2014-2015 Academic Catalog

May 07, 2024

2014-2015 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

CSCI 100 - Can Computers Think

In this course we will follow several different lines of inquiry. We first need to explore what it means for a computer to “think”. Is a computer “thinking” when you use it to play a game, or when you use it to calculate something?After that, we will figure out the methods we as humans use to “think”; specifically how we solve problems. A good part of solving any problem is putting it in a form that we can work with. So we will look at how we state problems in ways that make them solvable. We’ll then concentrate on problems that can be approached with a computer and we’ll program the computer to solve those problems. Fulfills the Formal Analysis Perspective. No computer programming background is required; however, previous experience in thinking is essential.