Instructor: Dr. James Glenn
Office: DS 125d
Work Phone: (410)617-5394
FAX: (410)617-2157
Office Hours: M 1-2, W 2-3:55, F 10:30-12, or by appointment
e-mail:[first initial][last name]@cs.loyola.edu

Course Home Page: http://gunpowder.cs.loyola.edu/~jglenn/462/S2004/index.html

Class Meeting: MWF 12:00pm-12:50pm in MH 040

Prerequisites: CS 302 (Data Structures and Algorithms II) and CS/MA 295 (Discrete Structures)

Required Text: Introduction to Algorithms (2nd ed.) by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein

Course Description:
A study of the design and analysis of efficient computer algorithms. Topics include recurrences, sorting, order statistics, dynamic programming, graph algorithms, and NP-completeness. Usually includes additional topics from the current literature of specific application areas such as computational geometry or computational biology.

Specific Educational Objectives of the Course:
At the completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• determine effective approaches to solve specific problems and use those approaches to design efficient solutions to those problems
• use standard algorithms and data structures effectively to design efficient programs
• demonstrate the correctness of algorithms
• determine the running time of algorithms

Conduct of the Course:
Lectures will be used to introduce, explain, and analyze new algorithms. Readings from the required textbook will enhance students' understanding of those lectures. Weekly homework assignments (not necessarily done at a computer) will reinforce the concepts discussed in lecture. Those concepts will be put into use in programming projects. One midterm exam and a final exam will also be used to evaluate students' progress.

Academic Integrity:
Loyola College Honor Code Statement:

"The Honor Code states that all students of the Loyola Community have been equally entrusted by their peers to conduct themselves honestly on all academic assignments.

The students of this College understand that having collective and individual responsibility for the ethical welfare of their peers exemplifies a commitment to the community. Students who submit materials that are the products of their own minds demonstrate respect for themselves and the community in which they study.

All outside resources or information should be clearly acknowledged. If there is any doubt or question regarding the use and documentation of outside sources for academic assignments, your instructor should be consulted. Any violations of the Honor Code will be handled by the Honor Council"

The Honor Code as is pertains to this class:All designs and code used for programming projects should be the work of only the student submitting the project. Work on exams should be solely the work of the student whose name appears at the top of the exam.

Grading:

• Homework: 20%
• Programming Projects: 40%
• Midterm Exam: 15% (Fri, Mar 12?)
• Final Exam: 25% (Fri, May 7 at 1pm)

Final Grade Distribution:
Final letter grades will be no worse than those in the following table.

A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D
93%	90%	87%	83%	80%	77%	73%	70%	67%	60%

Topics (Examples):

• review of discrete math (asymptotic notation, summations, recurrences, sets, graphs, probability)
• sorting
• order statistics (median finding)
• dynamic programming
• greedy algorithms
• graph algorithms
• NP

Midterm Exam (tentative): Friday, March 12th

FINAL EXAM: Friday, May 7th at 1pm