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<h1>DSC 40B – Theoretical Foundations of Data Science II</h1>
<hr>
</div>
<h1 id="syllabus">📜 Syllabus</h1>
<p>Welcome to DSC 40B in Winter 2025!
This page should answer most of the questions you might have about how the
course is run; check out the <a href="#faq">frequently asked questions</a> for answers to
some common ones. If you don't find what you're looking for here, feel free to
make a post on <a href="https://campuswire.com/p/GF9D7D784">Campuswire</a>.</p>
<p>Here is what the syllabus will cover:</p>
<div class="toc">
<ul>
<li><a href="#syllabus">📜 Syllabus</a><ul>
<li><a href="#instructor">Instructor</a></li>
<li><a href="#getting-started">Getting Started</a><ul>
<li><a href="#campuswire">Campuswire</a></li>
<li><a href="#gradescope">Gradescope</a></li>
<li><a href="#canvas">Canvas</a></li>
<li><a href="#required-materials">Required Materials</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#lectures">Lectures</a></li>
<li><a href="#office-hours">Office Hours</a></li>
<li><a href="#discussions">Discussions</a></li>
<li><a href="#labs">Labs</a><ul>
<li><a href="#lab-redemptions">Lab Redemptions</a></li>
<li><a href="#redemption-requests">Redemption Requests</a><ul>
<li><a href="#example">Example</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#homeworks">Homeworks</a><ul>
<li><a href="#regrade-requests">Regrade Requests</a></li>
<li><a href="#the-super-homework">The "Super Homework"</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#collaboration-and-ai">Collaboration and AI</a></li>
<li><a href="#slip-days">Slip Days</a></li>
<li><a href="#exams">Exams</a><ul>
<li><a href="#midterms">Midterms</a></li>
<li><a href="#final-exam">Final Exam</a></li>
<li><a href="#exam-pass-criterion">Exam Pass Criterion</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#grading">Grading</a></li>
<li><a href="#support-and-resources">Support and Resources</a></li>
<li><a href="#osd-exam-accommodations">OSD Exam Accommodations</a></li>
<li><a href="#waitlist">Waitlist</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq">FAQ</a><ul>
<li><a href="#is-this-class-curved">Is this class curved?</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2 id="instructor">Instructor</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Dr. Yusu Wang</strong><br>
<code>[email protected]</code><br>
<a href="https://yusu.belkin-wang.org/">webpage</a><br></li>
</ul>
<!-- Tristan: removed this as it is not relevant for Winter 2024
There will be two different lecture times and two different discussion times,
but they will cover the same content on the same schedule. You may attend
whichever lecture section you would like after Week 02.
-->
<h2 id="getting-started">Getting Started</h2>
<p>To get started in DSC 40B, you'll need to set up accounts on a
couple of websites.</p>
<h3 id="campuswire">Campuswire</h3>
<p>We'll be using <a href="https://campuswire.com/p/GF9D7D784">Campuswire</a> as our course message
board. You should have received an invitation via email, but if not you should
be able to join by clicking the link above and using the access code <code>4208</code>. Be sure sure to join Campuswire as soon as possible,
since all course communication will be done through it.</p>
<p>If you have a question about anything to do with the course — if you're
stuck on a homework problem, want clarification on the logistics, or just have a
general question about data science — you can make a post on Campuswire.
We only ask that if your question includes some or all of an answer, please make
your post <strong>private</strong> so that others cannot see it. You can also post
anonymously if you would prefer.</p>
<p>Course staff will regularly check Campuswire and try to answer any questions
that you have. You're also encouraged to answer a question asked by another
student if you feel that you know the answer.</p>
<h3 id="gradescope">Gradescope</h3>
<p>We'll be using
<a href="https://www.gradescope.com/courses/937203">Gradescope</a> for
homework submission and grading. Most of the assignments will be a mixture of math and
coding, and the coding parts are usually autograded via Gradescope.,
You should have received an email invitation for Gradescope, but if not you can join with code
<code>NYBYP7</code>.</p>
<h3 id="canvas">Canvas</h3>
<p>We will not be using Canvas. All course materials will be available at
<a href="http://dsc40b.com">dsc40b.com</a> or <a href="https://www.gradescope.com/courses/937203">Gradescope</a>.</p>
<h3 id="required-materials">Required Materials</h3>
<p>You will not need to purchase any materials for this course; we'll use lecture slides the main
resource, as well as our own <a href="./materials/default/notes/book.pdf">course notes</a>.
