COMP 610 Algorithms and Data Structures

Syllabus –Spring 2007

Professor: John Noga (jnoga@csun.edu) (x6480)

WebCT: http://webteach.csun.edu/

Lectures:
EN 3510 - 19:00-21:45

Office Hours: EA 4429 - M 19:00-20:00 & R 17:00-19:00

Text:
Computational Complexity - Papadimitriou

Course Objective: To understand some of the fundamental limitations of computation. Topics include: Turing Machines, decidability, complexity classes (P, NP, coNP), reductions, cryptographic algorithms, and approximability.

Class Web Page: http://www.csun.edu/~jnoga/comp610/

Tentative Schedule

Wednesday
Jan 31 Intro / Preliminaries (Ch 1)
Feb 7 Turing Machines (Ch 2)
Feb 14 Decidability (Ch 3)
Feb 21 SAT and Hierarchy Results (Ch 4.1-2,7)
Feb 28 Reductions (Ch 8)
Mar  7 Reductions (Ch 8)
Mar 14 NP/NP-completeness (Ch 9)
Mar 21 NP/NP-completeness (Ch 9)
Mar 28 Catch Up, Review, Midterm Exam
Apr 4 Spring Break
Apr 11 coNP (Ch 10)
Apr 18 Cryptographic Algorithms/Protocols (Ch 12)
Apr 25 Cryptographic Protocols (Ch 12)
May 2 Approximation/Online Algorithms (Ch 13)
May 9 Approximation/Online Algorithms (Ch 13)
May 16 Catch Up / Review
May 23 Final 20:00-22:00
  
Grading:
Your grade will be based upon your scores on: 1 project (20%), 1 midterm exam (20%), approximately 8 homework assignments (25%), and 1 final exam (35%). Late homework will not be accepted. Your combined percentage can be converted to a grade using the values from the table (which may be slightly reduced at the professor's discretion).
 

A  92%
A-  90%
B+  88%
B  82%
B-  80%
C+  78%
C  72%
C-  70%
D+  68%
D 62%
D- 60%

F  0%

 
Academic Dishonesty: The penalty for any form of academic dishonesty is an F for the course and being reported to the Vice President for Student Affairs. Note that facilitating the academic dishonesty of others is a form of academic dishonesty. Further details can be found on pages 536-538 of the 2006-2008 CSUN Catalog. Note all homework assignments and exams are assigned to individuals. Students may discuss homework problems. Students may explain what needs to done and suggest methods to accomplish the tasks. The work you submit should reflect your understanding and efforts. Submission of work done by or copied from another is plagiarism and will result in an F for the class and lab. If there is any doubt as to what constitutes academic dishonesty ask the professor.