CS 2102

For those who have learned real analysis in math, it' s super easy. I did not do hw (all rely on my partner ) and use 4 hours to go over the midterm and 3 hours for final. Probably b/c Edwards is leaving so he becomes more lenient? The final was so easy and average is quite high(88-ish?) Easy A for me.

Discrete is pretty different from any other course most students have taken. With Edwards begins with logic, truth tables, then transitions to actual math proofs, then sets. Edwards is super passionate about this subject and clearly puts hours into preparing his slides. A lot of the sentiment towards this class is because Edwards doesn't go easy on his students. He truly loves this stuff and wants his students to enjoy at the high level he does. The problem sets are pretty difficult so you should START EARLY and GO TO TA OFFICE HOURS to work on it. What really makes this course worthwhile are the "Ah Ha" moments when you understand the proof, because they again, they aren't easy. Edwards said in the beginning of the semester that his Exams would not be easy.....and he was right. They were very hard, but if you thoroughly understood all the problems from class and the problem set, it was....still pretty hard lol. But as you can tell from the grade distribution it wasn't impossible. Edwards is moving and will not be teaching at UVA, so this course will definitely be easier. That said, he was a really awesome dude who really loved discrete and will be missed (by some of us lol).

I would like to preface this review with the fact that this course has many issues. I think it is incredibly unfair that the same course (CS 2102) taught by different professors can be so completely different in terms of difficulty, course material and policies. This semester other teachers allowed open notes midterms and ungraded homework assignments. This is Edwards last semester but this class was horrible. To be fair it is very difficult to teach this subject, and for me, it unfortunately didn't click. That being said, however, I don't think Edwards is a good teacher. He moves very quickly through material as if we've seen it before. He repeatedly was unhappy with us for not putting in the effort or working hard on the in class problems, when in reality, a large percentage of the class didn't know what was going on so they couldn't solve the problem. He would intentionally not go over problems in class if it looked like we didn't care. I went to office hours for help and I felt incredibly inferior. Overall, this course is very difficult, and Edwards made it more difficult than it needed to be. I don't recommend this class at all. Wound up doing great in the class in the end because of a crazy curve put on the final, (was hoping for a C-, thought the exam was super difficult, got a A on it) but the good final grade really wasn't even worth the stress of the class.

Definitely one of the worse CS requirements. Annoying problem sets that make you BS things you don't really know or found through Google. He grades pretty leniently on the problem sets though, so you have a lot of freedom in the wording as long as you get the conclusion right. Exams were stressful but not impossible. We also had to do some group project with making your own problem and stuff which was nothing too bad. I just forgot to turn them in sometimes lol. Came out with a good grade, and it seems like a precursor to Algo (CS 4102) so expect more of this later.

God awful course. I didn't mind the workload (there are problem sets every week) but the exams were terrible. Class averages were usually in the low 70s for exams, and no curve was added. In addition to problem sets, we also had to do portfolio problems and an RSA encryption assignment. The portfolio problems were mostly grade buffers, but still a pain to do. RSA was also fun, but also a pain considering most of the TAs didn't know how to do it, and there were little support resources for learning. It's a more difficult class than it honestly needs to be, and it decimated my GPA. Take it with Evans - I don't know how much more you'll learn, but I've heard he's really generous about grades, and you don't have to do all of this extra work. Edwards was a cool guy, but generally unhelpful.

tl;dr take it with Evans, save yourself a world of regret.

The first thing I will say about this class is that don't let it fool you: the first three weeks seem pretty easy, but then when you start learning proofs, this class gets way harder. After about week 4, it's proofs the rest of the class. Homework is weekly and difficult. Start early on it and find a partner you can consistently work with, because you are allowed to work with a partner. You have the whole week to do a problem set of about 10 questions, so start on them early in the week.

Then there's the portfolio. This thing makes no sense at all and I personally hated it because it's incredibly complicated and not really useful at all, but it's worth a fair amount of your grade so take it seriously. The TA's in this class can be picky at times over very small details which is annoying. There is one midterm and one final in this class, both of which are very challenging even if you've studied for 10 hours, but the best advice I can give for those is to study all of the rules for proofs.

