CISC 621

CISC 621 Algorithm Design and Analysis

Syllabus, Fall, 1999

General Information

Course meeting time: TR 9:30-10:15am. place: 219 Smith Hall

Lecture: B.D. Saunders, Office hours TWTh 11-12 in 456 Smith

TA: Pavel Laskov, Office hours MF 10-11am in 404 Wolf.

The computer (composers) project number: 2029

Text: Introduction to Algorithms, by Corman, Leiserson, and Rivest.

Coverage and pace, tentative

Chapter I, Introduction: 0.5 weeks.
Section II, Sorting: 2 weeks.
Section I, Mathematical Foundations: 0.5 weeks
Section III, Data Structures: 2 weeks.
Section IV, Design and Analysis Techniques: 1 week.
Section V, Advanced Data structures: 2 weeks.
Section VI, Graph algorithms: 2.5 weeks.
Section VII, Selected topics:
- Chapter 31, 32, 33, Methods for mathematical problems: 2 weeks.
- chapter 34 or 35: 0.5 weeks.
- Chapter 36, 37, NP-Completeness: 1 week.

Homework

There will be 18 homework problems, ranging in difficulty from easy to extremely difficult. There will be two types of problems: individual and group, with there being nine problems of each type.

Individual problems are to be solved by you. This means that things such as working with other people, asking students who have taken the class previously, etc are conidered cheating and dealt with accordingly.
Group problems will be solved by your assigned group. In this case, you can only talk with members of your group about the problems.

For both individual and group problems the following are considered cheating and will be dealt with accordingly: looking the solution up in any source other than those listed above; looking up the solution by locating a paper in the literature; looking in any way at solutions from prior years or from other courses; posting the problem on the Internet, seeking a solution; etc. You may ask others for clarifications of the problem statement. If in doubt, ask the instructor.

Each group will be assigned two problems to grade: one group problem and one individual problem. A separate handout provides specifics on what is to be handed in; how the groups will work; and how the problem grading will work.

Exam

There will be a final exam on Monday, December 13 at 10:30AM in Smith 219 (the regular classroom for the course). This exam will cover the entire course, and will be 85% "facts" oriented, and 15% problem oriented.

Grading

Homeworks - 50% more or less

Individual problems: 25%
Group problems: 20%
Group participation: 5% or more*

Exam - 50%

Class participation - this is the more or less

* Proper group participation and contributions are mandatory. Failure to to so will result in failure of the course.
Course homepage: http://www.cis.udel.edu/~saunders/courses/621/99f

Corrections, suggestions and comments to saunders@cis.udel.edu