COM SCI 170A
Mathematical Modeling and Methods for Computer Science
Description: Lecture, four hours; laboratory, two hours; outside study, six hours. Enforced requisites: course 180, Mathematics 33B. Introduction to methods for modeling and simulation using interactive computing environments. Extensive coverage of methods for numeric and symbolic computation, matrix algebra, statistics, floating point, optimization, and spectral analysis. Emphasis on applications in simulation of physical systems. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
The other post make it clear that this professor is crazily ridiculous and no good at teaching. I am going to tell something you didn't know already. Lecture: Slide-based (obviously, you want to see pretty picture rather some badly hand-draw). You should go to lecture if you want to remember the slide. Also maybe it is just me, the slide change; so he post the initial slide on courseweb. Then I redownload it, the slides change (more slide added). I cannot just print out the slide one time because it sometimes edit. This class is heavily math. Project: 1 = easy You should try your best doing project 2, because there will a popularity "contest", the prize is a future letter of recommendation by the professor if you want to go to graphic field or graduate school. 3 = "hardest". I don't know why, because this is the easiest for me ever. As said on other post, there are always 30+ experienced programmer, don't expect any curved. Also, you need to know the following class policy: *Important* To pass the course you must complete successfully 40% of the assignments at minimum. In other words, your assignments must contribute at minimum 18% towards your final grade. Most people will fail on project 3 if they are not experienced programmer. Textbook: Edward Angel, Interactive Computer Graphics, Fifth Edition, Addison Wesley, 2009. is the worst book ever. It might get you to start OpenGL if you don't know how to use openGL, but I think the professor heavily base his lecture on this optional book Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, 2nd ed. in C, Addison Wesley, 1990. It is better to buy this optional text. TA: Shawn is the best TA you get for this class. He will help you on project 3 as much as he can, but he will not tells you what to program. Exam: midterm = practice midterm up to 80% final = questions people miss on midterm + practice final + few other slide questions In this quarter, the professor tells Shawn not to give out any answer for the final practice. Shawn tells the class that, I don't think he knows, in exact word, "in the past, the final does not look like practice final as the midterm to the practice midterm". If you look at this scheme, if you don't do well on the midterm, you cannot get A, because for people who did well on the midterm, the "questions most people miss on midterm" on the final will look like extra credit; unless by some chance, lightning strikes and they have a amnesia. So the battle is either won or lost when you do the midterm; because there are hardly any curve.
The other post make it clear that this professor is crazily ridiculous and no good at teaching. I am going to tell something you didn't know already. Lecture: Slide-based (obviously, you want to see pretty picture rather some badly hand-draw). You should go to lecture if you want to remember the slide. Also maybe it is just me, the slide change; so he post the initial slide on courseweb. Then I redownload it, the slides change (more slide added). I cannot just print out the slide one time because it sometimes edit. This class is heavily math. Project: 1 = easy You should try your best doing project 2, because there will a popularity "contest", the prize is a future letter of recommendation by the professor if you want to go to graphic field or graduate school. 3 = "hardest". I don't know why, because this is the easiest for me ever. As said on other post, there are always 30+ experienced programmer, don't expect any curved. Also, you need to know the following class policy: *Important* To pass the course you must complete successfully 40% of the assignments at minimum. In other words, your assignments must contribute at minimum 18% towards your final grade. Most people will fail on project 3 if they are not experienced programmer. Textbook: Edward Angel, Interactive Computer Graphics, Fifth Edition, Addison Wesley, 2009. is the worst book ever. It might get you to start OpenGL if you don't know how to use openGL, but I think the professor heavily base his lecture on this optional book Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, 2nd ed. in C, Addison Wesley, 1990. It is better to buy this optional text. TA: Shawn is the best TA you get for this class. He will help you on project 3 as much as he can, but he will not tells you what to program. Exam: midterm = practice midterm up to 80% final = questions people miss on midterm + practice final + few other slide questions In this quarter, the professor tells Shawn not to give out any answer for the final practice. Shawn tells the class that, I don't think he knows, in exact word, "in the past, the final does not look like practice final as the midterm to the practice midterm". If you look at this scheme, if you don't do well on the midterm, you cannot get A, because for people who did well on the midterm, the "questions most people miss on midterm" on the final will look like extra credit; unless by some chance, lightning strikes and they have a amnesia. So the battle is either won or lost when you do the midterm; because there are hardly any curve.
Most Helpful Review
I took cs 170a with Parker last quarter and he was truly a nice guy. Postponed the hw due dates when we had conflicts and seemed genuinely concerned with our learning of the material. He was not that great of a lecturer and I don't think anyone really understood the material that deeply. However, he grade EXTREMELY generously. I honestly had no idea what was going on in the quarter and just bs-ed my way through and ended up with a B+. I would recommend Parker for an easy class
I took cs 170a with Parker last quarter and he was truly a nice guy. Postponed the hw due dates when we had conflicts and seemed genuinely concerned with our learning of the material. He was not that great of a lecturer and I don't think anyone really understood the material that deeply. However, he grade EXTREMELY generously. I honestly had no idea what was going on in the quarter and just bs-ed my way through and ended up with a B+. I would recommend Parker for an easy class
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