CS 44, Winter 2011
Undergraduate Artificial Intelligence

Course description

This course is a broad undergraduate level introduction to the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Topics covered will include state-based problem solving, heuristic (informed) search, constraint satisfaction algorithms, propositional and first-order logic, representations of uncertainty, Bayesian networks, and basic principles of machine learning, Pointers to real-world applications in areas such as activity recognition, computer vision, robotics, etc., will be used as appropriate to illustrate various concepts.

The facebook page of this course is here. Feel free to access it and leave messages in message board!

Note: this class is intended as a broad introduction to AI for undergraduate students who have had minimal exposure to AI previously.  

Administrative info

Instructor
Tanzeem Choudhury | 210 Sudikoff | office hours: by appointment
Teaching assistant
Ye Xu | 111 Sudikoff | office hours: Wednesday&Saturday 18:30-20:30
Lectures
Class TTh 14:00-15:50 | x-hour (occasionally will be used to make up cancelled classes) W 16:15-17:20
108 Kemeny
Textbook
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (3rd Edition) - by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig
Optional book
The Quest for Artificial Intelligence - by Nils J. Nilsson

Coursework and grading

Class Participation (10%)
Midterm Exam (20%): on Feb 15.
Final Exam (20%)
Homeworks (5 assignments, 50% total)
Due on Thursdays; See the Schedule for details;
Done individually; Send submissions via blackboard.
Grades will be assessed according to correctness and quality of the written solutions and the code you generate. The homeworks will require answering questions and implementing some algorithms in Matlab. For exceptionally creative and interesting work, it is possible to receive extra credit points. Extra credit is always optional, and not doing any extra credit work will never reduce your final grade, even if everyone else in the class does a lot of extra credit. 

Late Homework Policy

  • Unless otherwise specified, homeworks are due on Thursdays at 11:59pm.
  • Students will be allowed 2 total late days without penalty. For instance, you may be late by 1 day on two different homeworks or late by 2 days on one homework. Each late day corresponds to 24 hours or part thereof. These late days are intended to account for all situations that would ordinarily require special arrangements: medical problems, conference trips, holidays, etc. So, do not simply use all of your late days on the first assignment and then ask for more if you need to go to a conference later. Once those days are used, you will be penalized according to the policy below:
    • Homework is worth full credit when submitted by the due date.
    • It is worth up to 75% for 24 more hours.
    • It is worth up to 50% for the next 24 hours.
    • It is worth 0% after that.
  • You must turn in all of the homeworks, even if for zero credit, in order to pass the course.

Honor code

Dartmouth's honor code applies to this course, and academic misconduct policies will be strictly enforced. If you have questions, ask!

You may discuss the assignments with other current CS44 students, but your submitted work must be entirely your own. That is, your code and any other solutions you submit must be created, written/typed, and documented by you alone. You may not copy anything directly from another student's work. For example, memorizing or copying onto paper a portion of someone else's solution would violate the honor code, even if you eventually turn in a different answer. Similarly, e-mailing a portion of your code to another student, or posting it on-line for them to see would violate the honor code. We do encourage discussion of assignments between students, subject to these rules. You must reference all sources of help and collaboration.

Disabilities

Students with disabilities enrolled in this course and who may need disability-related classroom accommodations are encouraged to make an appointment to see the instructor before the end of the second week of the term. All discussions will remain confidential, although the Student Accessibility Services office may be consulted to discuss appropriate implementation of any accommodation requested.