CS331H: ALGORITHMS AND COMPLEXITY (Honors), Spring 2015 

Dept of Computer Science, UT-Austin 

COURSE DESCRIPTION 

Time/Location/Unique number. TTh 3:30-5, GDC 1.304; Discussion Session F 10-11, GDC 1.304. Unique #51845.

Prerequisites. The following, with a grade of at least C- in each course: CS 311, 311H, 313H, or 313K; CS 307, 314, 314H, 315, or 315H; CS 310, 310H, 429, or 429H; M362K or SSC321; credit with a grade of at least C- or registration for M340L or SSC329C; and consent of the honors director. 

Professor. Vijaya Ramachandran (vlr"at"cs, GDC 4.430, 471-9554)
Office Hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-6 p.m. 

Teaching Assistant. Eshan Chattopadhyay (eshanc"at"cs).
TA Office Hours. Mondays and Wednesdays 10:30 - 11:30 am. Location TBA.
Proctor. Kevin Yeh  (kevinyeah.stuy"at"gmail.com).

Textbook. T.H. Cormen, C.E. Leiserson, R.L. Rivest, C. Stein, Introduction to Algorithms, Third Edition, MIT Press, 2009. 

COURSE OUTLINE. This course will cover the basic aspects of the theory of algorithms, including divide-and-conquer, greedy, and dynamic programming, several graph algorithms, randomized algorithms, and approximation algorithms, together with an introduction to undecidability, and to NP-completeness. Here is a high-level course schedule. 

COURSE SCHEDULE. 

This is a theory course and there is no programming content. This course carries the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) flag: establishing the correctness of algorithms and rigorous bounds on their running times, and deriving proofs of NP-completeness and undecidability are important components of this course. 

Grading. The course grade will be based on the following course-work. 

• Two in-class tests 
• Final exam 
• Class assignments 
• Class participation 

Course Grade. The course grade will be computed as follows: 

• The two tests and the final exam will all be treated equally.
  The top two scores among the three will each contribute 30 points, and the lowest score among the three will contribute 9 points, for a total of 69 points for the three. 
• The class assignments will account for 28 points 
• Together with the 3 points for class attendance and participation, this adds up to 100 points. 

Key Dates. (Please make a note of these dates -- there will be no make-up test or exam.)

• First Test: Tuesday, March 3, 3:30-5:00 p.m. 
• Second Test: Tuesday, April 21, 3:30-5:00 p.m. 
• Final Exam: Saturday, May 16, 2-5 p.m. 

Additional Information on Coursework. 

• At least half of the material in the tests and final exam will build directly on material seen in class and in the problem sets. 
• The final exam is cumulative, while the second test will mainly cover the material not included in the first test. (Basic background material seen prior to the first test will be included in the second test.) 
• You are allowed one sheet of personal notes for each of the two tests, and no other material. You can bring two sheets of notes to the final exam (and no other material). 
• Collaboration on Problem Sets. Students may discuss the problem sets with one another, but solutions must be written up separately. Please include a statement at the start of your solution to each problem that lists the individuals with whom the problem was discussed. If a key idea was obtained from another book or paper (other than the course textbook), then the source of that idea should be cited, and then should be written in your own words. If no outside source was consulted, then a statement to this effect should be made.
  Note that there is no penalty for discussing with others; you are, in fact, encouraged to do so. But be sure to acknowledge these discussions in your write-up.
  Do not copy solutions from others -- this would be a serious case of scholastic dishonesty. 

Piazza and Canvas. All class-related course material and discussion will be on Piazza or Canvas, and students are encouraged to post comments and queries about class material on Piazza. 

Please reserve your email messages to the instructor and TA for matters that concern only you. For queries relating to class material, please post to the discussion board so that everyone can benefit from the query and the responses. 

Grading Queries. Any questions on grading should be brought to the attention of the TA or the instructor no later than a week after the graded material is returned to the class. 

Students with Disabilities. Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259, http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd
If you intend to notify me of such accommodations, please do so by February 4. 

Accommodations for Religious Holidays. If you must miss a class or an examination in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time before or after the absence.
If you intend to make use of such accommodations, please let me know by February 4. 

Statement on Scholastic Dishonesty. Anyone who violates the rules for the problem sets or who cheats in the mini-tests, tests or final exam is in danger of receiving an F for the course. Additional penalties may be levied by the Computer Science Department and the University.
The departmental code of conduct posted at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/undergraduate-program/code-conduct/ will apply unless superseded by the rules stated for this course in this course description.