0
●
| {Ø} | = 1
 The Cardinality of ℕ
●
What is |ℕ|?
●
There are infinitely many natural numbers.
●
|ℕ| can't be a natural number, since it's
infinitely large.
●
We need to introduce a new term.
●
Let's define ℵ₀ = |ℕ|.
●
ℵ₀ is pronounced “aleph-zero,” “aleph-
nought,” or “aleph-null.”
●
Question: Why don’t we say |ℕ| = ∞?
Astonishing Fact: Not all infinite sets
have the same cardinality. Some infinite
sets are bigger than others!

More Astonishing Fact: This has

practical consequences!
What does it mean for one set to
be “bigger” than another?
How Big Are These Sets?

, , ,

, , ,
 Comparing Cardinalities
●
If S and T are sets, we say that |S| = |T|
when there is a way of pairing off the
elements of S and T without leaving
anything uncovered.

, , ,
, , ,
 Comparing Cardinalities
●
If S and T are sets, we say |S| < |T| when,
no matter how you pair off the elements
of S and T, there’s always at least one
element of T left uncovered.

, ,
, , ,
 Infinite Cardinalities

ℕ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ...

ℤ 0 -1 1 -2 2 -3 3 -4 4 ...

|ℕ| = |ℤ| = ℵ0

Pair nonnegative integers with even natural numbers.

Pair negative integers with odd natural numbers.
A Beautiful Result: Cantor’s Theorem
Cantor’s Theorem: If S is a set, then |S| < |℘(S)|.

Stated differently: no matter how you pair off the

elements of a set S with the subsets of S, there is
always some subset of S left uncovered.
x₀ x₀, x₂, x₄, …
x₁ x₃, x₅, …
x₂ x₀, x₁, x₂, x₅, …
x₃ x₁, x₄, …
x₄ x₂, …
x₅ x₀, x₄, x₅, …
… …
 x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ …
x₀ x₀, x₂, x₄, …
x₁ x₃, x₅, …
x₂ x₀, x₂, x₅, …
x₃ x₁, x₄, …
x₄ x₂, …
x₅ x₀, x₄, x₅, …
… … … … … … … …
 x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ …
x₀ x₀, x₂, x₄, …
x₁ x₃, x₅, …
x₂ x₀, x₂, x₅, …
x₃ x₁, x₄, …
x₄ x₂, …
Which element is
x₅ x₀, x₄, x₅, …
paired with this
… … … … … … … … set?

x₀, x₂, x₅, …

 x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ …
x₀ x₀, x₂, x₄, …
x₁ x₃, x₅, …
x₂ x₀, x₂, x₅, …
x₃ x₁, x₄, …
“Flip” this set.
x₄ x₂, …
Swap what’s
x₅ x₀, x₄, x₅, … included and
what’s excluded.
… … … … … … … …

x₀, x₁, x₂, x₃, x₄, x₅, …

 x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ …
x₀ x₀, x₂, x₄, …
x₁ x₃, x₅, …
x₂ x₀, x₂, x₅, …
x₃ x₁, x₄, …
Which element is
x₄ x₂, …
paired with this
x₅ x₀, x₄, x₅, … set?

… … … … … … … …
...

x₀, x₁, x₂, x₃, x₄, x₅, …

...
 …And Beyond!
●
By Cantor's Theorem:
|ℕ| < |℘(ℕ)|
|℘(ℕ)| < |℘(℘(ℕ))|
|℘(℘(ℕ))| < |℘(℘(℘(ℕ)))|
|℘(℘(℘(ℕ)))| < |℘(℘(℘(℘(ℕ))))|
…
●
Not all infinite sets have the same size!
●
There is no biggest infinity!
●
There are infinitely many infinities!
How does this have any
practical consequences?

What does this have to do

with computation?
“The set of all computer programs”

“The set of all problems to solve”

 Every computer program is a string.

So, the number of programs is at most the

number of strings.

From Cantor's Theorem, we know that there are

more sets of strings than strings.

There are at least as many problems as

there are sets of strings (see appendix!).

|Programs| ≤ |Strings| < |℘(Strings)| ≤ |Problems|

 There are more problems to
solve than there are programs
to solve them.

|Programs| < |Problems|

 It Gets Worse
●
Using more advanced set theory, we can
show that there are infinitely more
problems than solutions.
●
In fact, if you pick a totally random
problem, the probability that you can
solve it is zero.
●
More troubling fact: We've just shown
that some problems are impossible to
solve with computers, but we don't know
which problems those are!
We need to develop a more nuanced
understanding of computation.
 Where We're Going
●
What makes a problem impossible to solve
with computers?
●
Is there a deep reason why certain problems can't be
solved with computers, or is it completely arbitrary?
●
How do you know when you're looking at an
impossible problem?
●
Are these real-world problems, or are they highly
contrived?
●
How do we know that we're right?
●
How can we back up our pictures with rigorous
proofs?
●
How do we build a mathematical framework for
studying computation?
 Next Time
●
Mathematical Proof
●
What is a mathematical proof?
●
How can we prove things with certainty?
Appendix: Stringy Thingies
 Strings and Programs
●
The source code of a computer program is just a
(long, structured, well-commented) string of text.
●
All programs are strings, but not all strings are
necessarily programs.

All possible All possible

programs strings

|Programs| ≤ |Strings|
 Strings and Problems
●
There is a connection between the number
of sets of strings and the number of
problems to solve.
●
Let S be any set of strings. This set S gives
rise to a problem to solve:
Given a string w, determine whether w ∈ S.
 Strings and Problems
Given a string w, determine whether w ∈ S.
●
Suppose that S is the set
S = { "a", "b", "c", …, "z" }
●
From this set S, we get this problem:
Given a string w, determine whether
w is a single lower-case English letter.
 Strings and Problems
Given a string w, determine whether w ∈ S.
●
Suppose that S is the set
S = { "0", "1", "2", …, "9", "10", "11", ... }
●
From this set S, we get this problem:
Given a string w, determine whether
w represents a natural number.
 Strings and Problems
Given a string w, determine whether w ∈ S.
●
Suppose that S is the set
S = { p | p is a legal C++ program }
●
From this set S, we get this problem:
Given a string w, determine whether
w is a legal C++ program.
 Strings and Problems
●
Every set of strings gives rise to a unique
problem to solve.
●
Other problems exist as well.

Problems All possible

formed from
sets of strings
problems

|℘(Strings)| ≤ |Problems|