MINOR: Brain Computation - Self-assessment of prior knowledge

Essential Requirements

The course will assume basic knowledge of some essential biology, mathematics and physics as well as the basics of programming, which are required for the study of simulations and neural networks of the brain. This questionnaire is designed to help you decide if you meet the requirements (or are willing to work on self-learning for preparation). Please check all boxes that apply.

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* 1. Regarding basic knowledge of biology,

I can describe a cell and its organelles

I know what is the composition of the cell membrane

I know the basics about how DNA transcription

I know what is an ion channel

I can name the 3 main parts of a neuron

I know what is a synapse

Given a brain I can find the location of the basal ganglia and the cerebellum

I know the basic principles of the theory of evolution

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* 2. As for basic knowledge of physics and electricity,

I know what is the difference between an atom and an ion

I understand the difference between charge and current

I know how a battery stores charge

I know the basic behavior of a capacitor

I know the basic behavior of a resistor

I can write the equation that relates potential with resistance and current

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* 3. Regarding my knowledge of programming languages

I have never coded before

I don't know much, but I like to code

I code often

I have some experience in Python

I have some experience in MATLAB

I know the difference between a function and a script

I know what is a string

I know what is a 'double' and a 'float'

I know what is an 'object', as in 'object oriented programming'

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* 4. Regarding my experience in linear algebra,

I know what is a vector

I know what is a matrix

I how to multiply a vector by a matrix

I know how to solve a system of linear equations

I understand how a matrix can represent a graph

I know how to find eigenvectors and eigenvalues

I know what is the purpose of linear regression

I know what are principle components

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* 5. Regarding a my experience with calculus and differential equations

I have encountered ordinary differential equations in my previous studies.

If x is distance, I know what dx/dt represents.

I know how to calculate the solution for dx/dt = 0 and x = 5.

I know how to approximate the gradient of a function

I know how to approximate the solution of systems of ODE's (for example, forward Euler)

I know how to calculate the Taylor expansion

In statistics and probability, I am familiar with Bayes's theorem