If you'd like additional textbooks to study from, we can recommend these:</p>
<ul>
<li>Dasgupta, Papadimitriou, Vazirani; <em>Algorithms</em></li>
<li>Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, Stein; <em>Introduction to Algorithms</em></li>
</ul>
<p>These books are also excellent resources for preparing for coding interviews.</p>
<h2 id="lectures">Lectures</h2>
<p>Lectures will be held in-person at the regularly-scheduled time and place, but
they will be podcasted and posted online for remote viewing. Attendance is
appreciated, but not required.</p>
<p>The lecture times are:</p>
<ul>
<li>9:30 AM
on
T/Th
in
CENTR 109</li>
</ul>
<!-- You may attend whichever lecture section you would like after Week 02. -->
<p>You will be able to find the lecture recordings at <a href="https://podcast.ucsd.edu/">podcast.ucsd.edu</a>.</p>
<h2 id="office-hours">Office Hours</h2>
<p>Course staff, including tutors, TAs, and instructors, will hold office hours
regularly throughout the week. Please see the <a href="./office_hours.html">office
hours</a> page for the schedule and for instructions.</p>
<h2 id="discussions">Discussions</h2>
<p>There are two discussion times, but they
will cover the same content on the same schedule.</p>
<ul>
<li>11:00 AM
on
Monday
in
CENTR 214</li>
</ul>
<p>The discussions review the materials from that week's lectures and
prepare you for the homework. Just as with lecture, topics and techniques introduced
in discussion might appear on the homework and in exams. In particular, some of the more
difficult homework problems may be partially solved in discussion section to give you a
good start.</p>
<p>Discussions will also serve as midterm reviews in the weeks leading up to the exams.</p>
<p>Attendance is recommended, but not required. The discussions will be podcasted,
but the nature of discussion section (they usually involve a large amount of
groupwork) means that the podcasted discussion might not be as useful as
in-person attendance.</p>
<h2 id="labs">Labs</h2>
<p>There will be two types of assignments in DSC 40B: <em>labs</em> and <em>homeworks</em>.
Labs help develop <em>essential</em> knowledge, while homeworks test your ability to
apply that knowledge to solve more difficult problems. You can think of labs as
a quick check on your understanding before you head into the homework.</p>
<p>Labs consist of a small number of autograded multiple choice or numerical answer
questions. They will be posted on Gradescope weekly. The exams will mostly
consist of questions of a similar format and difficulty as those on the labs.
However, the exams will have a time limit, while the labs have no time limit.</p>
<p>In previous iterations of DSC 40B, these "essential" questions were actually a
part of the homeworks. We have decided to move these essential problems to their
own lab assignment, therefore making the homeworks shorter. This has a big
benefit: because the labs are autograded and due before the homeworks, you'll
get your lab grade <em>before</em> heading into the homework. This gives you an
opportunity to patch up any misunderstandings.</p>
<h3 id="lab-redemptions">Lab Redemptions</h3>
<p>You should think of the labs as a first practice towards the goal of mastering
the topics in DSC 40B. But the first time you practice anything, you're not going
to be perfect. The key is to <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022"><em>learn from the
mistakes</em></a>.</p>
<p>To encourage this, DSC 40B uses the concept of "redemption" on lab
assignments. Under this policy, you may regain 85% of the credit for a lab
problem that was previously answered incorrectly by submitting an explanation of
your mistake along with a correction. This policy encourages you to revisit
lab mistakes in order to correct your understanding, and allows us to give
quick, targeted feedback through grading.</p>
<p>For a problem to be eligible for redemption, you must have submitted an answer
to the problem.</p>
<p>If you got the problem correct, you'll receive the total number of points for
it. If you didn't get the problem correct, even due to a relatively small
mistake, you'll receive no credit <em>until</em> you submit a redemption request (see
below). If your redemption request is accepted, you'll be given 85% of the
credit for the problem. You can think of the 15% deduction as the cost of
requiring a tutor to look over your redemption request — or, if you're a
glass-half-full kind of person, as an incentive to get the problem correct the
first time around.</p>
<h3 id="redemption-requests">Redemption Requests</h3>
<p>There are two ways to submit a redemption request for a lab problem:</p>
<ul>
<li>Option 1. Come to any tutor, TA, or instructor office hours and discuss the problem
(<strong>preferred</strong>)</li>
<li>Option 2. Submit a <a href="https://www.gradescope.com/help#help-center-item-student-regrades">regrade
request</a> on
<a href="https://www.gradescope.com/courses/937203">Gradescope</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Whichever method you choose, you should answer the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What was the main misconception or misunderstanding that led to your answer
being wrong?</li>
<li>How did this misconception cause the wrong answer?</li>
<li>How does fixing the misunderstanding lead you to the right answer?</li>
</ol>
<p>The next section contains an example of a good redemption request.</p>
<p>The amount of detail needed in your request depends on how complex your mistake
was; if it was a simple one, only one or two sentences may be necessary. A
grader will review your request shortly (as long as you submit it within a week
of the homework scores being posted, your regrade request will be reviewed). If
you aren't able to identify what you did incorrectly, you'll be asked to attend
a grader's office hours in order to discuss the problem in more detail.</p>
<p>Note that we will not be able to handle redemption requests which are <em>submitted</em>
more than a week after you have received your grade. However, as long as your request
is submitted within a week, we will process it.</p>
<h4 id="example">Example</h4>
<p>Here's a simple example to demonstrate the redemption process. Suppose you're
given the following simple problem:</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong>: What is <code>3 + 5 * 2</code>?</p>
<p>Let's say you misapplied the order of operations, giving you an incorrect answer
of 16 (the correct answer is, of course, 13).