On the bright side, Professor Edwards is a really nice guy, and wants to have all of his students succeed, and he'll answer questions very quickly if you email him. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this course to anyone unless you're doing it for a major/minor requirement.

WOW. I had really low expectations from my friends for this class, but overall I enjoyed it a lot. The class is essentially an introduction of higher level math (proofs, number theory, set theory, etc.) and it teaches you how to use logic and think mathematically. I enjoyed working on the problem sets each week and they got harder as the semester progressed. My advice is to stay on top of lectures and psets throughout the semester. The material speeds up half way through.

Yeah... this class was kinda some arse. Make sure you know how to do all the problems. Sometimes it's more helpful doing the problems yourself before working with your group just to make sure you don't rely on them and actually figure out how to do the problems. The weekly practice sets are hella long though so it's kinda annoying. Edwards is pretty dry so it's not like it's easy to pay attention in class either. But overall, just expect to teach yourself. The material isn't too bad and it's very reasonable to get an A / A-, but yeah I failed tho, so don't be like me lol.

The difficulty of the class mostly stems from the fact that discrete math is very hard to teach. There are a lot of things that you need to intuitively "know." However, as long as you do well on the homeworks, you'll be fine. I got a B+ while my partner for the homeworks got a B, even though he did 20% worse on both exams. So really, as long as you put in the time, you'll be fine even if you don't really understand discrete math.

Most of the people who are leaving negative reviews I would imagine likely didn't try /very/ hard in this class (or as much as they should have). The exams are somewhat difficult and may seem confusing, however Professor Edwards provides all of the needed material online and there are practice problems in the book. I will admit that I found this class somewhat difficult and boring mostly due to the fact that this class is after all, a requirement based around mathematical proofs and logical reasoning.

This however should not be mistaken as to being a problem with the Professor. Edwards is in all honesty one of the most genuine and caring Professors I have met, and he really does want everyone to succeed. If you talk to him he will always respond, and he is VERY prompt with his e-mails. He does look out for his students and understands any complications you have, (i.e he will give you an extension if your partner never responded to the portfolio).

This class is only as hard as you want it to be. Get started on your homework assignments early, and do the posted readings before class. If you really make an attempt to do well you will, and I recommend that you do the homework sets independently (without the aid of a partner) if at all possible, as it will help you on the midterms/exams.

If it means anything, my anecdote is that my partner never responded to me and Dr. Edwards personally responded to my portfolio as my temporary partner, and e-mailed me back the feedback in only about two hours after I send him the email, while we were taking our final. Edwards really does care about each student and I honestly do believe that he is a good professor, though I don't think that many will find this class very interesting. (But that's not Edwards's fault)

This class is no fun. Do not take it unless you have to. Edwards is really into this sort of material but unfortunately does an awful job of transferring that passion into his teaching. Class is boring and, generally, not very fun. In spite of the title, this is by no means a "math" class. It's some strange blend of logic and proofs that I honestly still can't explain. This semester Edwards switched to a less "traditional" style of teaching in which most of lecture consisted of the class trying to puzzle through in class problems to very little avail. Plus, the homework assignments are pretty tough, and it's difficult to schedule upwards of 5 hours per week of groupwork with a partner when everyone in college has crazy schedules. Overall I am still not sure what discrete math is.

Best class ever. It was so easy that I never studies and got an A+ . Also, the professor was very cute.

HERE IS THE LOW DOWN: Don't leave homework for the night before. FIND A GOOD GROUP EARLY and vow to finish it by Mondays so you can go over it Monday nights and have two days to go to office hours to get help. David Edwards really wants to help his students.

After the first homework, I thought I would drop, but many of the homeworks are easier. The TESTS ARE EASIER THAN THE HOMEWORKS.

I sat in the back during lectures, and almost no one paid attention, but I strongly recommend sitting front and center so you can at least absorb something. Most of the concepts aren't impossible. As I said, find a good group for the homework, cause it can take up to 8 hours. BUT the tests are way easier!

Unfortunately, it seems like this is a class where you either "get it" or you don't. I was one of the lucky ones and it just kind of clicked for me, to the point that many of the problems and concepts seemed intuitively obvious. I had a couple friends who had similar experiences, but there were definitely many people who struggled.

