Algorithms

Instructor:   Ivona Bezakova, email: my_initials@cs.rit.edu (please replace my_initials with ib)
Class meets:   Mo/We 10:00-12:50, room 15 (ACMT)
Make-up classes: April 1 and May 1 are holidays in Croatia (Easter Monday and Labor Day, respectively). We will make up these classes on Thursday of the same week: April 4 and May 2, at the same time as usual (rooms TBA).
Office hours (tentative):   Mondays/Wednesdays 16:00-17:00 and Tuesdays/Thursdays 13-14, office ACMT-42


0. Homework and Reading Assigments

For information about topics covered in the class, reading and homework assignments, follow this link.


1. Prerequisites

Discrete math and CS4.


2. Text

Algorithm Design by Jon Kleinberg and Eva Tardos.
This webpage: http://www.cs.rit.edu/~ib/Classes/CS515_Spring12-13/index.html


3. Course description and intended learning outcomes.

This course provides an introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms. It covers a large number of classical algorithms and their complexity and will equip students with the intellectual tools to design, analyze, implement, and evaluate their own algorithms.

Intended learning outcomes:

• Students should demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts related to the design and analysis of algorithm.
• Students should demonstrate knowledge of classical algorithms and their complexity.
• Students should be able to design and analyze their own algorithms.
• Students should implement, experiment with, compare, and report on various algorithmic solutions to the same problem.

• Final, 25%. The final will tentatively take place on TBA. More information about the final exam will appear on the final exam webpage in week 10.
• Midterm, 25%. The midterm will take place on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 10:00-11:50, in class. More information about the midterm exam will appear on the midterm webpage in week 5.
  If your score on the final is better than your score on the midterm, your final will contribute 30% toward your final grade and your midterm will contribute 20%.
• Homeworks, 50%. There will be eight weekly homeworks, due Wednesday, 10:00 (every week except for the first week and the week of the midterm). Homework assignments will be posted on the webpage about a week before they are due. The two lowest homework grades will be dropped and the remaining six grades contribute evenly towards your final grade.
  You may choose to do the homeworks individually or in pairs. If you are working as a pair, both partners have to solve the homeworks together and both partners are responsible for the final submission (both partners need to be able to explain every part of the submission). In particular, you are not allowed to divide the problems and solve only some of them while your partner solves the rest.
  Zeros for cheating will not be dropped.

• Asymptotic analysis
• Divide-and-conquer algorithms and recurrences
• Greedy algorithms
• Dynamic programming
• Graph algorithms
  • Traversals
  • Minimum spanning trees
  • Single source shortest path
  • All pairs shortest path
  • Network flow
• The P versus NP problem and NP-completeness
• Other topics such as linear programming, overview of heuristics and approximation, and randomized algorithms.
  Please let me know about any other topics you would like to see discussed in class.

• You are free to discuss the current homeworks with your classmates and the instructor. After such discussions, you have to discard all notes, cell phone pictures and other materials you created during these discussions before you write up the solutions on your own (or with your partner, if working as a pair).
  
• All homeworks are due on Wednesday, 10:00. No late submissions will be accepted. The homework assignments will be usually posted on the webpage at least six days prior to their due date.
• Handing in your homeworks:
  • Coding part of the homework has to be uploaded to MyCourses by Wednesday, 10:00. (Specific instructions for the coding part will be specified in the first week of the quarter.)
  • Non-coding part may be
    • uploaded to MyCourses by Wednesday, 10:00 as a combination of pdf, txt, and jpg files - please name them appropriately and do not forget to include your name(s) so that it displays when one reads the file
    • given to me by Wednesday, 10:00.
• Exams are closed book, closed notes. You may prepare one letter-size hand-written "summary sheet" (no photocopies).
• Homework or exam grade can be disputed within one week after the graded work is handed back. Dispute the grade with the instructor, not the grader. Your grades will be posted on MyCourses.
• The midterm and the final cannot be made up unless a true emergency arises (a proper documentation is required in such cases).
• Hopefully there is no need to link to the departmental policy on academic honesty. In the unfortunate event when cheating earns a 0 score on a homework, the two lowest non-cheating scores will be dropped. Also note that second offenses result in an F in the course.