Syllabus MCS 320 Introduction to Symbolic Computation Spring 2022

Course Information: Introduction to computer algebra systems (SAGE), symbolic computation, and
the mathematical algorithms employed in such computation, with examples and applications to topics
in undergraduate mathematics.

Instructor: Danko Adrovic Office: SEO 725

Email: dadrov1@uic.edu Website: http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~adrovic/

Instructor’s Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM via Blackboard Collaborate
online teaching platform. Office hours link will be posted on Blackboard.

Course Grader: Truong Vu Email: tvu25@uic.edu

Grader’s Office Hours: Friday, 5 PM – 6 PM on Zoom

(Meeting ID 878 6740 0030, Passcode: 8S0eBzXu)

Course Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in Math 210; and Grade of C or better in: MCS 260 or CS
107 or CS 109 or CS 111 or equivalent.

Lecture session CRN, Meeting Location and Time:

24851 LH 312 MWF 2:00 - 2:50 Danko Adrovic

Course Method of Instruction: During the first two weeks of the the semester, the MCS 320 lectures
will take place online, vial Blackboard Collaborate. The attendance of online lecture sessions is
mandatory.

With the start of Week 3, MCS 320 becomes an in-person course. That is, all lectures sessions take
place in person, during the regularly scheduled time and all essential and non-essential content is
delivered during this lecture sessions time only. Furthermore, this means that the lecture session
attendance is mandatory. Lecture sessions will be recorded but the recordings are available only to
those students who have been granted permission by the Disability Resource Center (DRC) not to
attend the class in person due to, for example, health issues. To register with DRC, visit
https://drc.uic.edu/

Course Technology Requirements: Personal computer and broadband Internet connection. You may
contact ACCC (https://teaching.uic.edu/ed-tech/equipment-lending/) to request and borrow a laptop or
be assigned a hotspot for the semester if you do not have the required hardware and internet
capabilities.

Course Textbooks
This course does not have a specific textbook. Our main resource will be course notes, developed by
Jan Verschelde. See http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~jan/mcs320/mcs320notes/index.html

Our additional resources are:

(1) Official Sage Website,
See http://www.sagemath.org/
(2) Sage for Power Users by William Stein
See https://wstein.org/books/sagebook/sagebook.pdf
(3) Gregory V. Board's Sage Resource site
See http://www.gregorybard.com/Sage.html

Software: Main software for this course is Sage 9.4. You can use or obtain Sage in three ways

(1) Sage is installed on computer in TBA (Once we return to in-person teaching on campus)
(2) Using UIC’s Virtual Computer Lab. It has Sage already installed. See full log-in instructions here:
https://help.uillinois.edu/TDClient/37/uic/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=357
(3) Download Sage from http://www.sagemath.org/ and install it on your computer. Sage is very large
and, depending on your experience with installing large programs, can be complicated to install.

Grading:
-----------------------------
Exam 1: 100 points (Takes place in class on 02/11/2022)
Exam 2: 100 points (Takes place in class on 03/18/2022)
Final Exam: 200 points (Takes place in class on TBA)
Project 1: 50 points (Assigned on 01/28/2022 and due on 01/31/2022 at 11:59 PM on Blackboard)
Project 2: 50 points (Assigned on 02/18/2022 and due on 02/25/2022 at 11:59 PM on Blackboard)
Project 3: 50 points (Assigned on 04/01/2022 and due on 04/08/2022 at 11:59 PM on Blackboard)
-----------------------------
Total: 550 points

Grading and Letter Grades:

Exams and Projects are not “curved”. They are of reasonable difficulty and the standard letter grade
ranges apply, A: 100 - 90 %, B: 89 - 80 %, C: 79 - 70 %, D: 69 - 60 %, F: 59 – 0%.

Midterm Exams: There will be two midterm exams in this course, each worth 100 points. All exams
take place in person.

Final Exam: There will be one final exam, taking place in-class, during the week of final exams.

Homework: Homework is assigned but not collected. It is recommended, however, that you work on
the homework problems as we cover our lectures. Homework problems can be found on Blackboard.

Projects: There are 3 projects in this course. Each project is worth 50 points.

Attendance: Attendance of the lecture session is mandatory.

Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and
participation in this course must be registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC). Please
contact DRC at 312/413-2183 (voice) or 312/413-0123 (TDD), and/or visit https://drc.uic.edu/

Privacy Notification and Policy for Video Recording of Synchronous Class Sessions
We will be recording the class sessions, or portions of the class, for students who are unable to attend in
person and are registered with the Disability Resource Center.