The homeworks are hard, but not impossible. I did them with one other person and it would typically take us about 3 hours for each one. Never went to office hours so I can't speak to that. They were graded pretty leniently; we had a lot of answers that we were pretty sure were wrong or incomplete, but never got below an 8/10 on an assignment.

Going to this class seemed pretty much optional. I went maybe 50% of the time. The "pop" quizzes are never a surprise, and the lowest one is dropped anyway so it's not too much of a concern. I think Edwards is a pretty approachable guy, and you can tell that he enjoys this material. But he can be a little monotonous and I often felt like there wasn't much of a point going to lecture when most of the material seemed perfectly learnable just by looking through the slides. Also I never cracked open a textbook. The slides are good enough in my opinion.

The exams seem to be the obstacle for most people. I will say that the 2nd midterm was much harder than both the first midterm and the final. I studied probably about 2-3 hours for each exam, but again I was one of the lucky ones. Partial credit was surprisingly very good. Maybe I just had a nice TA grading mine. For a class so focused on proofs, you would think that they would mark off a lot more if you just put an answer without work, which I had to do several times due to time limitations. But they always gave full credit for those, as long as the answer was right.

Again, for a lot of people it really seems to boil down to just whether or not this class fits well with the way your mind works or something like that. I only studied a couple hours for the final and got a 99, but I know many people studied for days and did much worse. This wasn't because I'm so much smarter than all of them or anything like that; in most classes they probably do better than me. I don't have an extensive background in this

Worst class ever. You're probably only taking this if you have to, so I'm sorry & good luck. Professor is boring, dry, has terrible power points, and is rude during office hours. He assumes everyone gets what he's talking about right away and moves extremely fast, introducing new topics with one practice problem and then moving on. If you've never had exposure to "proofs" before- GOOD LUCK. I spent the entire semester trying to understand this class and some people just get it. It takes a certain kind of thinking/problem solving to succeed. "Do the problem sets by yourself" is what everyone will tell you to succeed, but realistically if you want any sort of social life you'll split it up with a group (try and find 3 other competent people). Do your portion of the problems but look at theirs and their answers if you want to do well on the tests (not speaking from experience. Got a D+ on the first test and an F on the second after studying for a solid 4 days (at least) for both, but also my fault for not doing the problem sets with TA's each week and only doing my portion of the problems. Got a B on the final after I finally understood the major concepts. Pulled out a C+ at the end of the semester despite the bad exams. Also, if you're a slow or even moderate test taker, good luck. Exams are so long that you barely have enough time to finish the problems even if you know exactly how to do it. Overall, it sucked.

Edwards has a monotone voice that lulls people to sleep. Tests are rather rushed; it is crucial that you figure out the balance between proof rigor and time. Weekly problem sets (groupwork) are a pain, especially if you have uncooperative groupmates.

This is the single worst class I have ever taken in my life. If you are not a CS major, avoid this class like the plague. If you are, know that there is about 0.1% of the material that will actually be relevant to the CS field or to your careers and this class is basically just a monumental waste of time that will make you want to rip your hair out. Also, don't mistake this for a CS class - it is a logic and proof-based math class (but honestly, I would rather take the hardest calc class in the E-school over this nonsense).

The weekly problem sets are hard - still, I recommend doing them by yourself instead of a group. Even though they will take you forever, you will actually be much better prepared for the tests - I cannot emphasize this enough. The first test is simple, but the second test may have been the hardest test I have ever taken. The final is kind of hard too, so make sure you study a lot. The TA's grade leniently and give lots of partial credit for the two tests, but there will be many questions you won't even know how to start, so that doesn't matter much.

Edwards is a bad professor, period. Yes, there is a curve at the end (though not as big as people make it out to be). Yes, he is a nice guy. Yes, he is passionate about discrete math (he calls this class his baby). But as far as lecturing goes, he is extremely boring and fails to capture the attention of the class. His slides are useless to study from for the tests too. Instead of wasting your time in lecture, I would recommend thoroughly going through the free online textbook he provides, because that actually explains all the concepts clearly and gives helpful practice problems.

