Last Post

Well this is it, my final blog post. It’s been a fun journey this semester learning about logic, proofs, complexity and computability. Monday was a daunting lecture for me through which I was confused about why there are infinitely many more real numbers than rational numbers. I’m going to keep reading the notes and hope that something clicks because the proof shown in class once again didn't convince me. Tutorial was super easy since the reductions we had to make didn't require much work. I liked the in-class problem solving episode we did on Wednesday and my partner was definitely onto something. I didn't go to class today since I needed the time to study for my upcoming exams but I’m sure that it was a very fun lecture. Most importantly, I figured out the perfect solution to the diagonal problem on Tuesday night and I showed it to Professor Heap on Wednesday morning and he confirmed that it was correct. Here it is:

def diagonal(m, n):

    x = fractions.gcd(m, n)

    m = m / x

    n = n / x

    return x*(m + n - 1)

As you can see, the solution is quite simple and it involves reducing the problem to a case where either m or n is odd. I felt an amazing satisfaction when I finally figured it out and I’m really glad that the problem solving approach taught in this class led me to the right answer.

In closing, this course has been crucial to my understanding of proofs and logic. It has taken my knowledge to new heights and I can’t wait to start CSC236 next year. Professor Heap’s teaching style and jokes (most of which I think I was the only one that understood), were the best I have seen so far in my first year in university. He was also very approachable and helpful with a variety of different course materials. I hope that I have him as an instructor in my future courses since he is concise and entertaining. So long CSC165!