Here's a good redemption request that uses the template above:</p>
<blockquote>
<i>
1) I misapplied the order of operations. 2) I added before multiplying, so I
got (3 + 5) * 2 = 8 * 2 = 16. 3) Multiplication should be done first so that
we get 3 + (5 * 2) = 3 + 10 = 13.
</i>
</blockquote>
<p>Again, the key isn't just giving the right answer — that's published in the
solutions, after all. The important part (according to the
<a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022">research</a>)
is identifying why you made the mistake.</p>
<h2 id="homeworks">Homeworks</h2>
<p>There will be eight homeworks assigned throughout the quarter, plus one <a href="#the-super-homework">"super homework"</a>
(described below).
Homeworks will be a mixture of written problems (which are manually graded by our tutor
staff) and coding problems (which are autograded).
Each homework will be due via
Gradescope at 11:59 PM on the
Wednesday
after it
is assigned except otherwise noted, and you'll have roughly a week to complete
each assignment from the time it is posted.</p>
<p>The homework due date is carefully chosen to fit within a one week "cycle".
A "week" in DSC 40B
will start with Tuesday's lecture, followed by Thursday's. That
week's discussion on Monday will review the
lecture topics with an eye towards practical application. The lab is then due
on Sunday, giving you some practice
before the homework. The homework is then due on the next Wednesday, giving you some
time after the discussion and lab to complete it.</p>
<h3 id="regrade-requests">Regrade Requests</h3>
<p>If you feel that the grader has made a mistake, you may submit a regrade request
via Gradescope within <em>one week</em> of the grades being released. Note that part
of your grade is clarity, so if your answer was mostly right but unclear you may
still not receive full credit.</p>
<p>Note that <strong>regrade</strong> requests are not the same thing as <strong>redemption</strong> requests (though both are
submitted on Gradescope in the same way). Unfortunately, we cannot offer
redemption requests for homework problems as we do with lab problems — homework
problems are typically more complex and require more time to grade, and
regrading them would take more resources than we have available.</p>
<h3 id="the-super-homework">The "Super Homework"</h3>
<p>Instead of a comprehensive final exam, we'll have a comprehensive "Super
Homework". The super homework will focus on the content from the last two weeks
of the quarter, but it will also contain material from throughout DSC 40B. It
will be about twice as long as a typical homework.</p>
<p>Because the super homework covers twice as much material as a usual homework, it
will be worth roughly twice as much. However, you may still collaborate on the super
homework as long as you write up solutions in your own words.</p>
<p>The super homework will be due during finals week (the exact date is yet to be determined).</p>
<h2 id="collaboration-and-ai">Collaboration and AI</h2>
<p>You are highly encouraged to <em>think</em> about the lab and homework problems
together, but you must turn in your own solutions written in your own words.
