
Mathematics for computer science (Fall 2010, MIT) - signa11
http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/fall10/mcs-ftl.pdf
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borski
Having taken this class, it is billed as a breadth-first introduction to a ton
of topics in mathematics. It is not meant to go into any of them in depth, but
to give you a taste of many different topics in one short semester. We were
told to consider it a wine tasting, not a night out at a bar. This is one of
the first classes a CS major at MIT is expected to take.

To that end, I think it more than fulfills its goals. I certainly learned a
lot, even if some of it I already knew; and I went on to take more in depth
classes on the few topics I really was interested in, which was exactly what
the course was intended for.

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logicalmind
_The symbol N stands for the set of nonnegative integers, namely, 0, 1, 2, 3,
. . . (ask your instructor for the complete list)._

Ah, math humor ;-)

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Tomek_
Shame that chapter about State Machines is not there (yet?), but a great stuff
nonetheless, wish my studies were so "to-the-point".

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cbernini
Thanks for sharing that. Justtook a quick look at it for now, but it really
seems to be a great document (at least in my case, who end up studying alone).

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hga
Here are the three versions of this course at OpenCourseWare:

[http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-
comput...](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-
science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-sma-5512-fall-2002)

[http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-
comput...](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-
science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-spring-2005)

[http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-
comput...](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-
science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-fall-2005)

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rick_2047
Any such thing available for electrical majors, you know something that would
at least cover the things like complex algebra and equations? Or things that
would be required by electronics engineers?

Sorry if the question sounds so naive, but can't help it (various reasons).

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HilbertSpace
It's junk, badly watered down, silly, and shows how really bad computer
science is at mathematics, even the mathematics they might need.

Stay far away.

It has some logic: When I was a math grad student, I taught about the same in
a course 'Mathematics for Elementary Education Majors'. Anyone who has done
much in proofs already knows this stuff.

It has some watered down versions of some topics commonly taught in a college
course in 'abstract algebra' or a 100 year old course in 'Theory of
Equations', but take a real course in abstract algebra instead.

It tries to do some probability theory, but this effort is the worst: Not even
a junior level high school course should do probability so poorly.

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daveed
If you're a math grad student, this book probably does not apply to you.
Students who are interested in learning the basics of mathematics for computer
science will not be looking to learn about abstract algebra, or, as your
handle suggests, Hilbert Space and other higher maths. If they want to learn
more, there are other courses geared for taking them. However, you must
understand that many of the students in the class have never even gotten their
feet wet: never taken an analysis or algebra or a beginning combinatorics
class. Many of them will not go on to be math majors and mathematicians. But I
do believe that the skills that they learn from this course and textbook are
useful in their subsequent courses: their introductions to algorithms and
their introductions to AI. You seem to be very knowledgeable in mathematics,
but your level is not what everybody wants, and certainly not what they need.

~~~
VladRussian
I'm with HilbertSpace here. "Mathematics is a language of science" was said by
a great one. A thin tourist-level english-spanish (russian-chinese, ...etc )
phrasebook is good only to make sure that fish is ordered instead of chicken
when fish is what one does want.

