COS 341 - What's New?

December 2, 1997

The class on Monday (December 8) will be changed into a homework precept session, with Amit, the TA, in charge of the session. Amit may want to switch the time to a different time, and will send e-mail to all of you about the time change. Also please note that Homework Set No. 8 is now on the web. There is also a new extra-credit homework set on the web.

October 23, 1997

There has been considerable confusion about extensions for homework set 5. It has been observerd by some of those who submitted it on time that it was not fair to grant last-minute extensions to others. They are right. So, in future, no extensions will be granted after Friday the week before the problem set is due.

October 11, 1997

After Chapter 7, we will cover Chapters 11 and 12 of the textbook. After that, we will discuss topics in the analysis of algorithms (material outside the main textbook); handouts will be given. Then we will cover Chapter 13.

October 9, 1997

The midterm exam will be held on November 3 in class. It will be open-book (restricted to textbook plus optional textbooks) and open-notes.

October 6, 1997

A Hint for the Special Problem 1 in Homework Set 3. You may find handy the identity \sum_{0 \leq i \leq m}x^i = (1-x^{m+1})/(1-x).

For the Special Problem 3 in Homework Set 3, you can assume that n is an odd integer.

October 1, 1997

Some sample solutions to the problems of homework set 1 are now available from the Course Homepage.

September 30, 1997

Jim Simmons has pointed out an error in my handout number 5. Wow! Towards the end of paragraph one, I said that you should "play the game if and only if p >= 1/5". It should be "play the game if and only if p >= 1/6". The criterion is that p x 5 - (1-p) x 1, which is the expected payoff, should be >= 0; this leads to p >= 1/6.

September 25, 1997

In Special Problem 2 in Homework Set 2, all balls of the same color are identical; e.g., all green balls are identical.

IMPORTANT CORRECTION to the Reading Assignment given out on September 24: the Reading Assignment is Chapter 5, not Chapter 4.

September 23, 1997

Some of you have asked about the precise meaning of "rigorous proof" in the statement of Special Problem 2 in Homework Set 1. In principle, I am looking for a mathematical proof of the nature as proofs of theorems in a mathematics class such as Calculus; the reasoning should be accurate and precise, and can be checked by hand. However, for the present problem, we will also accept solutions that use a computer; in which case you should describe what your program does.

September 19, 1997

The offices hours for Amit Chakrabarti (TA) are Mondays, 3:30-5:00pm; Room 313; e-mail address: amitc@cs

September 17, 1997

In the next few weeks, we will cover materials in Chapters 3, 5, 6, 7, in that order. The pace is about one chapter a week.

September 17, 1997

Collaboration Policy:

For homework sets, it is all right to discuss ideas on how to solve the problems. However, you MUST write up your solutions by yourself. For the exams, NO consultation with anyone is allowed.