Assignments

Assignments will be posted here as they are released:

Assignment	Release Date	Due date
Homework 1	Fri September 26	Thurs October 2, 11:59pm
Homework 2	Oct. 2	Wed. October 8, 11:59pm
Homework 3	Oct. 9	Pt 1: Wed. Oct 15, 11:59pm; Pt 2: Sat. Oct 18. Read late day details in assignment
Homework 4	Oct. 21	Wed Oct 29

Typesetting

You are not required to typeset your homework solutions; however, it is an easy way to improve the legibility of your documents. Many Allen School students learned to typeset in this course. We have a few suggestions for typesetting.

Option 1: LaTeX (through overleaf)

Tl;dr: Use LaTeX if you are strongly considering graduate school or anticipate taking many optional math-heavy courses (theory courses, or courses in the math department), and so want to learn to use the full LaTeX language.

LaTeX is the standard tool for typesetting mathematical materials. While it takes some time to learn, it will likely pay for itself in the long run. You can even use LaTeX in places like Ed and Facebook Messenger!

These resources may be helpful for you to get started with LaTeX, with thanks to Adam Blank:

• A homework template that you can use. Here is a preview of the rendered result.
• A How to LaTeX tutorial, including specific information on how to use the template.

Overleaf is an online editor that spares you from having to install LaTeX locally. Overleaf has some documentation, but you might want to read this how-to-overleaf document first.

LaTeX is the tool used by CS researchers to write papers, and by mathematicians and computer scientists to typeset mathematics, but (especially with overleaf) compiling can take a few seconds, and if you make a mistake, the error message you get may be difficult to interpret (much like error messages you get for compilation errors in Java).

The learning curve for complicated layouts (e.g., tables and images) can be quite frustrating

Writing LaTeX feels like writing code---you type things, and then eventually compile (and hope you didn't make a mistake and need to debug). While this gives you very significant power to make documents look very nice, it also means a perfect document can be slow to produce.

Option 2: Parchmynt

Tl;dr: Use Parchmynt if you want to start learning LaTeX, but don't want to hit the most annoying parts yet, and are ok with a less-tested editor.

Parchmynt was designed by some recent UW alums to make it easier to learn LaTeX. It will let you use LaTeX syntax (say to write a formula), but gives you a WYSIWYG editor that makes it quicker to create complicated things like tables.

Because Parchmynt embeds "real" LaTeX, if you decide to learn LaTeX later, everything you've learned (e.g., command names you've memorized) will transfer over. It could be a good stepping stone for eventually getting to the full power of LaTeX.

Parchmynt is still relatively new (about a year old). The developers are happy to receive bug reports, but please treat it as a new system with a small team maintaining it in their spare time as a passion project (e.g., you shouldn't expect instant fixes if you report a bug, and you'll want to save work regularly).

We recommend watching this video to see how it works

Option 3: Microsoft Office

Tl;dr: Use Office if you aren't worried about learning LaTeX and want to get something that looks fine as fast as possible

Microsoft Word has equation mode which allows you to insert mathematical text into a word document.

Because it's in Microsoft Word, creating tables and other complicated objects is usually familiar, and much easier than in the other options we've listed here.

Equation editor's output is usually a bit ugly, but it's legible (more legible than handwriting). There is little overlap between Equation Editor commands and LaTeX commands, though, so it's not a good stepping stone to full LaTeX.

Extra Resources for typesetting

These resources may be helpful for you to get started with LaTeX, with thanks to Adam Blank:

• An updated homework template with instructions on how to latex as well as example problems for each of the types of problems we will have in this class.
• An older homework template that you can use. Here is a preview of the rendered result.
• A How to LaTeX tutorial, including specific information on how to use the old template.
• For finding individual symbols Detexify will let you draw a symbol and tell you commands that look most similar.

Overleaf is an online editor that spares you from having to install LaTeX locally. Overleaf has some documentation, but you might want to read this how-to-overleaf document first.

Formatting

We get many questions about formatting -- we aren't as strict about formatting as your high school classes were (or your English classes likely are), but we do have some requirements to make grading easier for the TAs:

• Have every numbered problem start on its own page (so TAs can easily find where your answers start)
• We don't care if you restate the question or not, but do list the number and letter
• You must list your collaborators when you submit your homework. We'll generally ask you to do that with the feedback problem (that you type directly on gradescope), but it can still be a good idea to put them at the start or end of the PDF for completeness (but the only required spot is the feedback problem).
• When you upload to gradescope, make sure you select pages and that the pages are right-side-up
• Putting your name on your submitted pdf is not required (Gradescope automatically associates your name to your submission). We prefer you don't put your own name on your submission (as it reduces the chances of unconscious bias for the graders), but it is not forbidden.

Guidelines

Inference Proofs (beginning on HW4)

• You may apply any other rule from the propositional logic reference sheet.
• You may apply commutativity, associativity, and double negation as many times as you want within a single step, provided you include that name in your rule. You may also combine these with other propositional logic rules, provided they are listed with the rule name.
• But you still must have a prior step in the correct order to “Eliminate OR”
• Include line numbers for the referenced step, but for rules with multiple numbers do not worry about the ordering.
• Abbreviated rule names (like “MP” for “Modus Ponens”, or “Intro” for “Introduce”) are acceptable as long as they are clear.
• Remember to indent and change numbering style (e.g. from 2 to 3.1) when starting a subproof.
• You may introduce variables as arbitrary with a separate step (provided they are truly arbitrary), but it is not required if it is a fresh variable introduced from eliminating a for-all.

Symbolic Proofs (using equivalence rules or boolean algebra)

Symbolic proofs are part of the “training wheels phase” of proof writing. Follow these rules when you write your first symbolic proofs:

• Apply only one rule per step, and label each step with the name of the rule you applied.
• Respect order of operations. Operations are applied in precedence order, going from left to right across an expression. Be careful that you aren’t violating “implied” parentheses.
• Make sure you are applying the rule exactly as stated in the handout. The handout rules apply to compound propositions, as long as order of operations allow their application.
• The associative law, commutative law, or double negation law may be applied multiple times in a single step as long as you specify that it was applied repeatedly (e.g., “associative law twice”). For these proofs, do not combine them with other laws.

Homework in General

We evaluate your work using these guiding principles:

• Legibility. You may lose points for solutions that are not legible. We cannot award points for solutions that we cannot easily read. Please consider typesetting!
• Clarity. Remember to be mathematically formal and jot down your thoughts and assumptions. A proof is seldom strictly right or wrong; instead, it is only as convincing as the extent your human reader is convinced.
• Style. This can be subjective, but it mostly boils down to organizing your work to make it easy to follow. Make sure you set up consistent notations beforehand, communicate information concisely (unlike this), and give your work a good proofread from start to finish.

You can submit a regrade request if we made a mistake in grading. Policy details are contained in the syllabus.