Lec 1. Course Overview Intuition Programming Computer-based problem solving Theory vs Practice 0ther Perspectives lecture slides

The Course Goals 1. To develop a practical intuition about computer problem-solving and its role in science and engineering. 2. To learn how to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs) using Matlab. lecture slides

The Vehicle… …is the Matlab Environment where you can easily Develop programs. Display results & ideas graphically. Interact with large data sets. Process images and sound. Develop graphical user interfaces lecture slides

The Course Goal… …is to develop a practical intuition about computer problem-solving and its role in science and engineering. Let’s discuss the key words lecture slides

What do we mean by “Intuition”? If intuition is a sense of direction, then computational intuition is a sense of computational direction. lecture slides

A Sense of Geometry Ray Tracing 100 million triangles lecture slides

A Sense of Complexity Search Trees Design Space Billions of Choices lecture slides

A Sense of Probability and Statistics Via Simulation lecture slides

A Sense of Approximation, Error, and Noise 1/3 = .3333 Pi = 22/7 g lecture slides

The Course Goal… …is to develop a practical intuition about computer problem-solving and its role in science and engineering. lecture slides

What Goes on In Science? Data is Gathered Models Are Built lecture slides

Enter the Computer In one way, "computational science" is the ultimate triumph of terminology, coupling the respectability of science with whatever is computational. But instead of regarding the term as a marketing ploy, think of computational science as a point of view. Science can be seen as a triangle with theory, experiment, and computation at its vertices. Each vertex represents a style of research and provides a window through which we can look at science in the large. The vibrancy of what we see inside the triangle depends upon the ideas that flow around the edges of the triangle. A good theory couched in the language of mathematics may be realized in the form of a computer program, perhaps just to affirm its correctness. Running the program results in a simulation that may suggest a physical experiment. The experiment in turn may reveal a missed parameter in the underlying mathematical model, and around we go again. But interesting ideas can flow in the other direction as well. A physical experiment may be restricted in scope for reasons of budget or safety, so the scene shifts to computer simulation. The act of writing the program to perform the simulation will most likely have a clarifying influence, prompting some new mathematical pursuit. Innovative models are discovered, leading to a modification of the initial set of experiments, and so forth. lecture slides

Looking For Patterns DNA A Protein lecture slides

Build one of these for Proteins... lecture slides

A Challenge The data is there. (“Tycho has cataloged the stars.”) Now make sense of it! (Where are the “genomic Keplers”!) lecture slides

The Course Goal… …is to develop a practical intuition about computer problem-solving and its role in science and engineering. lecture slides

What Goes On in Engineering? Design Experimentation lecture slides

Enter the Computer Engineering Engineering Engineering In one way, "computational science" is the ultimate triumph of terminology, coupling the respectability of science with whatever is computational. But instead of regarding the term as a marketing ploy, think of computational science as a point of view. Science can be seen as a triangle with theory, experiment, and computation at its vertices. Each vertex represents a style of research and provides a window through which we can look at science in the large. The vibrancy of what we see inside the triangle depends upon the ideas that flow around the edges of the triangle. A good theory couched in the language of mathematics may be realized in the form of a computer program, perhaps just to affirm its correctness. Running the program results in a simulation that may suggest a physical experiment. The experiment in turn may reveal a missed parameter in the underlying mathematical model, and around we go again. But interesting ideas can flow in the other direction as well. A physical experiment may be restricted in scope for reasons of budget or safety, so the scene shifts to computer simulation. The act of writing the program to perform the simulation will most likely have a clarifying influence, prompting some new mathematical pursuit. Innovative models are discovered, leading to a modification of the initial set of experiments, and so forth. Engineering Engineering lecture slides

The Course Goal… …is to develop a practical intuition about computer problem-solving and its role in science and engineering. lecture slides

What Do We Mean By “Computer Problem-Solving”? The key idea: Algorithm. A step-by-step procedure that takes you from a prescribed set of inputs to a prescribed set of outputs. lecture slides

The “Traveling Salesperson” Problem Make a roundtrip visiting each city exactly once. Find the shortest possible path. lecture slides

Algorithm: always go to the nearest unvisited city lecture slides

The Course Goal… …is to develop a practical intuition about computer problem-solving and its role in science and engineering. lecture slides

What Do We Mean By “Practical”? It means that you carry away useful computer skills. lecture slides

Theory versus Practice Prove that the program controlling this missile silo is correct. A theoretical exercise with great practical importance. lecture slides

A Note on the GUI Part The Matlab GUIDE facility makes life easy. A vehicle for learning about object-oriented programming. An opportunity to refine your communication skills. A platform for follow-up ugrad research in the spring. lecture slides