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Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

jeffe.cs.illinois.edu

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Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#21

Post by ryanmonroe »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #8
_underflow_ wrote: post #3

> Please do not ask me for solutions to the exercises. Even if you are [an] instructor, I will say no. That's kind of a bummer. I like to be able to check my answers when teaching myself things. Am I somehow alone in that?

I have seen many people voice that complain. Personally I rarely had issues verifying a solution once I have worked through a problem. What happens much more frequently, is that I get stuck somewhere, and get tempted to look at a solution if one is provided, which in turn nullifies the achievement. In this sense, not having solutions, makes it easier for me to plough through.

If you prefer not to have solutions, pretend you don't have solutions. Having solutions is strictly better (for the reader. I'm ignoring the cost of producing them to begin with)

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#22

Post by a_bonobo »

yoler wrote: post #9

Isn’t this the guy that is famous for being admitted to a PhD program with an exceptionally low GPA? If so, why is he the exception and why aren’t more PhD programs looking for non-traditional talent? Edit: I read his blog post. It gave me more insight. It looks possible for people with those sort of grades to be admitted even today, but they seem to need a cheerleader on the inside that will help them.

There was a small study that came out recently on biorxiv, with 29 PhD students with GREs all over the place -

>GRE scores, while collected at admission, were not used or consulted for admissions decisions and comprise the full range of percentiles from 1% to 91%. We report on the 29 students recruited to the Vanderbilt IMSD from 2007-2011 who have completed the program as of summer 2017. While the data set is not large, the predictive trends between GRE and long-term graduate outcomes (publications, first author publications, time to degree, predoctoral fellowship awards, and faculty evaluations) are remarkably null and there is sufficient precision to rule out even mild relationships between GRE and these outcomes. Career outcomes are encouraging; many students are in postdocs, and the rest are in stage-appropriate career environments for such a cohort, including tenure track faculty, biotech and entrepreneurship careers.

Now a GRE isn't a GPA (one's a specific test, one is your grades' average), but both are being used for university admissions, and I reckon both are not good predictors.

Edit: Link: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/20/373225

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#25

Post by davidgrenier »

yoler wrote: post #9

Isn’t this the guy that is famous for being admitted to a PhD program with an exceptionally low GPA? If so, why is he the exception and why aren’t more PhD programs looking for non-traditional talent? Edit: I read his blog post. It gave me more insight. It looks possible for people with those sort of grades to be admitted even today, but they seem to need a cheerleader on the inside that will help them.

I graduated with a Comp.Sci bachelor with a similar GPA. Spent around 10 years as a programmer in the industry and came back to get into the masters program. I was almost laughed off (a good thing) stating I would have to do another bachelor.

Sold my house, got rid of all my stuff and enrolled in pure math bachelor's. Best decision of my life.

I though that in my mid 30s with a lot more discipline, being able to work longer and harder would've made up for the shit grades. I'm extremely thankful to the department head for waving me off like that because it would've been a disaster.

Clearly Jeff could handle himself, however I think one must really know what they're doing. I thought I'd end up doing the 3-year math program in 2... it'll turn out to be 3.5 with good grades this time around. After that I know I'll be very solid for master/phd programs.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#26

Post by freecodyx »

divs1210 wrote: post #15
alsadi wrote: post #4

The logo on the right is the arabic letters of the word Algorithmi (al-Khwarizmi) the persian muslim scholar after him algorithms and logarithms were named

that is beautiful! thanks for pointing it out! is it readable for people who can read Arabic?

Yes, it is readable, it's called kuffi,

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#27

Post by Link- »

divs1210 wrote: post #15
alsadi wrote: post #4

The logo on the right is the arabic letters of the word Algorithmi (al-Khwarizmi) the persian muslim scholar after him algorithms and logarithms were named

that is beautiful! thanks for pointing it out! is it readable for people who can read Arabic?

It still takes a few seconds to identify the word since this is not how Arabic is usually written but yes the word "Al-Khawarizmi" is legible.

In fact, the logo contains text both in black and navy blue, the navy blue part is "Al-Khawarizmi" or in Arabic "الخوارزمي". Then the navy blue script is rotated at 90 degrees 3 additional times.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#28

Post by nf05papsjfVbc »

ryanmonroe wrote: post #21
heinrichhartman wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen many people voice that complain. Personally I rarely had issues verifying a solution once I have worked through a problem. What happens much more frequently, is that I get stuck somewhere, and get tempted to look at a solution if one is provided, which in turn nullifies the achievement. In this sense, not having solutions, makes it easier for me to plough through.

If you prefer not to have solutions, pretend you don't have solutions. Having solutions is strictly better (for the reader. I'm ignoring the cost of producing them to begin with)

"pretend you don't have solutions" is not a realistic approach. The strength of people's conviction to this will probably fall on a bell curve and few can resist the temptation when the problems get really tough. Accounting for how humans are, I do not see how one can easily say "Having solutions is strictly better". I can easily think of cases where it is indeed better to have solutions but to say "strictly" requires a bit more diligence.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#29

Post by nameless912 »

Jeff's CS 374 was one of my favorite classes at U of I. It really opened up my mind to thinking about Computer Science as a branch of mathematics, and completely changed how I approach my work today.

The book form of these lectures was in EARLY rough draft when I took the class though-we were proofing chapters for him!

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#30

Post by atombender »

dhimes wrote: post #18
alsadi wrote: post #4

The logo on the right is the arabic letters of the word Algorithmi (al-Khwarizmi) the persian muslim scholar after him algorithms and logarithms were named

Logo on the right of what? All I see is a geometric design in the middle of the cover. It doesn't look Arabic and it seems like it would be very cumbersome for someone to sign as a name.

From another comment: http://www.kufic.info
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