Mathematics in Computer Science at Loras College

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Mathematics in Computer Science at Loras College

• Steve Mosiman

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Brief History

• Calc I and Calc II required when CS started
• Discrete Math added to requirements
• Calc II replaced by Statistics
• Stat course was College Algebra Level
• Math Stat course had Calc III prerequisite
• Math program dropped Math Stat course and
  replaced it by Probability Statistics
• CS changed math requirement to new course
• Resulting Requirements Calc I, Discrete Math,
  Prob Stat
• CS revision integrated math courses into CS

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Prerequisite Structure
Digital Logic
Software Basics
Calculus I
Web Technologies
Data Structures and Algorithms
Discrete Math
Probability Statistics
Computer Architecture Organization
Software Engineering
Foundations of Programming Languages
Algorithm Design Analysis
Operating Systems
Prerequisite Co-requisite
Capstone Project
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Calculus

• Partly used as a prerequisite to obtain
  mathematical maturity
• Some feeling that someone at a liberal arts
  school in the sciences should have it
• Some calculus topics could be used in Algorithm
  Design Analysis (e.g. big-O)
• Necessary prerequisite to Probability
  Statistics

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Probability Statistics

• Also required for mathematics majors
• Some use in Algorithm Design Analysis (e.g.
  average case behavior of algorithms)
• Better to require for operating systems except
• No queuing theory
• Program timing sometimes does not allow

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Discrete Math

• Required for Math majors (bridge course)
• In Algorithms counting, recurrence relations,
  induction
• In Software Engineering graphs, proofs for
  program correctness
• In Foundations of Programming Languages set
  theory, induction and recurrence relations for
  context free grammars and regular expressions

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Questions?