CS 155

Intro to Design & Analysis of Algorithms

MW 1900-2015, MH 224

Jeff Smith, MH 415, 924-5153
smithj@mathcs.sjsu.edu

Office hours (tentative):

1600-1730 MW, 1500-1600 TTh, or by appointment.

Text:

Brassard & Bratley, Fundamentals of Algorithmics. Other texts are available in the reserve book room.

Grading system:

35% on problem sets; 45% on three 1-hour exams; 20% on final exam. All exams will be open book and open notes. The final grade will be computed by comparing the sum of your scores to the sum of the grade brackets for all assignments and tests. In borderline cases, consideration goes to those who did the homework regularly or improved during the course.

Topics:

We will spend roughly 2 weeks in each of 7 general areas. One of these areas is "particular algorithms" that don't fit well into the other 6 areas; the algorithms treated will depend on time considerations and on the background of class members. The Fast Fourier transform will certainly be covered. The other 6 areas are listed below and will be covered in the order given.

divide & conquer (Section 4.7 and Chapter 7)
dynamic programming (Chapter 8)
greedy methods (Chapter 6)
search techniques (Chapter 9)
lower bounds (Sections 12.2-12.3)
intractable problems (Section 12.5)

Collaboration:

The work you turn in should be your own. Do not share your work with anyone else. Please become familiar with the official university policy on academic dishonesty. In the 1995-97 catalog, it's on on pp. 446-47.