EECS16A, Designing Information Devices and Systems I

Resources

Ed (Ask Questions Here)

Homework Practice Problems

Textbook: Condensed Note Content Summaries and Practice Problem Solutions

This book consists of condensed sets of notes that summarize the important material from the course notes, as well as detailed solutions for the online Practice Problems! Here's the entire book and the Table of Contents. Individual chapters of the book (notes and solutions by practice set) can be found here (the links aren't perfect, you may need to scroll a tiny bit down for some chapters). A couple brief comments on using this resource:

1. We recommend skimming the Introductory Chapter and the Conventions Chapter. These will provide some useful tips to keep in mind.
2. Each chapter has a Relevant Information section and a Problems section. The first contains a (generally complete) summary of the corresponding content from the notes. The second contains the detailed solutions mentioned above.
3. This resource may have errors or areas to improve in; if you spot something wrong and would like to mention it, or have feedback of any kind, please make a private post on ed.

Technology Needs (STEP)

Student Technology Equity Program (STEP). STEP provides laptops and other technologies for free and is for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. It requires just a simple online application form. For details, see here.

Recommended Texts

• EE16A's Guide to the Recommended Texts
• ELECTRONICS Reader (50MB) by Ali M. Niknejad, or the smaller file without links (5MB)
• Introduction to Applied Linear Algebra – Vectors, Matrices, and Least Squares by Stephen Boyd and Lieven Vandenberghe
• Introduction to Linear Algebra by Gilbert Strang
• ZoomNotes For Linear Algebra by Gilbert Strang
• Schaum's Outlines of Linear Algebra, 5th ed. by Seymour Lipschutz and Marc Lipson. Free if login from the university network. Also see roaming passports.
• Schaum's Outline of Electric Circuits, 7th ed. by Mahmood Nahvi and Joseph A. Edminister. (instructions to login to the university network from home here )

Circuit Cookbooks

• Recipe: Nodal Analysis!
• Recipe: Charge Sharing!
• Charge-Sharing Algorithm (Sp20)
• Recipe: Thevenin and Norton Equivalents! (INCOMPLETE)
• Recipe: Design Topologies!

Extra Resources

• Step-By-Step Gaussian Elimination by Andi Gu, a former student. Has at least one very minor bug regarding labeling of row operations.
• studEE16A (may need to load each page twice to view the LaTeX)
• Fun with Stacked Caps
• EECS16A Lab Equipment Guide
• Review of Past Proofs
• Fall 2022 Discussion Walkthroughs

Setting up How-To's

• Tutorial to Connect to Instructional Servers

Videos

• Professor Stephen Boyd's Videos

Past Exams

Past exams vary in scope from semester to semester, and may include topics that are not in scope for the current semester or module. Unavailable exams are indicated by N/A. In-scope topics for the current semester will be posted on Ed about a week before the corresponding exam.

Simulations and Demos

This is a running list of simulations and demos that have been created in recent semesters (in rough order of appearance).

Practice Sets: Links to Notes and Solutions

It is very strongly recommend that you try the problems themselves here before looking at the solutions below. The links for solutions are not perfect, so you may need to scroll to the bottom of the linked page to find them. Give feedback by emailing at our course email.

Policies

For a full list of course policies and the syllabus, see here.

About

EECS 16AB Course Coverage

EECS16AB was specially designed to ramp students up to prepare for courses in machine learning and design and are important classes to set the stage for the rest of your time in the department. A rough breakdown of the content in the classes is as follows:

16A:
Module 1: Introduction to systems and linear algebra
Module 2: Introduction to design and circuit analysis
Module 3: Introduction to machine learning

16B:
Module 1: Differential equations and advanced circuit design
Module 2: Introduction to robotics and control
Module 3: Introduction to unsupervised machine learning and classification

FAQ

Q1: Should I take EECS16A my first semester at Cal?

A1: If you have taken an AP calculus class, then the answer is yes! EECS16A has no prerequisites other than calculus and is designed with freshmen and incoming transfer students in mind. It is designed to be taken alongside 61A. Furthermore, we reserve seats for freshmen and incoming transfer students in the class, so you are essentially guaranteed a spot in the class your first year. It will be harder to get into the class as an upperclassman.

Q2: Should I take EECS 16A and EECS 16B before or after CS 70?

A2: EECS16A and 16B were specifically designed to help ease the transition to CS70 for incoming students. These classes provide an introduction to proofs and the kind of mathematical thinking that is very useful in a class like CS70. We recommend you take 16AB before taking CS70, this should help you have an easier time in CS 70.

Q3: Should I take MATH 54 before taking EECS16A?

A3: EECS 16A is designed to be taken without any prerequisites, so there is no need to take MATH 54 before EECS 16A. EECS 16AB teaches linear algebra with the intent of preparing you for courses like EECS 127 (Optimization) and EECS 189 (Machine Learning) and provides engineering and machine learning examples and applications for linear algebra. EECS 16AB also uses Jupyter notebooks and python so you can better connect linear algebra and computation.