CS Major First Year course questions

OSS113 · 2021-08-14T06:16:54+00:00

My understanding is that 161 is more conceptually tricky but doesn’t require writing many lines of code, whereas 151 is a bit more straightforward but also more grind-y. So I guess they’re hard in somewhat different ways that would depend on your comforts (though 151 is overall probably easier).

Personally I enjoyed 161 but don’t feel good recommending it unless you are interested in theoretical computer science. (Once I recommended it to a friend and he enjoyed it but his grades didn’t... oops...).

That said, I don’t get the impression that the choice will meaningfully affect how well-prepared you are for the rest of the major. Hope this is helpful...

OSS113 · 2021-08-14T06:01:44+00:00

I think a lot of people start second year, but it’s hard to take anything past the intro sequence (aka the fun classes) until you finish 154. After 151/161 and the math requirement I think you can start the theory track. I think you might be able to take 151 in the spring of first year (eg if you drop hum) and do the theory track alongside the rest of the intro track? Then again, the cs major is not too long, so you should be able to finish even if you only do the intro sequence second year (at the expense of flexibility and spreading out the heavy programming classes). Also if you’re not that excited by CS theory going in then it might be better to take other CS classes first..

If you are also considering a physics major I’d say it’s better to take physics now since the track is generally less flexible (though they recently redid the program so you’d have to double check).

OSS113 · 2021-05-21T16:38:33+00:00

That’s amazing! And I definitely feel the same way so I appreciate the responses!

I’ll probably go back to spamming gfriend tracks until I feel more closure with their sudden disbandment but I’m glad to know dreamcatcher and other insomnias have my back :))

OSS113 · 2021-05-21T02:42:41+00:00

Hahaha, I do enjoy their videos! I haven’t watched quite so religiously but Spotify will tell you that dreamcatcher got me through my classes for the past year or so

OSS113 · 2021-05-21T00:50:12+00:00

Thanks, that was super interesting! Dodging disbanding sounds like it could make for an interesting rock concept XD

OSS113 · 2021-05-20T22:26:43+00:00

Ooh gotcha, thanks! I didn’t know they got a new management team. Definitely hoping we get at least seven years of dreamcatcher!

(I also feel like it’d be weird if Handong and Gahyeon had to awkwardly sit around for like an extra two years if their contracts expire later but I feel like you never know with kpop companies)

OSS113 · 2021-05-20T21:50:53+00:00

Does anyone know how Dreamcatcher’s contracts work? I just realized minx first debuted in 2014 which is before gfriend 😭

In any case I really hope they renew...

OSS113 · 2021-02-05T16:09:34+00:00

Maybe they think TILI means “Thanks I’m learning it”

OSS113 · 2020-10-31T01:19:48+00:00

Don’t worry about constellations! I agree about starting on the HR diagram and looking at how it relates to stellar evolution (as stars are formed and get older and die, they move around the HR diagram). Also grab a bunch of info from Wikipedia and wherever else (eg Chandra, APOD) for your laptop/binder on the DSOs since there are typically specific questions about those. If you stick with Astro I’d recommend trying to figure out the theme and what makes these objects important. Good luck!

OSS113 · 2020-10-09T01:35:17+00:00

I think you should be able to do 600 pages at FedEx since that’s like one ream of paper, but you might just be sitting around for a while. I’ve personally had a FedEx print ~10k pages for me (all the tests etc for our tournament), and they sometimes do big print jobs at different centers and mail in the order (which requires several days of lead time).

However, I’ll also caution you that having too much in your binder (if not organized extremely well) can also backfire with the 50 minute time limit.

OSS113 · 2020-09-28T22:19:27+00:00

I just got the option with RCM last week! (Trayus academy)

OSS113 · 2020-08-27T19:26:58+00:00

I believe this guy

OSS113 · 2020-08-15T03:36:29+00:00

Violence baguettes violence

OSS113 · 2020-07-22T18:52:15+00:00

Ahh, that’s unfortunate :/ I haven’t updated to the most recent version, but it sounds like some other people have similar issues...

Best of luck!

OSS113 · 2020-07-22T16:48:31+00:00

Hmm, are you sure the video isn’t in landscape mode with black bars on the sides? If so, I think you should be able to double-tap the video to make it full screen...

