Schedule
(subject to change)

CAGT = Complexity: A Guided Tour, by Melanie Mitchell
CBN = The Computational Beauty of Nature, by Gary William Flake
Week Dates Topics Readings
1 Tue. Jan. 28 Overview of complex systems CAGT: Preface, Chapter 1
CBN: Preface, Chapters 1-2
Wed. Jan. 29 (No lab)
Thu. Jan. 30 Number systems
2 Tue. Feb. 4 The Mandelbrot set, Julia sets CBN: Chapter 8
Wed. Feb. 5 Lab 1: Fractals
Thu. Feb. 6 Newton's method
3 Tue. Feb. 11 L-systems, Fractal dimension CBN: Chapters 5-6
Wed. Feb. 12 Lab 2: L-systems
Thu. Feb. 13 Stochastic fractals
4 Tue. Feb. 18 Chaos theory CBN: Chapter 10
CAGT: Chapter 2
Wed. Feb. 19 Lab 3: Dynamics and Chaos
Thu. Feb. 20 Chaos theory
5 Tue. Feb. 25 Chaos theory CBN: Sections 11.1, 11.3
Wed. Feb. 26 Lab 4: The Bifurcation Diagram
Thu. Feb. 27 The Lorenz and Henon attractors
6 Tue. Mar. 3 Turing machines CAGT: Chapters 3-4
Wed. Mar. 4 Lab 5: Turing Machines
Thu. Mar. 5 Turing machines
7 Tue. Mar. 10 Universal Turing machines
Wed. Mar. 11 Mini-conference meetings
Thu. Mar. 12 (class cancelled)
S P R I N G    B R E A K
8 Tue. Mar. 24 The limits of computation CAGT: Chapters 5-8
CBN: Chapter 20
Wed. Mar. 25 (No lab)
Thu. Mar. 26 Genetic algorithms
9 Tue. Mar. 31 Robby the Robot CAGT: Chapter 9
Wed. Apr. 1 Lab 6: Genetic Algorithms
Thu. Apr. 2 Evolving virtual creatures, evolutionary robotics
10 Tue. Apr. 7 The Prisoner's Dilemma CAGT: Chapter 14
CBN: Chapter 17
Wed. Apr. 8 Lab 7: The Prisoner's Dilemma
Thu. Apr. 9 The evolution of cooperation
11 Tue. Apr. 14 Artificial neural networks CBN: Chapter 22
Wed. Apr. 15 Lab 8: Neural Networks
Thu. Apr. 16 Artificial neural networks
12 Tue. Apr. 21 The Game of Life CAGT: Chapter 10
CBN: Chapter 15
Wed. Apr. 22 Lab 9: The Game of Life
Thu. Apr. 23 Elementary cellular automata
13 Tue. Apr. 28 Evolving cellular automata CAGT: Chapter 11
CBN: Chapter 16
Wed. Apr. 29 Lab 10: Elementary Cellular Automata
Thu. Apr. 30 Self-organization: virtual ants, boids, fireflies
14 Tue. May 5 Computer models of analogy-making: Copycat CAGT: Chapter 13
Wed. May 6 Lab 11: Self-organization
Thu. May 7 Computer models of analogy-making: Metacat