1
Randomized Algorithms
Course Information
Instructor
- Name:
Prof. Cliff Stein
- Office:
340 Mudd Hall
- Phone:
854-5238
- E-mail:
cliff@ieor.columbia.edu
- Office Hours: T 10:30 - 11:30 and by appointment
Course
- Meets:T 4:10 - 6:40
- Room: Mudd 337
Prerequisite
- A course in Algorithms (at the level of CSOR 4231) or Network Flows (at the level of IEOR 6610)
Text
- Required:
Randomized Algorithms, Motwani and Raghavan
Work for the course
Homework
There will be three or four homework assignments through the term. These will contain a mix of some easier problems and some very hard problems. Students are expected to complete at least 75% of the assigned homework problems.
Homework Policy
The goal of the homework assignments is education, not evaluation.
We must also be mindful of rules regarding academic honesty and
plagiarism. 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 Professor Stein. For each problem,
you must acknowledge
the people with whom you discussed your work, and you must 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.
- Please ask if you have any questions about this policy.
Violations will be treated harshly
Homework grading
Homework problems will be graded on the following scale:
- 5 Outstanding. Especially elegant or clever solution or
exceptionally clear justification and writeup.
- 4 Good. The answer is basically correct and clearly presented,but is not special.
- 3 OK. Got the basic idea, but either some details are wrong
or the presentation is not clear.
- 2 Poor. Something of value, but below the standard that I
expect.
- 1 You tried, but this is not passing work.
Note that this scale is not linear! A 4 does not correspond to 80%
and a 3 does not correspond to 60%. Someone who gets a 4 on every
homework problem and an A on each exam will receive an A in the course.
Term Project
The course will have a term project. There are several options:
- Give a lecture in class
- Do a research project on randomized algorithms and write a paper describing the project.
- Implement one of the algorithms, perform computational experiments, and write up your results.
Class participation
This is a seminar class. Students are expected to actively participate.
Exams
If a students completes the above requirements in a
satisfactory manner, there are no exams. If a students does not
complete one or more of the requirements above, he or she will be
given a final exam.
Students with Disabilities
I encourage students
with disabilities, including invisible disabilities
such as chronic diseases and learning disabilities, to discuss with
me any appropriate accommodations that I might make on their
behalf.
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