Course Information

Instructor: Professor Cliff Stein, 107 Sudikoff , x2760

Lectures: 10A, T Th 10:00-11:50, 213 Sudikoff
x-hour W 3:00-4:00. Leave the x-hour free. We may decided to use them from time to time on short notice. Also, there will be no class on Oct. 2, and 21. (Prof. Aslam will teach the 16th). We will use the x-hour on Oct. 15 and 22.

Office Hours: Official office hours will be M,W 11-12. In addition, feel free to drop by any time to discuss the class. If I am not busy, we can talk then. If you want to be sure that I will not be busy, set up an appointment in advance.

email: I can be reached at cliff@cs.dartmouth.edu or cliff.stein@dartmouth.edu. I will create a mailing list for the class and will use it to make announcements and to post corrections/clarifications to the homework. Please be sure to check your mail on a reasonably regular basis.

Prerequisites: CS 45 and 49

: The primary text is Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson and Rivest. Any printing after the first is fine.

Syllabus: At the end of the course, I hope you will know the material in CLR Chapters 1-27, 34, 36 and 37. This is roughly the syllabus for the qualifying exam. We will not cover all this material in class, but most of you probably know a fair amount of it already. We will cover Chapters 1-11 quickly. Chapters 16-18 and 36 will get special attention.

Our goal will be to learn how to design, formally analyze, and reason about algorithms and data structures.

Grade: The final grade will be determined based on weekly problem sets and the final take-home exam. The exam will be roughly of your grade. Graduate classes are pass/fail, so I hope that grades will not be an issue. The goal of this course is to learn about algorithms.

Homwork problems will be graded on the following scale:

5

Outstanding. Especially elegant or clever solution or exceptionally clear justification and writeup. I don't expect to give out many 5's.

4

Good. The answer is basically correct and clearly presented, but is not special.

3

OK. Got the basic idea, but either some details are wrong or the presentation is not clear.

2

Poor. Something of value, but below the standard that I expect.

1

You tried, but this is not passing work.

Homework: Problem sets will be given weekly, generally due on Thursday. I encourage you to work on your homework in groups, to discuss your ideas with me, and to start early. The problems are best approached by starting early, thinking about the problems, putting them away for a day, discussing your ideas with others, etc. This process can not take place successfully in the 12 hours prior to when the homework is due. You must write up your own solutions and list anyone with whom you discussed the problem.

Whenever you present a solution, you should carefully explain how and why it works. Examine your justification carefully to make sure that it is complete and correct. Please only write down things that you believe to be correct. If you are certain you have an incorrect answer, do not write an obscure answer in an attempt to gain points. The purpose is to learn the material, not to gain points.

Many of the problems you may be able to solve partially, or for a special case. If this is the case, clearly indicate how much of the problem you are solving and then write that part up carefully.

It is not necessary that you answer every problem on every problem set. However, it is important to have done at least roughly 3/4 of the problems assigned in the course.

Late Homework: Homework is due at class time on the due date. Any exceptions must be approved by the instructor in advance.

Honor Code: The Dartmouth Honor Code applies to your conduct in this course. In particular, this means that all work submitted for credit must be your own. You may discuss your homework assignments with classmates and with me. In fact, I recommend discussing ideas and approaches to problems with your classmates. However, you should write up your own written homework solutions and should not read or copy the solutions written by others (in this or previous terms). The Dartmouth College policy on sources also applies to this course. One thing this means is that all sources must be acknowledged, whether allowed by the instructor or not.

Students with Disabilities: I encourage students with disabilities, including ``invisible'' disabilities like chronic diseases and learning disabilities, to discuss with me after class or during my office hours appropriate accommodations that might be helpful to them.