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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Mathematical Thinking in Computer Science by University of California San Diego

4.4
stars
2,243 ratings

About the Course

Mathematical thinking is crucial in all areas of computer science: algorithms, bioinformatics, computer graphics, data science, machine learning, etc. In this course, we will learn the most important tools used in discrete mathematics: induction, recursion, logic, invariants, examples, optimality. We will use these tools to answer typical programming questions like: How can we be certain a solution exists? Am I sure my program computes the optimal answer? Do each of these objects meet the given requirements? In the online course, we use a try-this-before-we-explain-everything approach: you will be solving many interactive (and mobile friendly) puzzles that were carefully designed to allow you to invent many of the important ideas and concepts yourself. Prerequisites: 1. We assume only basic math (e.g., we expect you to know what is a square or how to add fractions), common sense and curiosity. 2. Basic programming knowledge is necessary as some quizzes require programming in Python....

Top reviews

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Mar 25, 2019

The teachers are informative and good. They explain the topic in a way that we can easily understand. The slides provide all the information that is needed. The external tools are fun and informative.

AM

Feb 27, 2021

It is a great course! teachers explain everything with care. While providing lectures there are some popup ques that verify whether you understood that lecture or not. Overall, a great experience.

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376 - 400 of 515 Reviews for Mathematical Thinking in Computer Science

By Ritoja S

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Nov 11, 2020

I feel like the last week was a bit too hectic, as compared to the rest of the course. It could stand to be more explanatory.

By Marco F

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Oct 17, 2019

It felt more like learning how to do puzzles rather than learning math. But maybe that was the objective and I didn't get it!

By Andres M

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Jan 5, 2021

Really nice course. The four stars are due to the time taking by the teaching staff to reply to the questions in the forum.

By Muhammad A

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Feb 2, 2023

Add video explanations for all the course content, because reading material alone is not sufficient to clear all concepts.

By Aniket K

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Jul 6, 2020

The course was awesome. I learnt and enjoyed it. Should provide the hints/solutions for algorithm problems in the quizes.

By Joseph A V

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Feb 22, 2024

Please update interfaces so games/activities/quizzes work properly. Retool question stems to make better sense.

By Shubh B

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May 4, 2020

The accent posed a problem in understanding the content. Otherwise, all the content and materials were superb.

By Jesse

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May 17, 2019

Solid course. Lectures were sometimes jumbled and hard to understand, but overall it was well put-together.

By Loc N

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Dec 31, 2020

The most important part of the course (implementing a solution to the Puzzle 15) is not explained well :(

By Something S

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Jun 18, 2020

It's very good course builds problem solving skills exiting and interesting quizzes enjoyed the journey..

By Alen J

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Dec 12, 2021

We should be able to code in language of our choice, I had to struggle a bit since I didn't know python.

By Sriram R

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Mar 24, 2018

Simple explanations made math more easy to handle. Thanks to the prof's for timely responses in Forums.

By Ahmad A

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Jul 4, 2021

Very Fun course except that 15-Puzzle Quiz was really cruel to ask for (even for Honor certificate)

By Adnan M

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Apr 16, 2019

The course encourage you to start thinking, it's easy but can be first step towards thinking. :)

By Karan S

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Jul 27, 2020

Overall the course was great! But, last section on permutations could've been explained better.

By yousef i o

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Apr 5, 2020

There is Somethings that I found hard to understand during the explanations of some hard topics

By Aman K S

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Apr 23, 2020

The only thing required is to allow learners to use any programming language instead of Python

By KAMOGELO S

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Jun 14, 2020

This was an interesting and captivating course. The professors were concise and entertaining.

By Neda S

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Feb 15, 2022

Interesting puzzles, and most of the lectures were excellent, the others not too bad. :-)

By Marco M

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May 17, 2020

I like the learn by doing approach but some more explanation would help.

A good course.

By Joseph D

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Dec 24, 2017

I enjoyed the course. I would like more depth or more clear explanations from A Shen.

By Gaurang V

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Nov 21, 2020

Could've been a little bit more challenging, but really enjoyed learning throughout.

By Swarnapratim M

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Oct 24, 2017

Good course.Great puzzles.A big thank you to the instructors.Thank you once again.

By Sara K

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Aug 20, 2020

I think the coding should be allowed to be in other languages as well as python

By Yufan Z

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Jul 19, 2018

Some explanations might be a little confused for me. But this is a good course!