Welcome to 191CICS1: Computer Science Brain Teasers. In this class, you will be presented well-known brain teasers in Computer Science and come up with solutions to them during discussion. Then we will analyze the efficiency of your solutions, using a framework we will develop in class.
There are 4 sections for this seminar. Depending on which one you signed up for, the meeting times and location are as follows:
You will be graded based on attendance, class discussion, in-class worksheets and occasional written homework assignments. In-class worksheets will be posted on this website and you will submit your responses on Moodle before the end of the class. Here is the course syllabus.
| Date | Assignments | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 4, Sept. 6 | - | Introduction & class expectations |
| Sept. 11, Sept. 13 | - | The Othello Problem |
| Sept. 18, Sept. 20 | - | The Liar and the Truth Teller |
| Sept. 25, Sept. 27 | - | Inspector Gadget in Transylvania |
| Oct. 2, Oct. 4 | - | The Poisoned Barrel Problem |
| Oct. 9, Oct. 11 | Response to a Computing Threat | A CICS Liason to the UMass Libraries will cover how to determine credibility of online sources and a very brief overview of some of the primary library databases. |
| Oct. 16, Oct. 18 | - | A professional advisor from the CICS advising center will give a 30 minute presentation followed by a Q&A session related to advising for class registration for the spring 2020 semester. |
| Oct. 23, Oct. 25 | - | Prisoners with a Light Switch |
| Oct. 30, Nov. 1 | - | The Light Bulb Problem |
| Nov. 6, Nov. 8 | - | The Coins Problem |
| Nov. 15, Nov. 20 | Diversity Essay | Visit from CICS Diversity Team to support diversity activities in class. |
| Nov. 22, Dec. 4 | - | The Seating Problem |
| Dec. 6, Dec. 11 | - | The Birthday Problem |