Foundations of Algorithms

<title>Foundations of Algorithms</title>
<center><h2>Foundations of Algorithms</h2>
<h4>4005-800, Spring 20123, MW 12-2</h4></center>

<hr>
<h4>Contact info:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Instructor: <a href="/~zjb/">Zack Butler</a>
<li>Email: zjb-AT-cs-DOT-rit-DOT-edu
<li>Office hours [tentative]: MW 2-3, T 10-12
<li>Course webpage: http://www.cs.rit.edu/~zjb/courses/800/
</ul>

<h4>Course overview</h4> The course will consist of twice-weekly
lectures, given as a combination of slides (mostly not mine, credit
will be given!)  and written on the white board.  I will post the
slides for each day (and sometimes equivalent slides to the
handwritten material, but not always) on the course schedule.
<p>
Your final grade in the course will be determined by a number of
factors:
<ul>
<li>Weekly homeworks (32%): Homework will be due each week (other than
weeks 1 and 6) on <b>Thursday night at midnight</b>.  Note that I will
not generally be available for questions on Thursdays, but the CS
Student Center should be staffed with people who can help you.  The
homeworks may be done alone or in pairs; however, if done in pairs,
each person should participate in all parts, because of the:
<li>Weekly Quizzes: (12%): Each Wednesday (other than weeks 1 and 6),
for ten minutes at the beginning of the class period, we will have a
short quiz covering the material of the previous week, including the
homework due the previous Thursday.
<li>Midterm exam (26%): Wednesday of week 6. More information will be
forthcoming.
<li>Final exam (30%): During finals week.  More information will be
forthcoming.
<li>Your final course grade will be based on the traditional
levels of 90% for an A, 80% for a B, and so on - however, your
course grade cannot be more than one letter higher than your
average exam grade.
</ul>

<h4><a href="sched.html">Tentative schedule</a></h4>

<h4>Attendance</h4> You are expected and encouraged to attend class.
If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what was
covered during that class - I will try to be prompt with posting
homework and slides on the course web page, but the lectures will
contain important content that may not be mentioned elsewhere.

<h4>Readings</h4> The course textbook is <i>Algorithm Design</i>, by 
Kleinberg and Tardos.  I will also use some material from <i>Introduction
to Algorithms</i> by Cormen et al, 3rd ed.

<h4>Academic honesty</h4> The <a href="/programs/academicIntegrity">CS
department policy on academic honesty</a> (which itself references the
RIT policy) will be enforced.  In this class, <b>you must not discuss
homework assignments with any other students in the course (except
your partner, if you have one)!</b> (of course discussions with me and
the tutors are welcome).  If you have any questions about a particular
situation, please ask!