CSCI0530

Coding the Matrix: an Introduction to Linear Algebra for Computer Science

Not offered this year
Offered occasionally, last taught:

Fall 2018

An introduction to vectors and matrices and their role in computer science. The course material consists of three components: (1) concepts, theorems, and proofs, (2) procedures and programs, and (3) applications and working with data. The course revolves around weekly lab sessions in each of which students apply the concepts to a real task with real data. Lab topics include transformations in 2-d graphics, error-correcting codes, image compression using wavelets, synthesizing a new perspective in a photo, face recognition, news story categorization, cancer diagnosis using machine learning, matching airplanes to destinations, Google's PageRank method. Other topics addressed in the course include linear programming, zero-sum games, rudimentary cryptographic methods, linear regression, and discrete linear dynamical systems such as a spreading computer virus.

The Lab associated with this class is being held Fridays 3-4 in CIT 368

No formal prerequisites but students are expected to have some prior exposure to computer programming.