I actually felt like the more I tried in this class, the more confused I became, and ended up getting worse grades. Some of the material was genuinely interesting (e.g. RSA encryption) but the real problem was that he made it overly complex and difficult. He basically made even the simplest concepts hard to understand and overall just made this class much harder and much more boring than it needed to be. Honestly, just go to TA's a lot and try your best - unfortunately this class is a prereq for real CS classes that are truly interesting and useful, so just bear with it.

Not a bad class. A lot of people hate it, but I actually enjoyed it. It's basically a class on math theory and other concepts on algorithms/logic. Edwards is very passionate about this course and he tries to make lecture enjoyable/funny. Make sure you take notes on everything because the material can end up being difficult later. The quizzes are extremely straight forward and easy. (you get to drop your lowest score as well) The tests are somewhat difficult. It's not really the questions though... time seems to be your biggest concern. I don't understand how Edwards expects us to finish his exams during class. Half the class didn't finish the first exam on time while 90% of the class didn't finish on the second exam. You need to seriously rush through all of the questions and you have no time to double check your answers. Some of the questions are a little bit tricky... so watch out. Luckily, his final isn't too bad and you have plenty of time. He also ends up curving the class... so don't worry too much.
What really hurts your grade is the homework. The homework can sometimes be extremely difficult and the grading is very meticulous. Find a GOOD group to work with and work through all of the problems together. Never divide and conquer. You'll end up screwing yourself during the exams if you do. If your group doesn't seem productive, leave and find a new group!! You can switch groups or work alone on any assignment. I highly recommend you don't work alone because the homework can sometimes be tricky. This is a theory/logic class... you can't just learn from yourself, you need to learn how others think. In general, the homework takes about 3-8 hours depending on the efficiency of your group and the difficult of the assignment.
Honestly, this class has taught me a lot. I actually highly recommend this for non-CS majors as well. Not an easy A... but it teaches you a lot. If you're a very logical thinker (you know who you are), you won't have too much trouble. Never knew there was a textbook. Taking DLD (CS 2330) before this really helps. (and vice versa. Taking this class really helps for DLD)

I have mixed feelings about this class. Although many people seem to like him, I am not a fan of Professor Edwards. The material itself is hard enough to understand, but he was extremely unhelpful in his office hours. In the times I went, he seemed incredibly annoyed that I was there and that the questions I asked were simply wasting his time. Although he is passionate about this course, his lectures are incredibly dry, especially when you get to the later, more "proofy" material. That being said, UTILIZE THE TA'S. I cannot stress this enough. I did not have a group like most people so I did all of the homeworks on my own, meaning I was in office hours once or twice a week. The TA's are incredibly helpful and genuinely understand that the material is difficult to grasp for most people. For me, they were much, much more helpful than Professor Edwards. The tests are hard, specifically the second one, but the final is pretty straightforward. The first half of the class is pretty interesting, especially when you get to the logic and conditional stuff, but the second half of the class is straight mathematical proofs, which is an absolute pain. Expect to put a lot of work into this class if you want to do well, because it is required for every CS major.

Edwards is a likable guy--he's really passionate about this class (more so than 2110, which I took with him the previous semester) and I respect him for that. The material is kind of random, but somewhat interesting at points, and proof/logic skills are good to have in any discipline. If you're not sure about a CS major, I'd hold off on this until you know for sure, because it won't be super useful otherwise.
I did the problem sets alone and yes they were pretty hard but I think if I had worked in a group, I would have slacked off on some material and been screwed for the tests. The second test was way harder than the first so be ready for that. Definitely go to office hours--the TAs are really smart and were willing to help explain a lot, and honestly there are no dumb questions. But don't underestimate the time you need for homework--start Tuesday if you can (due Thursday night) so you don't spend 7 hours in office hours and run home to turn it in at 11:58. Textbook is unnecessary, although some people have said that it has some good explanations/problems, but then again, you can also find good PPTs and documents online when you're studying.

