Week Six: Half Way There

The sixth week of the term has passed, and boy, has this term gone by quickly! We are about half way through the course! Just like last week, we have explored the run-times of more divide and conquer algorithms. This week we worked with Merge Sort. I've always liked Merge Sort; very helpful and efficient. However, finding the Big-Oh complexities of it seems to be another story. I wasn't all to clear with the algorithms we did last week, but I'm getting there. The ways in which log, ceilings, and floors interact with each other are somewhat confusing. I just need sometime to digest some of what we've done to get a full grasp on it. The Master Theorem was a bit rushed near the end of Friday's lecture, and so I hope to get some more elaborations for tomorrows tutorial and possibly the lecture on Wednesday. Needlessly to say, I couldn't make much progress with the first question in the Tutorial Exercise for this week; the Master Theorem seems like gobbledygook to say the least! My second question's incomplete solution is based off what we did in lecture with the whole "unwinding" business. I am making progress, but at a snails pace. I just have to grind it out and get as far as I can for tomorrow's quiz. The rest will be in my TA's hands.

We also got our first tests backed marked, and I was not expecting what I received. Stupid mistakes on my part cost me a few valuable marks! I lost a mark for not stating I was going to use the Induction Hypothesis; very embarrassing!  I didn't know that there would be so much focus on the structure of our proofs. I do have a gripe about the marking though. I understand that the TA was rushed in the marking, but I think there is a chance of me getting back marks if it were remarked. I got deducted three marks on a question and the only reason was one red underline under my Induction Hypothesis. I think the marking could have been a little more lenient, and I'll be sure to discuss a possible remark with our professor. I did look at the marking scheme used to mark our test, so I may be able to salvage a mark or hopefully two. Assignment two is out, and I will attempt to not repeat what I did with the first assignment. There are two questions, so I will put as much time as possible into getting a solution for them. I will try my best to fight off the urges of my chronic procrastination and do better in this second half!