The recording feature for others is disabled so that no one else will be able to record this session
through Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, Webex, or Echo360. Recording by other means is not
permitted. The recorded class sessions will be posted on our Blackboard class website unless otherwise
notified.

If you have privacy concerns and do not wish to appear in the recording, turn OFF your video and
notify me in writing (via email) prior to the next class session. If you prefer to use a pseudonym instead
of your name, please let me know what name you will be using, so that I can identify you during the
class session. If you would like to ask a question, you may do so privately through the chat feature by
addressing your question to me or your TA only (and not to “everyone”), or you may contact me or
your TA by another private method, which we will agree upon in advance of class. If you have
questions or concerns about this video recording policy, please contact me before the end of the first
week of class.

Online Course Communication Guidelines (Netiquette)

• Be mindful of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, as well as different political
ideologies and religious beliefs.
• Use good judgment when composing your written responses. Swearing and profanity should be
avoided. Also consider that slang terms can be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
• Be careful using all capital letters when composing your written responses. This can be
considered “shouting” on the Internet and is regarded as impolite or aggressive. It can also be
stressful on the eye when trying to read your message.
• Be respectful of others’ views and opinions.
• Be careful when using acronyms. If you use an acronym it is best to spell out its meaning first,
then put the acronym in parentheses afterward, for example: Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs). After that you can use the acronym freely throughout your message.
• Use good grammar and spelling in written communications.
• In emails, always identify yourself and what class and section you are in. It is a good practice
to put your course and section in the subject line. This helps your instructor identify course
related emails.

Academic Honesty and Standards of Conduct: All students at UIC are expected to follow the rules
and standards of conduct as stated in the Student Disciplinary Policy (see https://dos.uic.edu/). This
document, in particular, prohibits any form of academic dishonesty, such as cheating or plagiarism.

Any students caught cheating will be reported to the Office of the Dean of Students, even for the first
offense, and they will receive a score of zero on that particular assignment. Offenders will be further
sanctioned according to the guidelines specified in the Student Disciplinary Policy, which includes
suspension and/or dismissal from the university system.

Inclusivity Statement: UIC values diversity and inclusion. Regardless of age, disability, ethnicity,
race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic background,
religion, political ideology, language, or culture, we expect all members of this class to contribute to a
respectful, welcoming, and inclusive environment for every other member of our class. If there are
aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion, engagement,
accurate assessment or achievement, please notify me as soon as possible.
List of Course Topics:

Week 1: 01/10/2022 – 01/14/2022: Introduction to Computer Algebra: Sage and Python;

Week 2: 01/17/2022 – 01/21/2022: Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. No classes. Sage and
Python; Integers, Rationals and Complex Numbers; Real and Complex Double Field (53 bits of
precision); Functions;

Week 3: 01/24/2022 – 01/28/2022: Variables and Symbolic Expressions I

Week 4: 01/31/2022 – 02/04/2022: Variables and Symbolic Expressions II; Algebraic Numbers and
Factorization; Number Fields;

Week 5: 02/07/2022 – 02/11/2022: Input/Output Formats; Code Generation; Expression Trees; Exam
review; Exam 1;

Week 6: 02/14/2022 – 02/18/2022: Recurrences; Recursion; Memoization; Counting Partitions with

Dynamic Programming Plotting;

Week 7: 02/21/2022 – 02/25/2022: Calculus and Analytic Geometry

Week 8: 02/28/2022 – 03/04/2022: Differential Equations; Series and Approximations; Laplace and
Fourier Transforms;

Week 9: 03/07/2022 – 03/11/2022: Linear Algebra; Curve Fitting;

Week 10: 03/14/2022 – 03/18/2022: Curve Fitting; Statistics; Exam 2 review; Exam 2; Last day to
late-drop the class with "W" recorded is Friday.

Week 11: 03/21/2022 – 03/25/2022: Spring vacation. No classes.

Week 12: 03/28/2022 – 04/01/2022: Computational Algebraic Geometry; Rings and Fields; Algebraic
Numbers; Irreducibility of Polynomials and Field Extensions

Week 13: 04/04/2022 – 04/08/2022: Linear programming and Polyhedra; Graph Theory;

Week 14: 04/11/2022 – 04/15/2022: Making Animations; Application of Interact;

Week 15: 04/18/2022 – 04/22/2022: Symbolic Computation with sympy; Numerical Computation
with numpy and scipy;

Week 16: 04/25/2022 – 04/29/2022: Computational Group Theory with GAP; Higher Arithmetic with
Pari/GP; Semester review; Last week of classes.

Week 17: 05/02/2022 – 05/06/2022: Final examinations.