Theory of Computer Algorithms

Instructor:   Ivona Bezakova,   email:   my_initials at cs.rit.edu (humans please replace my_initials by ib)
Class meets:   Tu/Th   4-5:50pm,   room 70-3455
Tutoring center:   about 20 hours of tutoring per week (follow this link to see the schedule and more information)
Office hours:   Mo 1-3pm, Tu 2-3pm and 6-7pm, office 70-3645; e-mail works for many, please allow 24h reply time

Remarks about office hours:

• The evening office hours are for part-time students only, please come at 6pm or let me know that you are coming, otherwise I might leave.
• Due to a scheduling conflict, the Monday office hours start at 2pm on March 16th, 30th, and April 20th. They'll continue beyond 3pm if need arises.

• 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, 27%. The final will take place on May 19th, 12:30-2:30pm, room TBD.
• Midterm, 27%. The midterm will take place on Thursday, April 9th or 16th, in class. We'll take a vote in the first week to determine the exam date.
  If your score on the final is better than your score on the midterm, your final will contribute 32% toward your final grade and your midterm will contribute 22%.
• Quizzes, 10%. There will be eight weekly quizzes, every week except for the first week and the week of the midterm. The quizzes will take place on Thursdays, 4-4:10pm, in class. Each quiz will ask about material from the previous week (including the homework due the previous Wednesday). The two lowest quiz grades will be dropped and the remaining six grades contribute evenly towards your final grade.
• Homeworks, 36%. There will be eight weekly homeworks, due Wednesday 11:59pm, myCourses-time (every week except for the first week and the week of the midterm). Homework assignments will be posted on the webpage 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. (A zero given for cheating cannot be dropped.) You may choose to do the homeworks individually or in pairs. If you are working in a pair, both partners should 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 should not divide the problems and solve only some of them while your partner solves the rest. The coding part of the homework must be done jointly with both partners contributing significantly to the submission. Late homeworks will not be accepted under any circumstances, submit your work-in-progress frequently to avoid last minute panic and possible network slow-downs.

• Asymptotic analysis and divide-and-conquer
• Greedy algorithms
• Dynamic programming
• Graph algorithms
  • Traversals
  • Minimum spanning trees
  • Shortest paths
  • Network flow
• Overview of heuristics and approximation, including introduction to linear programming
• Other topics such as geometric algorithms and randomized algorithms.
  Please e-mail me any other topics you would like to see discussed in class.

• You are free to discuss the current homeworks and the project with only your partner, the instructor, and the tutors. Discussions with anybody else, including looking up the solutions online or in the literature other than the course book, are not permitted.
  You are encouraged to discuss any class material and homeworks that have been already handed in with your peers, in the tutoring center, with the instructor, or anybody else who would listen :)
• All homeworks are due on Wednesdays, 11:59pm (this is a hard deadline!). No late submissions will be tolerated. I will stop answering homework related questions (and e-mails) on Wednesdays, 8:00am. Please allow 24h reply time, though I'll do my best to reply to your questions by lunch-time on Wednesdays. You will have a week to complete each homework and the assignments will be posted on the webpage on Thursdays.
• Handing in your homeworks:
  • Coding part of the homework has to be uploaded on MyCourses by Wednesdays, 11:59pm.
  • Non-coding part may be
    • uploaded on MyCourses by Wednesday 11:59pm in the pdf-format, do not forget to include your name(s), or
    • brought to the CS main office on Wednesday (they close at 4:30pm) - clearly mark your submission as "4005-800, homework number ?", or
    • given to me in class or during office hours.
• 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.