Sums, Approximations, and Asymptotics II Block Stacking How far can a stack of identical blocks overhang the end of a table without toppling over? Can a block be suspended entirely beyond the table's edge? Table Physics imposes some constraints on the arrangement of the blocks. In particular, the stack falls off the desk if its center of mass lies beyond the desk's edge. Moreover, the center of mass of the top k blocks must lie above the(k+1)-st block;

Sums and Approximations When you analyze the running time of an algorithm, the probability some procedure succeeds, or the behavior of a load-balancing or communications scheme, you'll rarely get a simple answer. The world is not so kind. More likely, you'll end up with a complicated sum:

1 Introduction normally, a graph is a bunch of dots connected by lines. Here is an example of a graph

Srini devadas and Eric Lehman Lecture notes Number theory ll Image of Alan Turing removed for copyright reasons s The man pictured above is Alan Turing, the most important figure in the history of mputer science. For decades, his

Srini Devadas and Eric Lehman Lecture Notes Induction III 1 Two Puzzles Here are two challenging puzzles. 1.1 The 9-Number Puzzle

Why do you believe that 3+3=6? Is it because your second-grade teacher, Miss Dalrymple, told you so? She might have been lying, you know Or are you trusting life experience? If you have three coconuts and someone gives you three more coconuts, then you have--ahal--six coconuts. But if that is the true basis for your belief, then why do you also believe that

1 Induction A professor brings to class a bottomless bag of assorted miniature candy bars. She offers to share in accordance with two rules. First, she numbers the students 0, 1, 2, 3, and so forth for convenient reference. Now here are the two rules:

1 Streaks someone tapping the H and t keys in a what felt like a random way?0 Nas the table of H's and T's below generated by flipping a fair coin 100 times

1 The Number-Picking Game Here is a game that you and I could play that reveals a strange property of expectation. 3, First, you think of a probability density function on the natural numbers. Your distri- bution can be absolutely anything you like. For example, you might choose a uniform distribution on 1, 2, ... 6, like the outcome of a fair die roll. Or you might choose a bi- probability, provided that,...,n. You can even give every natural number a non-zero nomial distribution on 0, 1 he sum of all probabilities is 1

1 Logic A proposition is a statement that is either true or false. Propositions can be joined by \and\, \or\, \not\, \implies\, or \if and only if\. For each of these connective, the defini- tion and notational shorthand are given in the table below. Here A and B denote arbitrary propositions