This class is required for CS and CpE majors so it's not so much of a question of "should I take this?" as "how do I get through this class?" As other reviews have said, Prof. Edwards is a really nice guy-he genuinely wants to help you, even if sometimes he comes off a little aloof. However, he isn't the best lecturer. Something about his voice tends to make a considerable number of people fall asleep during class. He does try to make lectures more interesting with some funny pictures (most of which only he laughs at), and he is pretty good at explaining the topics covered.
The big thing about this class is the fact that the homework is essentially groupwork. He structures the homeworks so they're almost too long to do them by yourself, especially if you're taking DLD or Fun 1. Your best bet is to get a group together and split the work up, which is what he wants you to do. Be advised: choose your group wisely, because it's not fun to have half the group leave halfway through the semester and leave you out to dry (happened to me).
Most of the content throughout this semester builds off itself, with the exception of RSA Encryption and Graph Theory, so you won't be studying 20 different topics for the final. The one complaint I have about this class is that Edwards makes the tests long to the point where you'll barely finish in the time you have, so you've really got to know everything forwards and backwards.

Have fun with the proofs!

Nice enough professor, but the course itself is pretty boring. You'll almost never use this material while coding, and it's barely used in other courses as well. Group homeworks are fine, OH are usually pretty helpful. Exams can be kind of a pain though, so know your proofs well. Other than that, just a CS class you kinda have to suck it up and take.

If you do all the homework on your own, I think you can do pretty well in this class. A lot of the material I learned on my own through doing the homework (I didn't really pay attention in class/I found it hard to learn during lecture). Since you can do homework with a group, a lot of the groups ended up splitting up the problems. But I found that my group doing every problem was really helpful since you can see how other people approach the problem, and this is helpful because on the tests you'll have to think on your feet and figure out the answer by thinking logically, so being exposed to different ways of thinking was beneficial.

My least favorite course I've taken at UVA so far. Professor Edwards is a nice guy, but he is not a very good lecturer. He teaches off powerpoints, which I just hated so much. Problem sets I felt were difficult, and often much too long. The material didn't come naturally to me, so I just went to office hours to work through the problems with the help of the TAs. One good thing about this course is that there are many, many office hours and TAs that you can work with, so there's no absence of support for the students. Professor Edwards allows us to work on problem sets in groups, which I decided not to take advantage of. I believe this helped me understand the material better, but it was a mistake because some weeks the problem sets took too much time to be reasonable for a single person. Also, I decided to type up the problem set every week, partially so I could review what happened in each problem set as I typed them up and partially so it's easier for the TAs to grade. Probably took more time than it's worth. Exams, for the most part, were a straightforward application of what we learned in class. They were easier than the problem sets, but I felt they were too long for the time allotted, much like the problem sets.

I feel like I learned a lot in this class. It's really cool to be able to understand how logic and proofs work, and it's amazing to be able to know where to start when someone says "prove this", but all the cool math, I feel, is shrouded by the drudgery of the problem sets and the uninspiring lectures. Fun material, not a fun class.

Professor Edwards does get a bonus point though for his grading. I was expecting a B to a B+ in the class, but I barely got what I needed on the final to scrape by with an A-, and after a curve on the final, dropping two homework grades and the lowest quiz score (all of which were not guaranteed), and through some magic of rounding I ended up with an A in the course. It's obvious Professor Edwards will curve up so more students do better in the class to reflect the work that's expected of us.

Prof. Edwards is not the most inspiring lecturer in the world. He knows what he's talking about and is a chill guy (visit him in office hours for problem set questions), but during lecture...you gotta listen up no matter what, even if he's not helping much. If you can read the textbook on your own (I looked at the textbook a total of 3 times during the semester) and master the skills on your own, great. Don't come to lecture. But if you're not a genius, lecture helps you with honing the concepts and logic you need to master the problem sets with optimum results.

On the topic of problem sets...those things are the creation of Satan. Or Satan's little sister. Anyway, those suck a lot because they take a lot of time and effort. I liked to type them up for easy reference later in the semester. Tips: 1. Find a good group that does not slack off (or you will cry alone in a corner Wednesday nights) 2. Start early 3. Go to office hours after trying to do all the problems once with the group 4. Divide and conquer. I owe it all to my group for having a consistent schedule for working through the problem sets.

The tests are not easy. You need to know how to do the problem sets all by yourself and why things work the way they do to be able to apply that knowledge on the tests. I never had time to double check my work on tests - I had enough time to do the problems once and maybe go back to polish up one or two problems. That was it.