We feel that discussing homework problems is an excellent way to learn, but
writing the solutions in your own words promotes a deeper, more solid
understanding than discussion alone.</p>
<p>We recommend the following way of working on the labs and homeworks. First,
meet with your partner to discuss the solutions, but don't leave the meeting
with anything written down. Wait an hour or so, then write up the solutions in
your own words working from memory. In that hour, you inevitably forgot some
of the details of the solution. If you find that you have trouble filling them
in, its a sign that you might not have understood the solution as well as you
first thought!</p>
<p>You're also encouraged to use AI (ChatGPT, etc.) in a similar way: you can
talk to ChatGPT about a problem, but don't copy its answer verbatim. Instead,
wait about an hour and put the answer in your own words. Keep in mind that
ChatGPT is infamous for being very confidently wrong, so be critical of its
output. Also keep in mind that you won't have ChatGPT on the exams, so you'll
need to understand the fundamental concepts for yourself in order to do well.</p>
<p>If you have any questions or worries about whether your collaboration
constitutes a violation of academic integrity, feel free to ask us on
Campuswire.</p>
<h2 id="slip-days">Slip Days</h2>
<p>You have <strong><em>five</em></strong> <strong>slip days</strong> to use throughout the quarter on any lab or homework
(including the super homework). A slip day extends the deadline by 24 hours.
Slip days cannot be "stacked" or "combined" to extend the deadline further
— the latest any assignment can be submitted is 24 hours after the
deadline. Slip days are applied automatically at the end of the quarter, but
it's your responsibility to keep track of how many you have left.</p>
<p>Slip days are designed to be a transparent and predictable source of leniency in
deadlines. You can use a slip day if you are too busy to complete an assignment
on its original due date (or if you forgot about it). But slips days are also
meant for things like the internet going down at 11:58 PM just as you go to
submit your homework. Slip days are to be used in exceptional circumstances, so
you probably shouldn't get close to using all of them — if you do get close to
using that many, we will likely reach out to make sure that everything is OK.</p>
<p>Note that slip days are not designed to help in the case of a serious illness or
other unfortunate event that severely disrupts your ability to participate in
the class. If something like that should arise, please let us know ASAP!</p>
<p>Note also that <strong>slip days cannot be used on the homeworks that are due right before the midterms</strong> (homework 04 and homework 08). This is because we will be releasing solutions on that Wednesday so that people can study for midterms. Please plan accordingly.</p>
<p>Lastly, a technical note: some homeworks are broken up into multiple parts that
are submitted separately (in particular, homeworks with programming problems
will have one separate Gradescope submission for each programming problem in
addition to the Gradescope submission for the written problems). Slip days are
applied to the entire homework, not to individual parts of the homework,
meaning that you only need to use one slip day per homework, no matter how many
parts there are.</p>
<h2 id="exams">Exams</h2>
<h3 id="midterms">Midterms</h3>
<p>There will be two midterm exams:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Midterm 01</strong>: Thursday, February 06 (focuses on Lectures 01 — 08)</li>
<li><strong>Midterm 02</strong>: Thursday, March 06 (focuses on Lectures 09 — 15)</li>
</ul>
<p>The exams will be held in-person during the regularly-scheduled lecture times.</p>
<p>For each midterm, you'll be allowed <em>one</em> sheet of notes on standard 8.5 by 11 inch paper, front and back. The notes can be handwritten, typed up, painted, etched with a laser, whatever, but it must be on paper (i.e., you can't use an iPad to display your notes during the exam).</p>
<p>The midterm questions themselves will be most similar to the practice problems at <a href="http://dsc40b.com/practice">dsc40b.com/practice</a>; in fact, all of the practice problems are former exam problems. More details about the midterm will be sent out about one week beforehand.</p>
<h3 id="final-exam">Final Exam</h3>
<p>The final exam for DSC 40B is a "no fault" final split into two sections:</p>
<ol>
<li>An optional Midterm 01 "Redemption" section focusing on Lectures 01 — 08</li>
<li>An optional Midterm 02 "Redemption" section focusing on Lectures 09 — 15</li>
</ol>
<p>If your score on the midterm redemption section is higher than your score on the
original midterm, it will replace that grade. Getting a lower score on a
redemption section cannot hurt you (but it will make us sad). As a consequence,
the redemption sections are effectively optional.</p>
<p>Under this policy, a bad performance on an earlier exam can be erased by good
performance on the same material in a later exam.</p>
<p><strong>Example</strong>: You got an "F" on Midterm 1 and a "B" on Midterm 2. You decide to take only the
first redemption section on the final (though you could have taken both), and you
receive an "A". Your midterm scores are now "A" and "B".</p>
<p>The redemption exams will be held on the date scheduled by the registrar: Tuesday, March 18.</p>
<p>Note that the topics from Lectures 16, 17, and 18 are not on any exam. These will
