June 22, 2005

At the start of the class the students were assigned to research several people: Blaise Pascal, Charles Babbage George Boole, Augustus De Morgan, and Alan Turing. The students listed their person on a timeline beginning at 1000 BC and extending through present day. In addition, each student presented their historical figures contributions to computer science.

After that exercise Bobby asked the students to come up with different ways to write 146. The students set 146 equal to 1x100+4x10+6x1. The students then wrote 26 in base 8 and tried to convert it into base 10. They then set 28 base of 8 to equal 2x8+6x1=24.

She used lights to demonstrate the binary system used by computers. "Off lights" represented zeroes and the "on lights" represented ones. The students then used a spreadsheet to describe the relationship of binary and base 10, 9, 8, and so on.