Course syllabus

This page gives a basic overview of CS120 for Semester 1 2021. All course material is in Modules.

Course Overview	Digital Course Outline	Staff
Class Representatives	Meeting Times	Course Resources
Assessments	Course Expectations	Getting Started

 

Course Overview

COMPSCI 120 introduces the basic mathematical tools and methods needed for computer science. In this course, we will develop the elementary mathematical skills needed to define, analyze and reason with the sorts of abstract concepts used in programming and computer science. Topics covered in this class include integer arithmetic, sets, methods of proof (including induction), algorithmic analysis, graph theory, trees, counting, and probability.

Digital Course Outline

A full overview of the course is provided in the Digital Course Outline

Staff

Teaching staff

1. Course Coordinator and Lecturer (11 am stream, weeks 1-12):

Tanya Gvozdeva, room 303-415  t.gvozdeva@auckland.ac.nz

 Online office  hours:

21 June 10am -1 pm

24 June 1pm-2pm

Join Zoom Meeting
https://auckland.zoom.us/j/3554909156

Meeting ID: 355 490 9156

 

 

In person office hours: 

25 June 10am-1pm 

 

2. Lecturer (3 pm stream, weeks 1-6):

Sudeep Stephen, room 303.211, Sudeep.stephen@auckland.ac.nz

Office hours: Monday and Tuesday 2-3 pm

Join Zoom Meeting
https://auckland.zoom.us/j/99386660355

3. Lecturer (3 pm stream, weeks 7-12):

Tomasz Popiel, room 303.229B, tomasz.popiel@auckland.ac.nz

Office hours: June 15 and 16, 2:30-4pm

To join office hours via Zoom: https://auckland.zoom.us/j/7093525342

 

ONLINE TUTORIALS for off-shore students:

International students who are not in New Zealand and local students who were given permission to attend the course online should attend online tutorials. There are two tutorials designed specifically for you. Both are on Wednesday: one is 3pm-4.30pm and the other one is 4-5.30. They will stay online even after we return to Campus. I put a cap of 33 people on each tutorial. 

Below you can find the list of tutorials along with tutor's names. You need to find your tutorial and then use the link provided by your tutor.

 

  

 

ZOOM LINKS:

Sudeep and Tomasz:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://auckland.zoom.us/j/91506938930?pwd=MDFFWTNENjdDY0RhYjV2V2VjaDVYQT09

 

Meeting ID: 915 0693 8930

Passcode: 451310

 

 

Songbao:

 

Class Representatives

Class reps can act as an intermediary between students in the class and the lecturers and tutors. You can share with them any suggestions/complaints/remarks about the lectures. The class reps are not a part of the teaching team.

• Joe Wuthrich, jwut779@aucklanduni.ac.nz ( 3 PM Stream)
• Bryn Ward-Leikis, bwar780@aucklanduni.ac.nz ( 3 PM Stream)

• James Liu, jliu613@aucklanduni.ac.nz  (11 am stream)

•  

  Kevin Liang, klia447@aucklanduni.ac.nz   (11 am stream)

Meeting times

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Stream 1	11 am-12 pm MLT1/303-G23	11 am-12 pm MLT1/303-G23	11 am-12 pm MLT1/303-G23
Stream 2	3-4 pm MLT1/303-G23	3-4 pm MLT1/303-G23	3-4 pm MLT1/303-G23

 

Check SSO for room times and tutorial locations

Course Resources and Getting Help

Piazza: Piazza is the main forum we will be using for asking and answering questions. In a large class like this it works well so you are encouraged to participate asking and answering questions there.

Coursebook and textbook: The course follows the coursebook closely. The coursebook is available to purchase for $10 for the Science Student Resource Centre and you are strongly encouraged to buy it. Both books are freely available for download - see Getting Started in Modules.

Assessments and Pass Requirements

Attempt all of the assessments, even if what you submit is incomplete!

• 4 assignments, worth 20%  (5% each)
• 10 tutorials, worth 9% (8 best tutorial grades are chosen, every tutorial is worth 2 marks)  
• Mid-semester test, worth 20% 
• Exam, worth 50%
• Diagnostic test 1%

Assignments: 

• Assignment 1 is due on   19 March 2020, 23.59pm
• Assignment 2 is due on  23 April 2020,  23.59pm
• Assignment 3 is due on 14 May 2020,  23.59pm
• Assignment 4 is due on 4 June 2020,  23.59pm
  

All assignments should be submitted through Canvas. You should submit via Canvas a single PDF file containing the answers to the questions. A scanned handwritten submission is acceptable if and only if it is very neatly written. If typing the assignment, do the best you can with mathematical symbols. For exponents, write something like 2^n if using plain text. Use LaTeX if you really want it to look good.

Tutorials:

Tutorials are weekly.  There is one 90 min tutorial each week that you are responsible for attending. Tutorials start in week 2 of the semester. The will be no tutorials in week 7 (the week before the test).

You must attend the tutorial that you signed up for on Student Services Online.   If you are unable to do so due to illness/family emergencies/other extenuating circumstances, email your course coordinator as soon as you can. 

Mid-Semester Test  -- Monday 3 May 2021, starts at 6.30.

The test is 60 min long plus a five minute reading period and covers all of the material from the first six weeks of class.  The test will contain 8 multi-choice questions and  1 free-response question. Check the assignment page and Canvas announcements for locations, times, and more information closer to the test date.

 

Exam:

The exam is two hours long and covers material from the whole course. The exact date of the exam is not available until around the middle of the semester.

 

Getting Started

The course material is arranged in Modules. First up, have a look at the Getting Started module.