Course Information

Instructor: Professor Cliff Stein, 107 Sudikoff , x2760

Lectures: 2A, T Th 2:00-3:50, 213 Sudikoff
x-hour W 4:00-5:00. This x-hour is at a bad time, since it is the same time as the Computer Science seminar. There will be no class on Oct. 2, and 16, and 21. We will make up at least 2 of these at some other time which we will mutually agree upon.

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.

Preprequisites: CS 25 or equivalent

Text: The textbook for the course will be:

• Ahuja, Magnanti and Orlin, Network Flows

The following are other good books on flows or related topics:

• Chvatal, Linear Programming
• Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms
• Ford and Fulkerson, Flows in Networks
• Garey and Johnson, Computers and Intractibility
• Papadimitriou and Stieglitz, Combinatorial Optimization
• Tarjan, Data Structures and Network Algorithms
• Lawler, Combinatorial Optimization, Networks and Matriods

I will also be handing out papers during the quarter.

Work for the Course:

• Problem Sets: There will be 3 or 4 problem sets covering the material in the course. I expect everyone to do most of the problems on the problem sets. Some of the problems will be difficult, and it is not expected that you get every problem.
• Be a good seminar participant: The class periods will be a mixture of lectures and group problem solving sessions. You are expected to participate in these sessions, and hence to be in class. You are expected to have done the appropriate reading for the class.
• Lecture or Project: I would like everyone to do some sort of project or to prepare a lecture in the course. Projects can be either implementations of algorithms, or research on some flow problem. Lectures may be one of the regular lectures, or on some additional topic. By midway through the course, you must have decided on either a particular project or a particular lecture.

Homework:

I encourage you to work on your homework in groups, to discuss your ideas with me, and to start early. You will be given plenty of time to do the assignments, however 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.

Most of your homework should be handed in on time. If you have not finished by the due date and you wish to keep working on some of the problems for a few days that is fine, provided you have cleared it with me. No homework will be accepted more than 1 week after the due date. There is no specific penalty for one late homework, but there is a penalty for chronically late homework. There is a severe penalty for failure to hand in an assignment. In particular, failure to hand in any one assignment by more than 1 week after the due date may be grounds for failing the course.

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.

You do not have to do every problem. However, you should be sure to complete about 2/3 of the problems over the course of the semester.

Grades: Course grades will be approximately Homework, lecture or project, class participation.

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.

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.