CS 46101/56101 - Spring 2002
Design and Analysis of Algorithms
CS 4/56101 Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Volkert
office: 216 MSB
phone: 672-9037
email: volkert@cs.kent.edu
office hours: T Th 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Prerequisites:
CS 31011, CS 33001 and MATH 12003 or equivalent (discrete
mathematics and data structures)
Time and Place:
Tuesdays, 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm, MSB 121.
Midterm Exams on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 and Thursday, April 4, 2002.
Final Exam Teusday, May 7, 2002, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Required Textbook:
Introduction to
Algorithms (2nd Edition), Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest and Stein , MIT press 2001,
ISBN: 0-07-013151-1.
This is a great reference book, you will definately want to keep it after you finish this
course.
Reference Textbooks:
Fundementals of Algorithms, Brassard and Bratley, Prentice Hall, 1996
ISBN: 0-13-335068-1.
Data Structures and Algorithms in Java, (2nd Edition), Goodrich and Tamassia, Wiley Publishers, 2000
ISBN: 0-471-38367-8
Description.
This course will cover fundamentals of analysis of
algorithms, time and space complexity and their trade-offs. We will also cover sorting algorithms, heaps, hash
tables, dynamic programming, greedy algorithms, graph algorithms, and an introduction to NP-completeness.
A thorough knowledge of algorithms allows a computer scientist to determine
what problems can be solved using a given amount of resources. The tools and
techniques used for the basic algorithms covered in this course can be adapted
to provide efficient solutions to many novel problems.
The study of algorithms is mainly a mathematical study, in that it involves
calculating the amount of time used for compound solutions given costs of basic
operations, and theoretical limits on computations of certain problems.
Therefore, homeworks will not involve a lot of programming, rather algorithm
design and analysis. In the cases where programming is required, students may
program in any language they please. The stress is on algorithmic design and
clarity.
Course format:
All course material will be presented in lectures. Homeworks
will be due on the Monday before class so as to allow me time to review them
before class for the purpose of directing discussions.
Exams and Grading
All exams are open book, open note. Do not think this
means that the exams will be easy; The questions will require creativity,
but are based on material available in the book or class notes.
Your final grade will be determined as follows: 30% homeworks, 40% midterms (20% each),
30% final.
Homeworks
Homeworks may be submitted via e-mail as long as they are sent as a PDF formated file
Policies
- You are responsible for all the material covered in lectures, readings and
homeworks . I will clarify what material is most important before
tests, however it is important that you do all the readings and review your
class notes periodically.
- Class attendence and participation is important. I
encourage questions. Please don't be afraid to ask questions during a lecture,
as this often means that many people may have a similar question, and it is
worth stopping me.
- Homeworks are extremely important, since many of the topics require that
your get your hands dirty and work through the problems. I will do my
best to choose homeworks that are fun to do, and that allow some latitude for
creativity.
- There will be 10 regular assignments, roughly one per week (skipping weeks
with major exams).
- Homeworks are due at 5pm on the due date, which will be the
Monday after the homework is assigned. Since homeworks will be discussed in class,
I will mark off 20% for each day late. I will drop
the lowest homework mark of the term. No exceptions will be made to this policy, so
please don't ask.
- There will be no incompletes in this class except for reasons of dire
illness near the end of a semester in which all previous work has been
completed satisfactorily.
- You cannot redo assignments or do extra work after the semester is
over to improve your grade - when the class is over, it is over. I encourage you to track you own grades.
- Graduate students, those students enrolled in 56101, will be held to a higher level of scholarship.
- Students are encouraged to work together on homework assignments but must defer from cheating or pagiarism.
This is to say that students are allowed
to discuss homework problems but are expected to work totally independent of each other when writing up their answers.
Violation of the plagiarism and cheating policy is likely to result in failure in the assignment/course.
In addition all cases will be reported to the student conduct officer. Please see Computer Science Policy on Academic Dishonesty
- Special accommodations for students with disabilities: In accordance with
the University policy, if you have a documented disability and
require accommodations to obtain equal access in this course, please contact
the instructor at the beginning of the semester or when
given an assignment for which an accommodation is required. Students with
disabilities should verify their eligibility through the Office
of Student Disability Services (SDS) in Michael Schwartz Student Services Center (672-3391).