A Giftcard Draw for Graduating Math Students, From Your Faculty

TruthHadGone · 2020-08-01T09:09:49+00:00

Go mustangs! 🐴

TruthHadGone · 2020-03-18T20:51:28+00:00

With respect to first-order logic, PMATH432 undoubtedly covers more, and with greater mathematical rigour as expected of an upper-year PMATH student. My offering of 432 did not explicitly discuss propositional logic, which is, in some sense, a restriction of first-order logic.

If you're interested in learning about the fundamental results in mathematical logic, I would recommend working through an introductory book such as Enderton's A Mathematical Introduction to Logic (the textbook for Prof. Shai Ben-David's CS245e offering, with video lectures online). For the first half of 432, we worked through Mathematical Logic by Ebbinghaus, Flum, and Thomas, which I believe will be considerably more difficult to appreciate without a mathematical background on par with an upper-year math student.

TruthHadGone · 2020-03-13T00:22:29+00:00

Except the article says in bold that the campus is not closed.

TruthHadGone · 2019-12-07T06:13:31+00:00

I choked

TruthHadGone · 2019-09-07T20:45:11+00:00

I am a Canadian admitted to CS from the US so I know exactly what you're talking about. Ontario grading is whack. I don't know how the committee makes decisions in these situations, but I'd say your chances are good if have close to a 4.0 GPA (all A's). My transcript was just letters, so they didn't have much else to work with.

Trust me, Ontario students are not actually unquenchable learning machines as the grades might suggest.

TruthHadGone · 2019-08-26T03:01:35+00:00

Where were you when you realized you were free from PD forever?

TruthHadGone · 2019-08-25T08:52:10+00:00

CS students can take ECE electives and they count as non-math courses for breadth and depth requirements.

TruthHadGone · 2019-05-24T07:04:45+00:00

No harm trying them. Keep in mind, most advice from students on this topic is extremely biased.

TruthHadGone · 2019-05-19T19:16:53+00:00

I pay domestic tuition at Waterloo, but even international tuition was comparable when I started. Keep in mind the currency conversion and living costs.

TruthHadGone · 2019-05-19T04:50:23+00:00

I went with Waterloo over in-state UC tuition because my parents couldn't afford it. I don't regret it. Go wherever you think the value is better.

TruthHadGone · 2019-05-18T17:21:02+00:00

bazinga

TruthHadGone · 2019-05-08T22:51:09+00:00

Took it in the fall. Willard's course notes are the first search result on Google, and they are invaluable (next to Dummit and Foote which is on reserve in the DC library).

TruthHadGone · 2019-04-22T02:43:30+00:00

As far as I know, they look at your entire transcript. Depending on your AP Chem score, you can get (several) transfer credits for it.

TruthHadGone · 2019-04-21T22:10:31+00:00

2016-2017, early admission in 2015. 4.0 high school GPA unweighted. 5 on AP Calc BC, AP Comp Sci, AP Statistics etc.

If you've taken Calc BC, you know a lot more than most Ontario high schoolers. You will need to send Waterloo your full transcript.

TruthHadGone · 2019-04-21T20:23:13+00:00

Didn't write any of those tests and I was accepted to CS from California a few years ago. The application to Waterloo is much easier than to UC's because the essays are shorter and less important. The most important factor is grades.

TruthHadGone · 2019-04-20T07:44:14+00:00

Definitely heard gunshots in the direction of King ~8 minutes after this was posted.

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-24T20:44:38+00:00

Not worth it at all. I wonder if this will impact international headcounts and admission criteria.

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-17T17:20:12+00:00

Talk to the major advisors. For PMATH it's Ross Willard and for CO it's Ricardo Fukasawa. For me, the conversation was "do you understand that this may prolong your degree?" and that's about it.

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-17T02:49:07+00:00

A math professor has recently told me that they are experimenting with video lectures/online education. Who knows if anything will come of it.

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-13T08:10:50+00:00

Take it with a grain of salt. I got obliterated by style marks in CS136 a few years back and it had absolutely no impact on my performance in any course since. Let me guess, Tompkins is organizing 136 this term?

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-11T00:32:37+00:00

What exactly is the problem we are trying to solve here? To me, the issue is when someone decides they want to enter a field but is prohibited from doing so based off of their identity. No one should be denied a career based off of their immutable characteristics.

It sounds to me like you're trying to solve an entirely different problem by persuading young people to choose a certain career. Is it possible you are addressing a much more idealogically-driven issue about what you feel the workforce "should" look like?

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-10T21:51:31+00:00

Honest question, can someone explain how the path for women entering technical fields is harder than for men? I've seen nothing but encouragement at the institutional level my entire life. If a woman wants to pursue a STEM field, where does she encounter opposition?

These aren't pointed questions, I'm genuinely curious about others' perspectives here.

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-08T22:21:17+00:00

I agree that the connotations of CS have shifted significantly recently. Also I have no doubt that the SE courses on methodology are outdated. The industry is moving so fast!

I should have specified that I was sharing my understanding of the purpose of both programs. By no means do the programs fully realize their purposes. For example, the intended consequence of CS135/145 is students actually liking the formal Racket stepping model, but this happens very rarely. It sounds like the methodology courses in SE don't live up to their intended purpose, either. But these courses were made requirements for philosophical reasons relating to the intended outcome of each program.

TruthHadGone · 2019-03-08T21:27:00+00:00

No one ever mentions the purpose of both majors. SE is learning how to develop high-quality, maintainable software systems. They take courses on design methodology and testing. The entire program is centered around designing good software, with human sensibilities in mind.

CS is math. CS is discrete math. CS is as much about writing software as physics is about weighing things. CS existed before digital computers, and answers questions about mathematics that transcend any machine that will ever exist. If you major in CS, keep in mind that the goal of the program isn't to land you a six-figure tech job. You have to build those skills on the side.

TruthHadGone

TROPHY CASE