Stumbling around Amazon in search of more foreign language readers, I came across a couple of really clever reviews written by the same person. I know nothing about Sean Burke, except that he claims to be from Alaska. Thus I have no proof that he's not actually Alan Hogue. If you combine the wit with the willingness to review books on computers and linguistics, I think we've got an A.K.A.
Alan, it's time to 'fess up.
Posted by Ben Brumfield at June 10, 2006 07:07 PMHmmm, is this why we've never seen him in person?
Posted by: Martha Bridegam at June 11, 2006 09:03 AMThe fellow does seem rather intelligent, and I'm sure someone with such wit must be sexy, too, but alas I am not Sean Burke.
Ben, with your strange Amazon fixation, I just thought you might like to know that I've updated my wishlist. Most of the anime is gone so I look tres smart now. Fame cannot be far behind.
By the way, you aren't conversant with discrete mathematics, are you?
Posted by: Alan Hogue at June 13, 2006 08:23 PMYou aren't conversant with discrete mathematics, are you?
If COMP280 taught me anything, it taught me discrete mathematics. Or at least it claimed to -- I remember being delighted to find that the subject matter was really just Logic, rather than actual Math. (Yes, you can call me Talking Barbie)
What do you need to know?
Posted by: Ben Brumfield at June 13, 2006 08:56 PMJust wondering if you have any recommendations for introductions to the subject, or any particular suggestions for how to approach it.
I found a few classics on Amazon, but they seem a little beyond me at this point.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at June 14, 2006 12:35 AMWell, we used Susanna Epp's Discrete Mathematics with Applications in Comp 280. I don't remember ever cracking the book in class, but looking over it, it seems to cover the same material we did in class.
UC Berkeley's CS 70 doesn't cover quite the same material we did, but does get into fun stuff like Bayesian analysis. Math 55 seems more like what we covered, which was mainly logic, applied logic, set theory, counting, functions, and algorithm efficiency. I can't say I've used counting theory much, but the rest has been invaluable.
Posted by: Ben Brumfield at June 15, 2006 05:37 AM