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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From Computational Complexity
If an ugrad asks `is field X worth studying' the answer is almost always yes
An undergraduate Freshman recently emailed me that he was very interested in Quantum Computing and wanted to know 1) Who on the fCS aculty works in QC (Answer:...
From Computational Complexity
Students try to memorize rather than understand! Who knew! (everyone)
Discrete Math. Required for CS majors, taken mostly by Sophmores. Goal is to teach them how to think rigorously. Topics are logic, number theory (not much),...
From Computational Complexity
A Celebration of Computer Science at Harvard in Honor of Harry Lewis's 70th Bday
My adviser Harry Lewis turned 70 recently. I blogged about how things have changed since I got my Phd in this post. I now post on A celebration of Computer Science...
From Computational Complexity
I was at the March for Science on Saturday
(Will blog on Harry Lewis's 70th Bday next week-- Today's post is more time sensitive.) I was on the March for Science on April 22. Here are some Kolmogorov random...
From Computational Complexity
Will talk about Harry Lewis 70th bday conference later but for now- that was then/this is now
On Wed April 19 I was at the Harry Lewis 70th birthday celebration! I will blog on that later. Harry Lewis was my thesis adviser. Odd to use the past tense- I...
From Computational Complexity
What is William Rowan Hamilton know for- for us? for everyone else?
I found the song William Rowan Hamilton that I used in my April fools day post because I was working on a song about Hamiltonian Circuits to the tune of Alexander...
From Computational Complexity
Proving Langs not Regular using Comm Complexity
(My notes on this are at my course website: here They are notes for my ugrad students so they may be longer and more detailed than you want.) While Teaching...
From Computational Complexity
William Rowan Hamilton- The Musical!
With the success of Hamilton,the musical on broadway (for all of the songs and the lyrics to them see here- I wonder who would buy the CD since its here for free)...
From Computational Complexity
If you want to help your bad students DO NOT give an easy exam
1) When I was a grad student TAing Formal Lang Theory we had a final ready to give out but noticed that one problem was too hard. So we changed it. But we made...
From Computational Complexity
Other fields of math don't prove barrier results- why do we?
Before FLT was solved did some people prove theorems like: FLT cannot be proven using techniques BLAH. This is important since all current proofs use BLAH. Ihere...
From Computational Complexity
why are regular expressions defined the way they are
BILL: The best way to prove closure properties of regular languages is to first prove the equiv of DFA's, NDFA's and Reg Expressions. Then, if you want to prove...
From Computational Complexity
Should we learn from the Masters or the Pupils (Sequel)
A while back I had a blog entry Should we learn from the Masters of the Pupils? The Masters may have more insights but he Pupils may have a better view aided by...
From Computational Complexity
The benefits of Recreational Mathematics
Why study Recreational Mathematics? Why do recreational Mathematics? 1) The line between recreational and serious mathematics is thin. Some of the problems in...
From Computational Complexity
Raymond Smullyan: Logician, Recreational math writer, Philosopher, passed away
Raymond Smullyan was born on May 25 1919 and passed away recently at the age of 97. He was a logician (PhD from Princeton under Alonzo Church in 1959) who didThe...
From Computational Complexity
The Hardness of Reals Hierarchy
In my last post (here) I defined the following hierarchy (which I am sure is not original- if someone has a source please leave a comment on it) Z_d[x] is theProblems...
From Computational Complexity
What was the first result in complexity theory?
Let Z_d[x] be the set of polynomials of degree d over the integers. Let ALG_d be the set of roots of polys in Z_d. One can easily show that ALG_1 is a proper...
From Computational Complexity
My Once-Every-Four-Years Presidential Quiz/How Should Quizzes Work in the e-Era?
Every four years I post a PRESIDENTIAL QUIZ which I must update based on new information since we have a new prez and veep. The questions are here:here. I...
From Computational Complexity
My REU program/REU's in general/Flyers? Why do some Transcripts...
I run an REU program (Research Experience for Undergraduates) and I would normally urge you to urge undergrads who would benefit to apply to it and present both...
From Computational Complexity
Guest Post about the first Women in Computational Topology (WinCompTop) Workshop
The first Women in Computational Topology WinCompTop workshop was held in August at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) in Minneapolis, MN....
From Computational Complexity