Overall a worthwhile class. I took it because it is required for CS majors, and I had heard bad things about it. Edwards isn't the most engaging lecturer (his voice is kinda quiet and he reads right from the slides), but he's super nice in person and wants people to enjoy his class.

I got the 3rd edition textbook by Epp, and most weeks I could get away with doing the assigned reading instead of going to lecture. However, I kind of regret not going to lecture as much because there are some classes where you learn something that is actually super mind-blowing and cool!

As far as work and grades go, there is one problem set a week and it is SO IMPORTANT that you get a good group for these. Office hours are super helpful, and its super manageable if you split the problems among 3-4 people. The tests are very similar to the problem sets, and he also gives past exams w/ solutions that are very very helpful.

This class was not fun. If you have taken proof-based math courses at U.Va. before such as MATH 2315, MATH 3351, or MATH 3354, this class will not teach you anything you haven't seen before. The class covers basic math proofs techniques (direct proof, contradiction, induction) about topics such as functions and integers. If you can place out of this course from Arts and Science math classes, I would recommend doing so. Taking MATH 3354 (Survey of Algebra) will give anyone a better grounding in Discrete Math without this guy's lectures and problem sets.

Professor Edwards is a really awesome guy and does a good job engaging the class. That being said I personally wasn't the biggest fan of the subject matter. I only took this class because it is a prereq and would not have taken it otherwise. There is just something about the subject matter that trips a lot of people up just because it is often arbitrary and counter intuitive. Also, being a math wiz does not guarantee you any sort of edge in this class, this is not normal math. Its proof based conceptual math. The weekly homework sets can be tough so make sure you get a good group (also, he takes the questions from the book and you can often find a similar problem worked somewhere in the chapter). If you gotta take it, it won't kill ya, but don't otherwise

Professor Edwards works hard to make this class enjoyable. He often has random cartoons on the slides to lighten up the class. He can be dry at times, but he tries to engage the class with in-class exercises. I didn't hate the curriculum, but I wouldn't recommend it to a non-CS major. The class is pretty tough - 3 exams total and a problem set every week.

The material is a little bit dry but the professor is awesome. He definitely knows his stuff and you will definitely learn more than discrete math in this course!

For some very weird reason, this professor makes everything simple more difficult. Very dry lecture with powerpoint slides that he reads directly off from. He does not provide his own previous tests, but rather Professor Knight's practice tests, which don't help you prepare for his tests. I am not sure if I would recommend this class.

The concepts covered in this class tend to be rather simple, especially if you have any background in logic or set theory.
If I could go back and give myself advice regarding this class, I would say go to lecture a little more and really nail down the steps to RSA encryption which tripped me up on a test.
Other than that, this class was not bad.

So Edwards is a nice guy, he really is. He makes some nerdy jokes in class and in his slides. I just feel like it would be so much better having him as a teacher in a smaller class setting rather than a giant lecture hall. His quiet charm is easy to miss when you're sitting in the back, surrounded by people surfing facebook. As a result, around half the students eventually end up skipping class (only to come in for the exams). I tried going to every class, but this was actually my most skipped class in my time at UVA. I just didn't absorb anything during lecture and learned everything by doing the homework. I actually didn't have a homework group (I'm more of a lone wolf when it comes to studying) so I learned by trudging through the homework problem by problem. Online resources (including wikipedia) were actually really good in helping me grasp the concepts. The book didn't help me much. As for the slides, they made a lot of sense AFTER reading through the wiki articles/other online notes on the topic.
So the material itself is the type where it seems super hard as you're trying to learn it, but looking back you think wow that was so easy how did I not get this sooner? The topic is actually rather fun and the problems are sort of like brain teasers. It's just a lot of work. I recommend giving yourself plenty of time to do the homework, at least a few days, especially if you want to do the homework on your own. It's a large chunk of your grade, and you will learn the most from doing the homework.
Overall a satisfying course and satisfying material. You just really have to take charge of teaching it to yourself.

