<p>As one of the topics of your lecture, the problems from combinatorics might be good candidates.Generally, a high school student has some conception on permutation, combination and high school geometry. So, following examples illustrates what i mean.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Take arbitary points on plane. Can we always find a line such that the number of points above and below the line is same? If yes, how ?</p></li>
<li><p>Take a point set on plane. How can we find the minimum number of points that should be added to the point set such that it contains 4 points forming a square?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>etc. Actually, the many problems in combinatorial geometry are even though hard to solve, but since they mainly focuses on points, lines they can act as motivational problems.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-11T14:54:04.870Z
Is 1 just a line regression, or am I mistaken? Also, do you have a reference for 2? Thanks for the suggestions!
Ryan Dougherty
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-11T15:10:01.413Z
The second problem is a problem from codechef.com and the first one is a simple application of median finding (Take the leftmost point and join it to other points to get the $n-1$ lines. Find the line with median slope and that is the desired line).
Dibyayan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-09T17:19:15.043Z
2014-10-09T17:19:15.043Z
Dibyayan
<p>I will be giving talks about general topics in CS, and want to hit on TCS as well. The talks will be given to K-12 schools, so not all of them will be seniors who may go to an undergraduate program at a university (Note: this question is different than <a href="https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/2386/inspirational-talk-for-final-year-high-school-pupils">Inspirational talk for final year high school pupils</a>, which only concerns seniors).</p>

<p>I am looking for references/videos/lecture slides/etc. that deal with CS/TCS topics in a general perspective given towards high/middle/lower school students.</p>

<p>The only one I have been able to find so far is this one: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msp2y_Y5MLE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msp2y_Y5MLE</a> by Michael Sipser on the P vs NP problem. It is interesting, but I want to know if there are other sources that give insight into major CS topics that they + a general audience may not have heard about before.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-11T14:52:59.280Z
I'd like to know from whoever downvoted this question to explain why.
Ryan Dougherty
<reference-request><soft-question><teaching>
Talk for K-12 Students + General Audience Reference Request
Ryan Dougherty
# Talk for K-12 Students + General Audience Reference Request

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-09)

I will be giving talks about general topics in CS, and want to hit on TCS as well. The talks will be given to K-12 schools, so not all of them will be seniors who may go to an undergraduate program at a university (Note: this question is different than [Inspirational talk for final year high school pupils](https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/2386/inspirational-talk-for-final-year-high-school-pupils), which only concerns seniors).

I am looking for references/videos/lecture slides/etc. that deal with CS/TCS topics in a general perspective given towards high/middle/lower school students.

The only one I have been able to find so far is this one: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msp2y_Y5MLE> by Michael Sipser on the P vs NP problem. It is interesting, but I want to know if there are other sources that give insight into major CS topics that they + a general audience may not have heard about before.

**Tags:** reference-request, soft-question, teaching

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I'd like to know from whoever downvoted this question to explain why.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-10-09. Score: 1

As one of the topics of your lecture, the problems from combinatorics might be good candidates.Generally, a high school student has some conception on permutation, combination and high school geometry. So, following examples illustrates what i mean.

1. Take arbitary points on plane. Can we always find a line such that the number of points above and below the line is same? If yes, how ?
2. Take a point set on plane. How can we find the minimum number of points that should be added to the point set such that it contains 4 points forming a square?

etc. Actually, the many problems in combinatorial geometry are even though hard to solve, but since they mainly focuses on points, lines they can act as motivational problems.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Is 1 just a line regression, or am I mistaken? Also, do you have a reference for 2? Thanks for the suggestions!  
> **username_1**: The second problem is a problem from codechef.com and the first one is a simple application of median finding (Take the leftmost point and join it to other points to get the $n-1$ lines. Find the line with median slope and that is the desired line).  

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