Homework 0-1

Due: September 15, 2015, 9:00 am

“Collaboration Problem”

Part 1: Read the collaboration policy; print out and sign a copy. This is the only paper handin you'll do all semester.

Part 2: Describe, in your own words, the collaboration policy. This should be just a few quick sentences that make it clear that you understand it.

Part 3: Here are three scenarios. For each one, describe whether anyone violated the collaboration policy, and if so, who violated it and how.

  • (a) Xan and Robin are working on a homework problem together --- one that's marked as "collaborative" rather than "independent". Xan tells Robin that it's easy to do part "c": you just use the built-in spreadsheet function "ROUND", by writing "=Round(A5, 0)". Robin says, "...and that'll round off the value in cell A5?" and Xan says it will. Robin asks, "What's the 0 in there for?" Xan says, "Don't worry about it... it's just something you have to put in to make rounding work." So, Robin types "=Round(A5, 0)", gets the correct answer and hands it in.
  • (b) Anu and Martine are roommates, and both are taking CS0931. Anu uses a laptop (with a login and password) for everything, including 0931 homework. One day, when Anu is out of the room, Martine notices that the laptop is open on Anu's desk, sits down, plugs in a flash drive, and copies Anu's homework onto the drive. Martine then submits several of Anu's solutions without any attribution.
  • (c) Eddie and Bill work together on problem 2, which is collaborative, and hand in almost identical answers. Eddie's handin says "Bill and I worked on this together." Bill's handin doesn't mention Eddie. Each of them, when quizzed on the solution, can explain it completely, and the solution is correct.

    • “On the Bias”

    Read Geoffrey Nunberg's article “On the Bias” and skim the results of the study, then answer the following questions:

    1. What is the result of Nunberg's analysis?
    2. What assumptions did Nunberg make? Does he justify any assumptions? If so, how?
    3. This article compares the number of times individuals are associated with the terms “conservative” or “liberal” in newspapers. Try making your own hypothesis:
      1. Give two other terms to count in newspapers.
      2. Pose a testable hypothesis about their relationship.

      Here's an example from Green Eggs and Ham: If we count the number occurrences of the phrases “green eggs” and “ham”, I claim that they occur the same number of times.

    Save the answers in a Google document called FirstLast_HW0-1, where FirstLast should be replaced with your first and last names. Share it with cs0931handinfall2015@gmail.com .