CS388G: Algorithms: Techniques and Theory

CS388G: Algorithms: Techniques/Theory (#51000), Fall 2015

The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Computer Science
August 25, 2015

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Time and Place. TTh 2-3:30, GDC 6.202

Professor. Vijaya Ramachandran (vlr"at"cs), GDC 4.430, 471-9554.
Office Hours. TTh 3:30-4:30.

TA. Udit Agarwal (udit”at”cs)
Office Hours. M 10-11, F 3-4.

Textbook and Course Material.

T.H. Cormen, C.E. Leiserson, R.L. Rivest, C. Stein, Introduction to Algorithms, Third Edition, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2009. About half of the course material will be from the textbook.
Selected journal and conference papers.
Lecture notes for selected material.

Prerequisites. Graduate standing, and a theory algorithms course such as undergraduate CS331.

COURSE OUTLINE. This is a graduate diversity course in a theory thread . We will cover selected topics in the design and analysis of algorithms as follows. All algorithms will be analyzed to obtain provable bounds.

Here is a course outline. Additional topics may be covered at the end of the semester as time permits.

Introduction; maximum flow and matching: Ford-Fulkerson; Edmonds-Karp; preflow push; Edmonds' matching algorithm	Two weeks
Short Topics: Online algorithms and paging; cache-oblivious algorithms; parallel and multicore algorithms	One week
NP-completeness: Cook's theorem; NP-completeness reductions; approximation algorithm	Two weeks
Randomized algorithms: Hashing; tail bounds; randomized Quicksort; randomized graph algorithms	Two to three weeks
Short Topics: MST and shortest paths: algorithms and complexity	One week
Amortized analysis: Splay tree; Fibonacci heap; `alpha' bound for disjoint sets	Two weeks

There is no programming component to the course.

Canvas. Course material will be posted on Canvas.

Proposed Dates and Times for the 2 Tests.

The proposed dates and times for the two tests are:

Thursday, October 8, 5-7 pm
Thursday, December 3, 5-7 pm

Any student with a conflict with either of these two time-slots should report to me by September 3. Alternate conflict-free time-slots will be chosen in consultation with all students.
Please make a note of the dates --- there will be no make-up dates once they are finalized.

Course Grade. The course grade will include plus and minus grades, and will be based on the following:

Two tests, worth totally 45 points.
Problem sets, worth totally 32 points.
Project, worth 18 points.
Class participation, worth 5 points.

Tests. The total of 45 points is distributed over the two tests as follows.

30 points for the higher scoring test.
15 points for the lower scoring test.

Project. We will have extended class meetings towards the end of the semester for project presentations.

Please hold the 3:30-5 time slot immediately following this class open for project presentations on November 19 and November 24.
We may also have project presentations the afternoon of Friday, November 20 (this will depend on the size of the class).
Please report any conflicts with to me by September 3.

Class Participation. This will be graded based on questions and comments in class, comments posted on the discussion board, and interactions during office hours.

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 require any assistance or accommodations from me, please let me know by September 11.

Accommodations for Religious Holidays. By UT Austin policy, you must notify the instructor of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. 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, provided proper notification is given.

If you intend to make use of such accommodations, please let me know by September 11.

Statement on Scholastic Dishonesty. Anyone who violates the rules for the problem sets or who cheats in the in-class tests or final exam is in danger of receiving an F for the course. Additional penalties may be levied by the Computer Sciences department and the University. See http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/conduct/

Course URL. http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~vlr/courses/f15.388g/index.html