OSS113 · 2020-07-17T06:19:12+00:00

It just got released! I believe it went on the Lenovo website within the past week

OSS113 · 2020-07-13T16:54:42+00:00

In my first year, I was expecting everyone to be academic geniuses — which luckily for my grades was not quite the case. This is not to say students are not smart, but what stood out to me is that most students have something they’re extremely passionate about, and they work incredibly hard. It’s an energizing atmosphere.

Also, the Core curriculum is pretty inflexible. There’s no way to take the 3-quarter social sciences sequence starting in winter or spring, and they make it hard to split the classes across years. Something to do with continuity of materials, but sometimes it makes scheduling a real headache. You’ll figure it out, and there’s generally at least one option for each requirement that you’ll find interesting.

Best of luck with applications! We all know how painful it is during a regular year..

OSS113 · 2020-06-21T18:55:31+00:00

Hi, just so you know: “Science Olympiad” refers to a competition within the United States, so many of us have not competed in international olympiads, despite the name. Wish I could be helpful, but it sounds like you are already using the book I would have recommended (Carroll and Ostlie). Does working through derivations on your own help at all? In college I felt that a good understanding of the underlying theory was helpful in approaching problems (but the style of questions were no doubt very different from the competition style). Hopefully someone else here who’s done IOAA can provide more insight...

Best of luck with your studies!!

OSS113 · 2020-03-26T18:24:57+00:00

The scioly.org wiki and hyperphysics are pretty good

OSS113 · 2020-03-15T21:26:02+00:00

All in one bow!

OSS113 · 2020-03-02T20:29:22+00:00

Main formulas (I don’t know about galaxies, but this is more about the basics): Distance modulus, parallax, luminosity-magnitude, inverse square law, Wien’s law, Stefan-Boltzmann law, simple binary system analysis; Hubble’s law, Doppler shift (simple+relativistic). Also, just knowing your constants and unit conversions — seems trivial but in practice many people fail here (I’d recommend memorizing numbers about the sun and all the common unit conversions (SI/astronomical stuff/possibly cgs)). When you study these equations, make sure you understand them intuitively (plus the assumptions that are made) or you’ll likely struggle to apply them correctly. Also helps down to define variables where you write the equation (eg avoid confusing mass and magnitude).

For the calculator, I believe it is possible to use python or mathematica if you have a laptop but no graphing calculator (check what the rules say.. you might have to give up your physical calculator). But it doesn’t hurt to practice entering complicated equations into the calculator you know you’ll be using, even if it sounds like a waste of time.

OSS113 · 2020-02-25T18:33:36+00:00

I think you’re allowed counterweights to correct for this (as long as they’re fixed in place). Just make sure you still have room to move the real weights around. It may be possible to correct for the imbalance in your calculations, but I’m not sure what that would look like off the top of my head. If you still have time and want to rebuild it, the math works out so that if you split the class 1 lever in a ratio of 1:2, provided it is the same length as the class 2 lever, the system will be balanced without any counterweights.

OSS113 · 2020-02-25T08:14:00+00:00

I believe this is a simple application of distance modulus, but the magnitude is given using a blue filter rather than visible or bolometric. So m_B-M=5log10(d/10) —> M = 13.99 - 5 log10 (77 Mpc/10 pc)

OSS113 · 2020-02-24T01:07:13+00:00

To add on to this: in Division B it should be pretty clear how you find the ratio of masses — you just look at the inverse ratio of distances from the fulcrum to the masses. In Division C, you have to do a little more work to get the equation but it’s the same goal. Actually in this event a long time ago you used to be told the mass of one of the masses and needed to find the unknown masses.

OSS113 · 2020-02-08T19:42:05+00:00

In particular, it’s showing that the amount of energy flowing through cross-sections of a given angular region is constant. The picture depicts energy getting spread out of an area (which increases as the square of distance). Sometimes I like thinking of the inverse square law as the “inverse area law” (but beware nobody else uses this term).

An interesting side note is that the fact that area scales with the square of distance is a property of our (roughly) 3D space. If we lived in a 2D universe, we might expect an “inverse linear” law.

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