Like the other reviews stated, Edwards is not a great teacher, although I really don't know how teachable this subject is -- it seemed to me that you either understood the material pretty easily or you struggled to catch up. Having a good group is important but knowing how to do the homework on your own is the MOST important. If you know the homework, you'll do fine on the tests. As a second year engineering student still finishing up the general engineering requirements, I found that I definitely did not have the time needed to dedicate to this class to do well so know that you may be spread pretty thin w/ your classes if you take the CS engineering curriculum as is.

Edwards is nice guy, not the greatest lecturer in terms of getting things across. This is partly due to how dry the class is, but also how Edwards doesn't seem to connect with the students. Like others said, he's heavily dependent on slides which presents information in a very disorganized manner (if there is info at all). I think he genuinely tries, and I'll give him credit for that.

Pick a good group for the homework - it was pretty easily graded in my opinion. Some homeworks are harder than others, you can always go to Edwards if you need help.

2 tests and a final. 2nd test was absolutely brutal, but I think Edwards felt bad and kind of pulled back on the final. Go to class, and stay attentive and you'll do fine - that is more than half the battle, very easy to sleep or not go at all (I didn't go to class for the 2nd half of the semester).

Honestly, the class is very hard. A lot of the material you are going to have to teach yourself. You can go to lecture, you can try to listen, but you are going to walk away thinking, "huh."
As someone who is trying to be a CS major, who is not in the E school and not naturally gifted at math (not terrible either), it was definitely a class that makes you stay in on Saturday, sometimes Friday nights if you doing poorly. He isn't the best lecturer and the slides are about as useful as Anne Frank's drumset, when you get down to it, the slides could be summed up as: "What is the answer to xyz?" *You scroll down to find the answer on the next slide only to find out it isn't written there or anywhere*. So definitely, gonna have to be a class where you teach yourself and YouTube videos become you're new substitute teacher.

HOWEVER, it is a rewarding class if you persevere, you actually feel like you accomplished something, no matter how cheesy you think that sounds. Additionally, he made the final purposely easier to boosts everyone grades because everyone's grades were dumpstered by the second exam.

tl;dr - hard class, bad slides, mediocre teacher (however, that could just be because he is new to the big lecture hall scene), rewarding class if you put in the hours, and it can be done by anyone, not just E school geniuses.

Nice guy, definitely tried to teach. Was he successful? Not really. I had to rely on the book to understand everything. Homeworks were kind of a pain to do but definitely helped for the exam if you did well.

Edwards is pretty cool. I liked his lectures and appreciated that he tried to make them more engaging.

My only gripe is that I wish he wouldn't use slides so much and would instead write everything out on the blackboard.

The homework is submitted in groups. Make sure you have a good one--I did not and had to do it all myself. This made me understand the material better, but also took a toll in time spent on other classes.

Professor Edwards uses powerpoint presentations to guide his class. Often, these powerpoints are lengthy, crowded, and tangentially related to the course material that is relevant to the majors taking this class. Professor Edwards teaching methodology involves reading almost verbatim from his slides. The lectures were often dry and disengaging. The TA I approached for this course did not know basic material from the course and asked me the same questions I asked him. Overall, Professor Edwards did not effectively teach his class, and I had to rely on the very useful textbook to guide me through the class.

Professor Edwards was well-meaning, but he used another professor's slides which seemed way too broad. The class got much, much more difficult midway through the semester, and seemed less organized. "Important" topics seemed like they were breezed over, and going back to the slides was unhelpful. What this class really needs is a better textbook and more logically organized syllabus.

Edwards first time teaching this course was when I took it. His lectures were decent, but on the duller size overall. He definitely knows the material, but had some trouble communicating some of his ideas to the class. He's open to discussion on some parts of the class, but maybe not anymore since he's gotten some experience teaching it.

The course itself is difficult. It's proof focused, and homework and tests consist of long-ish proofs of different problems.

I'd recommend staying away from the course unless you're genuinely interested in the subject or its required. It's not an easy A, but it's not impossible to get an A if you really put your mind to it.

I found this class extremely boring because of the unengaging way lectures were presented, but Edwards is fair and the content is useful. Just make sure to do all readings and homework as they will help more than lecture.

Edwards knows the material well but has some trouble communicating it effectively. The tests can be difficult but he's fair with the grading, and if you study the homework and the book problems you'll do well. Following along with the book will be very beneficial.