Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Here is the list of inference rules and definitions you will have available to you during the midterm and the final. There are no tree rules, but there will be be no tree problems on either test.

Monday, December 10, 2018

Solutions to all of last week's homework are now posted. As noted in class, you are not accountable for the last two problems.
Here are the essay questions for the final exam. Three of them will be on the exam. Which three will be determined randomly before the test begins.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Please read the previous post in its entirety, but note the following correction:

I forgot about Thanksgiving, and thereby miscounted the number of homework opportunities you would receive. The syllabus says you will have 28, but I only gave you 27 (including the double counting of the two post-Campfire homework assignments and 1 pt. for each midterm.)

I also realized that I have created a perverse incentive to "do the midterm" by simply signing your name on it and turning it in, just to get the homework point. 

Hence, since everyone will do the final, I have decided to change what I said below so that you will receive 2 homework credits for the final and 0 homework credits for doing the midterm.


Friday is the last day to do course evaluations. Please do them. Here is the incentive provided in the syllabus. There are many people in the class for whom this could make a significant difference.
The percentage of students in the class who complete the course evaluation will be multiplied by 2. The product will be added to every students point total. For example, if 80% of students do the evaluations then 1.6 points will be added to every student's final grade.
I'll be updating your homework scores today on Canvas. After today there will be 2 more points available for turning in homework, viz., 1 point for tomorrow's homework and 1 point for taking the midterm.

The final exam period for this class is scheduled for Thursday 12:45PM - 2:45PM. Please note the early start-time!

As noted below, the 2nd midterm and the final will be administered during the final exam period. The default expectation is that you will take the midterm first and the final exam afterwards. However, you are not constrained by the default. Here are your real-life options.
1. You may do the tests in any order you choose, but not concurrently. When you are finished with one, you may submit it (irretrievably) and request the other. 
2. You may choose to do only the final exam. If you do this, then the grade you get on the final will be substituted for your 2nd midterm grade as well. This is not a recommended strategy, but it may not be a bad one for some students. 
3. You may spend as much time as you like on each test, as long as the total does not exceed 2 hours. (Clearly, a poor strategy is to spend more than one hour on the midterm, as there is no option to substitute your grade on the midterm for your grade on the final.)
Regarding the tests themselves:

The midterm will have the same content and structure as advertised below before it's postponement. (Here is the practice test. Here are the solutions.) The difference will be that the test will be shorter by one problem. All proofs will be drawn from previous solved homework problems. The models used will be the same, but the formulas to be evaluated will be different.

The final exam will consist of:
1. Some problems drawn from the first or second midterm. This is the inclusive or, meaning they may be drawn from both.  However, if I do use problems from the 2nd midterm on the final, they will be of the semantic variety, not proofs. And, consistent with previous practice, these will use the same models, but not the same formulas for evaluation as occur on the 2nd midterm. 
2. Some problems similar but not identical to those from homework 20 on the course schedule. One or more problems identical to those from homework 21 on the course schedule. 
3. Short essay questions relating to general properties of logic and set theory as well as important results. These will mostly cover the last two weeks. By Monday 12/10 I will publish a list of these questions, a proper subset of which will occur on the final. 
4. You will be provided with a list of inference rules and definitions. I will put it up here by Monday 12/10, so that you can be familiar with its contents.



Friday, November 30, 2018

For next week, the homework problems will come from yesterday's sheet.

Tuesday: Turn in problems 4 & 5.
Thursday: Turn in problems 6 & 7.

I have  posted solutions to problems 1-3 on the schedule page.

For lecture we will cover the  slides from weeks 14 and 15. There will be no homework problems assigned for these, but the final will cover them. I will be clearer next week about what sorts of questions you may be required to answer on the final.


Saturday, November 24, 2018

I hope you all had a satisfying Thanksgiving and are enjoying being able to breathe again.

As you know, we missed three class periods due to the smoke from the Camp Fire. This homework, which was originally due on Tuesday November 13th, is now due Tuesday November 27th. The assignment is to do all of the problems.

In the immediately preceding post I explain that the midterm, which was to have been taken on Tuesday the 20th has been postponed to the day of the final.  The practice test below remains indicative of what that test will contain, but I will be shortening it so that it is reasonable to expect it to be completed within an hour. I will not tell you in advance how I will be shortening it.

The syllabus indicates that you receive a homework credit for taking each of the midterms.  This remains in effect. If you choose not to take the midterm, then you will not receive a homework credit on the day of the final.

Here is the homework for Thursday, which draws on the second set of lecture slides (2.4) from week 12. Turn in numbers 1 and 3.

During the final week of classes we will be studying selectively from material for the final 2 weeks of classes.

Important: In order to make up the rest of your homework points, each homework for this week will be worth 2 points.