Homework
- Timing: Homework will typically be assigned on Thursday, due
two
weeks later, on Friday by 5pm.
Occasionally it will
be assigned/due on a different day; please follow
the schedule. Homework will be turned in online via gradescope.
- Format: You should turn in, on gradescope, one pdf file containing your
homework solutions. Problems should be done in order. The homework
should be easily readible by the graders. There are two basic options
for achieving this.
- Neatly handwrite your solutions and then scan then and convert into a pdf.
- Prepare them on the computer. If you do so, latex is highly recommended, but you are free to use whatever
program you like.
Some problems may be given that you do not need to turn in. You are, however, responsible for
finishing those problems.
Advice
- Start early:
Difficult
problems are not typically solved in one sitting. Start early and
let
the ideas come to you over the course of a few days.
- Be rigorous: Each
problem has a (sometimes unwritten) requirement that you prove your algorithm correct and analyze its running time. To
obtain full credit for a problem, it is necessary to fulfill this
requirement.
- Be concise:
Express your
algorithms at the proper level of detail. Give enough details to
clearly present your solution, but not so many that the main ideas are
obscured. English is the best way to express an algorithm; revert
to
pseudocode only if necessary.
Use latex if possible Latex is the standard package for
typesetting and formatting mathematically-rich content. You are encouraged to
use it, if possible, as latex knowledge is a good life skill. Macros to
format pseudocode are available at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~thc/clrscode/
These assignments are a minimum; practicing on additional
problems is
strongly advised.
Please read all the homework
policies on this page.
- Homework grading:
The homework is the main means for learning the material in the course. Occassionally, you may not be
able to solve a homework problem. We will implement a policy that
- does not overly penalize a student for skipping an occassional problem,
- gives partial credit for problems,
- encourages you to not write voluminous garbage for a problem you do not know how to solve, in hopes
of receiving a few points.
Therefore,
- Each problem will be graded out of 20 points.
- If you turn in the sentence "Problem not done", you will receive 5 points.
Undergraduates and Graduate
students:
This class has both undergraduate and graduate students in it. The students will be treated identically
during the semester, but for the purposes of computing a final letter grade, the undergraduate and graduate
students will be looked at separately.
Late homework will
generally not be accepted. Two weeks should be sufficient time to
complete an assignment. Exceptions will be made only for exceptional
extenuating circumstances (e.g. serious illness, family crisis), and must be explained well in advance of the
deadline.
Homework colaboration policy:
The main
goal of the homework assignments is education, not evaluation. We must
also be mindful of rules regarding academic honesty and plagarism. To
facilitate these goals, we will use the following policy.
- All work submitted for credit must be your own.
- You may discuss the homework problems with your classmates, the
teaching assistant(s), and the instructors. For each problem, you must
acknowledge the people with whom you discussed your work, and you must independently write up your own
solutions.
Any written sources used (apart from the text) must also be
acknowledged; however, you may not consult any solutions from previous
years' assignments whether they are student or faculty generated.
- Solutions to problems may be available somewhere on the web. Do not use these solutions. If you
do use them, cite them.
- If you do choose to copy another student's work, or to copy
from
some other source, please state this in writing on your homework
assignment.
- Please ask if you have any questions about this policy. Violations will be treated
harshly. This means that if you violate the
policy, even once, your grade on homework for the entire semester will
be 0, and the infraction will be reported to the dean.
- THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO
THIS POLICY.
Every semester, several students are caught violating this policy and
they are reported to the dean. Typically, students use unacknowledged
sources on the web. Do not do this. If a homework problem is too hard,
start earlier, ask for help, or don't answer the question. If you can't
answer some of the questions, you are still a good person who can go on
and have a productive life. Academic dishonesty is never the correct
solution.
- Note that allowing someone else to copy your solution is just
as serious as copying someone else's solution.