- Prerequisites:
- CS 241 or equivalent background.
- Time:
- Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-11:30am
- Classroom:
- Mudd 303
- Professor:
- Dr. Sally A. Goldman (sg@cs)
- Office:
- Jolley 538, 935-7545
- Office Hours:
- Since office hours will be adjusted to meet your
needs, see the course homepage (URL
http://classes.cec.wustl.edu/~cs441)
for up-to-date office hours.
- Teaching Assistant:
- Dan Dooly (drd1@cs)
- Text Books:
-
The text book for this course is:
-
- Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, and Ronald L. Rivest.
Introduction to Algorithms.
MIT Press/McGraw-Hill, 1990.
- Homework Assignments:
- There will by 6 homework
assignments that are divided up into the following two sections:
- A core section
- that contains the problems required by all
students enrolled for credit in either CS 441T or CS 539T.
These problems can be solved by
using the techniques/algorithms taught in class in a relatively
straightforward manner (once you understand the material that the
problem is covering).
- An advanced section
- in which the solutions involves applying
the algorithms and techniques you have been taught in non-obvious
ways. Thus these problems often involve significant thought beyond
just ``absorbing'' the material covered in class. It is these
problems that will force you to really work with the techniques and
learn different ways in which they can be applied. Also, these
problems will force you to understand some of the topics covered in
more depth than required to just solve the core problems.
All problems in this section are required only for students
registered in CS 539T.
Some of the assignments will have a programming problem as part of
the core section (using the language of your choice).
You are strongly advised to get started early so that you can get help
if needed! These homeworks are not designed to be done in just a
few days. For some problems you may need to think about them a while and
then set them aside for a little.
The assignments are due at the beginning of class on the
given due date. No late assignments will be accepted.
- Switching Between CS 441T and CS 539T:
- Through April 10
you may switch from CS 539T to CS 441T, but not the other way.
Thus if you are undecided I encourage you to begin by doing the
required work for CS 539T and see how that goes for you.
Any of the advanced problems done by CS 441T students will be treated
as extra credit and thus could improve your grade in borderline cases.
- Homework Grading:
- Some of the core homework problems will be
graded by the class under the guidance of the teaching assistant.
While it is important that you can design and analyze an algorithm, it
is equally important that you can evaluate an algorithm written by
someone else and verify its correctness and stated time complexity.
Each student can volunteer to grade one problem (of one problem set).
To grade a problem you must first solve it and then verbally go over
your solution with me. The graders will be selected on a
first-come-first-served basis. There will not be enough problems for
everyone to have one to grade. Based on the quality of your grading
you will receive up to twice the point value for the problem you
grade.
- Policy on Collaboration:
- For ALL homework problems
you ARE NOT permitted to consult the solutions from problems
given in previous years (in any form including having someone who
solved the problem last year describe his/her solution or the provided
solution to you).
In solving your homework problems, you may discuss approaches to
solving the homework problems with your classmates, HOWEVER, you are
to work out all details of any solutions discussed and write up the
solution completely on your own. Also you must
clearly acknowledge
anyone (besdies Dan and I) with whom you discussed any problem
and say briefly what you discussed.
Violations of any of the above rules will be dealt with harshly!
These homework problems are designed to help you learn the material
being taught. Being told the solution and understanding it is VERY
different from working through the process of actually finding a
solution. If you do not take an active role in the process of solving
the homework problems, then you won't get much out of it, hence you
won't learn the material and you are unlikely to pass the exams.
- Exams:
- There will be two in class exams and a final exam.
There will be additional problems on the CS 539T version of the exam
and the grading scales may differ for those in CS 441T and those in
CS 539T.
All exams will be closed book but you may bring a crib sheet.
- Computation of the Final Grade:
-
The homework assignments and exams
will be weighted as follows:
homeworks -- 45%,
exam 1 -- 15%,
exam 2 -- 15%,
final -- 25%
