Fundamental Algorithms

CSCI-GA 1170
Monday 7:00-9:00
Room WWH 101
Professor Ernest Davis

Reaching Me

phone: (212) 998-3123
office: 329 Warren Weaver Hall
Office hours: Tuesday 10-12, Thursday 3-4.
Email:

Recitation

The recitation will meet Wednesday, 6:00-7:00, WWH 109. Attendance at the recitation is strongly recommended. In any case, be sure that you register for the recitation (section 004) as well as the class (section 003). The recitation instructor is Rameez Loladia.

Rameez holds office hours Wednesday, 5-6 in WWH 303.

Prerequisites: None.

Required Textbook: Either of the following:
An Introduction to Algorithms: Their Methods and Madness by Alan Siegel, available at the copy shop at 11 Waverley Place. or
Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein, 3rd edn. (Previous editions are also fine, if you can get them used cheap.) Available at the NYU Bookstore.

Topics

Algorithmic analysis: Correctness. Worst-case running time asymptotic analysis. Big Oh notation. CLRS, chaps. 1-3. Siegel, chap. 1, chaps 2 through section 2.3.
Divide-and-conquer Recurrence equations. CLRS chap. 4. Siegel, section 2.4 pp. 52-66.
Sorting algorithms: N² sorts, Heapsort, Mergesort, Quicksort, Radix sort. Lower bound. CLRS chaps. 6-8. Siegel, chap. 7.
Sets: Lists. Hash tables. Binary trees. 2-3-trees/B-trees. CLRS chap. 10, 11, 12, 18. Siegel Chapter 6 through 6.4.7.
Directed graphs: Implementation. Depth-first search. DAGS. Shortest paths. CLRS chaps. 22,24,25. Siegel, chaps. 7, 8 through 8.4. 8.3.6 is optional.
Undirected graphs: Minimum spanning tree. Union-find algorithm. CLRS chaps. 21, 23. Siegel, sections 8.6 and 9.4
Algorithmic techniques: Dynamic programming. Greedy algorithms. CLRS, Chaps. 15, 16. Siegel, sections 11.3, 11.4.
State space search/Implicit graphs: . Iterative deepening. Class notes.

Requirements

Weekly problem sets (40%)
Midterm (1/2 class period) (15%)
Final exam (45%).

Problem sets should be submitted in hard copy or by email to the grader by the start of class on the day they are due. For email submissions, PDF is preferred, but plain-text or Word are OK.

The graders for the course are Rameez Loladia < rgl251@nyu.edu > and Changle Wang < cl.wang@nyu.edu > They will be grading alternate weeks: Rameez will grade the odd-numbered problem sets (Problem set 1, due next week; problem set 3 ...) and Changle will grade the even-numbered ones. Grades will be posted on the course Blackboard site.

Class email list

Link to the class email web page and follow the instructions there for subscribing.

Assignments

Problem Set 1 Due Jan. 30. Note: Problem 5, which was on the handout given out in class (though not in the current online version) has been postponed to problem set 2.
Problem Set 2 Due Feb. 6
Problem Set 3 Due Feb. 13
Problem Set 4 Due Feb. 27
Problem Set 5 Due Mar. 5
Problem Set 6 Due Mar. 26
Problem Set 7 Due Apr. 2
Problem Set 8 Due Apr. 9
Problem Set 9 Due Apr. 16
Problem Set 10 Due Apr. 23
Problem Set 11 Due Apr. 30

Supplementary Notes

Examples of Recursive Algorithms and their Analysis
Notes on sorting: HeapSort MergeSort QuickSort Linear Time Sorts
Using Hashing for Large Sets of Large Objects
B-Trees
Notes on Scheduling

Exams

Midterm March 5, 8:00--9:00
Sample Midterm Questions

Final exam

The final exam will be Monday May 14.

Notes on the Final Exam
Sample Final Exam
Solutions to Sample Final Exam
Additional practice problems can be found in the department's collection of Core Exams

Cheating

You may discuss any of the assignments with your classmates (or anyone else) but all work for all assignments must be entirely your own. Any sharing or copying of assignments will be considered cheating. By the rules of the Graduate School of Arts and Science, I am required to report any incidents of cheating to the department. My policy is that the first incident of cheating will result in the student getting a grade of F for the course. The second incident, by GSAS rules, will result in expulsion from the University.