Using Claude to Visualize Algorithms

I have been trying to use the Large Language Model (LLM) Claude to generate artifacts (apps written in JavaScript and HTML) to visualize algorithms for my COMPSCI 308 course. It works amazingly well. If I had to write them myself, it would have taken hours. It also has the added benefit that I can run them in a browser on my iPad, which I use for teaching. Previously the only way I found to run code on iPad is to use Wolfram Player, which is quite buggy. ...

October 23, 2024 · 1 min · Xing Shi Cai

Writing an exam paper with Julia and Jupyter Lab

I just taught Linear Algebra, which means I need to give exams with a lot of questions about computations. I would like to have the numbers in this problems to be random, and I like to solve them with computers. (Sorry, students. Only you need to compute by hand. 😆) I have tried to use Mathematica to do so. The math parts works well. But the typesetting of Mathematica looks quite ugly. ...

March 8, 2022 · 5 min · Xing Shi Cai

Why I don't reply emails (Or effective use of edstem.org in teaching)

In the past two months when I taught Linear Algebra, I used the Q&A website Ed (edstem.org) to answer questions from students. My main motivation for using Ed is to avoid answering the same questions repeatedly. If a student post a question on Ed and I reply, everyone else can see my answers. This goal is mostly achieved. However, I also want to train students to write about mathematics formally, and to foster a sense of a community among students. These goals turned out to be a bit more difficult. ...

February 28, 2022 · 4 min · Xing Shi Cai

My teachings

Past Courses Below are lists of courses which I taught or will teach. Including, lecture slides, quizzes and exams. You are free to use any material I created for teaching without any restrictions. See links below. 💡 Materials for a course will only be made public once it has come to an conclusion. Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science 2024-01 2023-08 2023-01 2022-08 2022-03 2021-08 I also have a repository containing only lecture slides (PDF and their LaTeX source code) here — 30 Lectures in Discrete Mathematics. ...

February 11, 2021 · 3 min · Xing Shi Cai