instead be tested in the <a href="#the-super-homework">Super Homework</a>.</p>
<p>For the redemption exams, you're allowed one sheet of notes per exam that you're taking.</p>
<h3 id="exam-pass-criterion">Exam Pass Criterion</h3>
<p>In order to pass the class, the mean of your two midterm scores (after
redemption is taken into account) must be 60% or greater.</p>
<p>The reason for this policy is that the exams are the only assessment in this
class which you are sure to complete by yourself, and so they are (in theory)
the purest measure of your individual understanding. This policy is not meant to
be punitive: If your exam scores are not above passing after several attempts,
it indicates that you might be better served by retaking the class with a fresh
start before moving on to later courses which will draw upon the material from
DSC 40B.</p>
<h2 id="grading">Grading</h2>
<p>We'll be using the following grading scheme:</p>
<ul>
<li>12.5%: Labs</li>
<li>30%: Homeworks</li>
<li>7.5%: "Super Homework"</li>
<li>25%: Midterm 01 (or Redemption Midterm 01, whichever is larger)</li>
<li>25%: Midterm 02 (or Redemption Midterm 02, whichever is larger)</li>
</ul>
<p>In a typical quarter, the midterm redemption policy has the same effect as a
traditional "curve", therefore replacing the need for one. The standard grading
scale (where an A is 93+, A- is 90+, B+ is 87+, etc.) will be used as a starting
point, but once all scores are in, we will run a clustering algorithm to
automatically find the best cutoffs for each letter grade. These cutoffs can
only be lowered. For instance, the threshold for an "A" will never be higher
than 93%.</p>
<p>A+ grades are not awarded according to a threshold. Instead, A+'s are awarded
to the top 5% of students by overall grade.</p>
<p>Note that in order to pass the class, the mean of your two midterm scores (after redemption is taken into account) must be 60% or greater.</p>
<p><strong>Calculating your grade</strong>: when calculating your lab and homework grades, you
should weigh each assignment by the points possible on that assignment. In
other words, the homework and lab parts of your grade are calculated by
dividing the number of points you earned across all assignments by the number
of points possible across all assignments. Some homeworks and labs are worth
more, and some are worth less. This is by design, since some assignments are
intentionally shorter.</p>
<p>You can use the above information to calculate your current grade at any point
in the quarter, but we don't post your overall grade calculation until all
grades are in and we can tell you your grade with certainty. In particular,
you'll need to decide whether or not to take the redemption exams before the
Super Homework has been graded.</p>
<h2 id="support-and-resources">Support and Resources</h2>
<p>As instructors, our job is to foster an environment where everyone, regardless
of identity, feels welcome and is able to focus on learning. If there is
something we can do in this mission, or if there is something preventing you
from succeeding in the class, please let us know. If you feel uncomfortable
speaking with us or are searching for help on a specific
concern, there are several campus resources
available to you, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://caps.ucsd.edu/">UCSD Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://thehub.ucsd.edu/">Hub Basic Needs Center</a></li>
<li><a href="https://osd.ucsd.edu/">Office for Students with Disability (OSD)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blink.ucsd.edu/HR/policies/sexual/OPHD.html">Office for Prevention of Sexual Harrassment and Discrimination</a></li>
</ul>
<p>More generally, if you have <em>any</em> concerns about your ability to focus or
succeed in this course, or just need someone to talk to, <em>please</em> contact
us ASAP and we'll figure something out.</p>
<h2 id="osd-exam-accommodations">OSD Exam Accommodations</h2>
<p>If you have exam accommodations from the OSD, you should receive an email from
the data science program that will ask you to provide your availability for
your accommodated exam. The program will then schedule the exam and notify the
instructor of its time and location. If you do not receive such an email by the
end of the second week of classes, please let us know!</p>
<p>Please be sure to respond to the email from the data science program; if the
program does not hear back from you, they will be unable to schedule your
accommodated exam.</p>
<h2 id="waitlist">Waitlist</h2>
<p>If you're on the waitlist, make sure you participate in the class just as if
you were enrolled (for example, by doing all of the assignments) so that if you
do get in, you're not behind.</p>
<p>Often, people will ask about their chances of making it off the waitlist. Unfortunately, that can be hard to answer! In some quarters, the waitlist moves
a lot; in others, not at all.</p>
<h2 id="faq">FAQ</h2>
<h3 id="is-this-class-curved">Is this class curved?</h3>
<p>In a typical quarter, the midterm redemption policy has the same effect as a
traditional "curve", therefore replacing the need for one. The standard grading
scale (where an A is 93+, A- is 90+, B+ is 87+, etc.) will be used as a starting
point, but once all scores are in, we will run a clustering algorithm to
automatically find the best cutoffs for each letter grade. These cutoffs can
only be lowered. For instance, the threshold for an "A" will never be higher
than 93%.</p>
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