(Now presented in reverse chronological order according to the week in which they were assigned.)
Extra Credit: Here is a set of twelve problems that is designed to help you succeed on the final exam scheduled for next Monday, December 12, 2011. One extra credit point will be added to your final exam score for each correct and thoroughly explained solution that you turn in before you begin your fina exam on Monday. You can earn up to 12 extra credit points! You will also be able to earn extra credit on the final exam by restoring your Rubik’s cube within 5 minutes.
Extra Credit: Here is a set of fifteen problems that is designed to help you succeed on the midterm exam scheduled for this coming Friday, November 18, 2011. One extra credit point will be added to your midterm exam score for each correct and thoroughly explained solution that you turn in before you begin your midterm exam on Friday. You can earn up to 15 extra credit points!
Homework 6: Find every solution to the Missionaries and Cannibals river crossing puzzle that was introduced in class on Hallowe’en. Assume that each missionary is indistinguishable from the other missionaries, and each cannibal is indistinguishable from the other cannibals. Include an annotated graph of the state space and a one-paragraph description of the solutions. Due in class on Monday, Nov. 7, 2011. The solution to the puzzle can now be found here.
Homework 5: Please reread the short story “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Borges, which presents a literary perspective on mazes. Here for example, you will find literary references to the wall-following algorithm and recursion. Then, after reflecting on the story, please complete one of the following options:
“Recreate” the first two pages that are missing from Dr. Yu Tsun’s confession. Your recreation should be two to three pages in length using a 10 point font with double line spacing. The challenge here is to match as closely as possible the author’s style and genius, and to refer to a topic that we have covered in CS 32. Ideally your contribution will integrate well with the rest of the story in content and style. It should read naturally; that is it should convey the same sense of realism with the same narrative voice. It should also be consistent historically and geographically with the original story. Although only two pages are required, you should invest a lot of thought in your narrative. For example, why are the first two pages of the story, the ones that you are trying to recreate, missing?
Write a four to six page essay, using a 10 point font with double line spacing, that analyzes how puzzles and/or algorithms are employed in Borges’s story. As your write your essay, please adhere to the Essay Style Guidelines for CS 32.
I have included some marginal notes to help you understand some (but certainly not all) of the obscurities in the story. You should feel free to consult with the UVM Writing Center if you need help. Which ever option you select, your paper is due in class on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
Extra Credit: Here is a set of twenty problems that is designed to help you succeed on the midterm exam scheduled for this coming Friday, October 14, 2011. One extra credit point will be added to your midterm exam score for each correct and thoroughly explained solution that you turn in before you begin your midterm exam on Friday. You can earn up to 20 extra credit points!
Alternate Field Trip: For those of you who missed the field trip on Saturday, October 8, here is an alternate assignment. Please visit the South Burlington Community Labyrinth, take a digital (e.g., cell phone) photograph of yourself there, and write a two page essay that reflects on your experience, and puts this labyrinth into a cultural and historical context. To help you with the latter, I have placed three books on reserve in the Bailey-Howe library. Please refer to at least one of these (with a bibliographically correct citation) in your paper. (You can either email your photograph to me, or attach it to your paper as an extra page.) Due: Monday, October 31, 2011. (Students who attended the field trip can also complete this assignment for extra credit.)
Homework 4: Please complete the exercises related to the Königsberg bridge puzzle at the end of the handout by Monday, October 10, 2011. Solutions.
Reading: Please also read the short story “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges, by Monday, October 10, 2011.
Homework 3: Please complete the eight exercises on the second page of the multiplication principle handout by Monday, September 26, 2011. Solutions.
HW 2: A lipogram is a manuscript that omits words that contain a particular symbol or a particular group of symbols. Your task is to draft and mail a lipogram to your family, or to a pal, which omits our fifth and most common symbol, that which follows d, and is in front of f. Your communication should contain 300 words, and should discuss a fun occasion on campus, possibly in your dorm, or in a class, and clarify why it was fun. (Think about Huizinga, Caillois, and our discussion in CS 32 last Friday, 9/9/2011.) Your writing should scan naturally. Your lipogram may contain acronyms such as “USA” and “UVM”, but you should avoid faulty grammar, bad punctuation, obfuscations, and word malformations. By Monday, 9/19/2011 you should mail your original lipogram to your Mom, Dad, sibling, cousin, or compatriot, and submit a copy to your instructor. Thus, you should not discuss any information that you would not want your instructor to know. (If you wish, you may transmit your lipogram using a mail program on your Macintosh or PC, as long as you mail a carbon copy to your instructor. You may put symbols that follow d in your “To:,” “From:,” and “CC:” locations. (You should not find this task difficult, as this short paragraph that proclaims your task without committing any taboos, by not including our fifth symbol that trails d, has upwards of 200 words.)
By Friday, 9/16/11, please read
Chapter 1 of Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens. (Warning: many students find this text to be dry, so read it between many sips of water. There are actually some profound insights here concerning anthropology and the human condition.)
Chapters 1 & 2 of Roger Callois’s Man, Play, and Games. Note in particular his classification of games in Chapter 2.