Instructor: Harold Connamacher
Please contact me by email because I do not have a private phone line. In case of emergency, you may telephone the DCS office at the above number and leave a message for me.
Timetable:
Course web site: http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~hsc/364
The web site is the primary source of information about the course, including assignment "handouts", mark lists, and other announcements. You must check the site at least weekly.
Course newsgroup: ut.cdf.csc364h
Please use the newsgroup for most questions you have concerning the class. Generally, if you have a question on a general subject, most of the class probably has the same question. Please limit your emails to personal issues or questions on your specific solutions.
Course Textbook:
Cormen, et al., Introduction to Algorithms, 2nd Edition, (McGraw Hill, 2001).
Spiser, Introduction to the Theory of Computation, (PWS, 1997).
Garey and Johnson, Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness, (Freeman, 1979).
Hopcroft, et al., Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computations, (Addison Wesley, 2001).
Illness and other troubles:
If you are too sick to write a test or to hand in an assignment on time, you must contact your instructor (not your tutor!) as soon as possible. Use the telephone if you’re stuck at home!
If you are too sick for the final examination, phone your college registrar’s office instead of your instructor.
Course Outline:
The course is divided into three sections. Computability (May 18-June 8), Algorithm Design (June 15-July 6), and Complexity (July 13-August 10). Each week one or more homework problems are assigned. The week following the end of each section, the assigned homeworks are due. The homeworks will be returned the following week, and a test covering only that section's material is the following week.
More homework problems will be assigned than will be graded. You will be informed which homework problems are to be submitted for a grade. Each quiz will closely resemble one of the homework problems. Each test question will be in the same style as the homework questions, but may not otherwise resemble the homework problems.
Grading scheme:
three homeworks: 8%
four quizzes: 12%
two tests: 40%
final exam: 40% (three hours, closed book)
You must achieve at least 40% on the exam to pass the course.
``I Don't Know Rule'': On any homework or quiz problem, you will receive 20% for writing ``I do not know how to answer this question.'' On tests and exams, you will receive 39% for such an answer. If you instead write erroneous or irrelevant information, you may lose these points. In other words, you will receive partial credit for knowing what you do not know. An answer left blank is worth zero (0) points.
Final Grades Adjustments:
You will not receive a grade within 2 percent of the next highest letter grade(*). If your final grade is within 2 percent of the next highest letter grade and if you score at least 50% on any one test or exam, your grade will be adjusted up. Otherwise, your grade will be adjuted down. There will be no other grade adjustments in the course.
(*) The exception is for grades or penalties dictated by the Faculty.
Assignments:
Assignments may be submitted at the start of lecture or in the drop-box. Assignments may be submitted until 6 p.m. on the Thursday following lecture without penalty. No assignments will be accepted after this time.
You are free to work with other students, consult various books, or use the world wide web to assist you in this class. However, it is assumed that work you submit is your own.
If you help or are assisted by others in your work or if you consult references other than the course textbooks and notes, you must acknowledge this on your assignment.
There is no penalty for having such an acknowledgement. However, failure to cite your sources will be considered an academic offense and will be reported to the faculty.
Please note that copying is not considered collaboration. You are expected to write up each solution in your own words.