CS 6764: Reasoning About Knowledge - Fall 2018


Instructor: Joe Halpern, 414 Gates, halpern@cs.cornell.edu, 5-9562
Admin: Randy Hess, 401 Gates, rbhess@cs.cornell.edu, 5-0985;
TA: Meir Friedenberg, 324 Gates, mdf224@cornell.edu
Classes: Tuesday, Thursday 1:25 - 2:40, Goldwin Smith G24
Office hours: TBD
Text: Reasoning About Knowledge (Fagin, Halpern, Moses, Vardi). (The paperback version is best, but the hardcover version is OK too. The paperback version corrects a number of typos and minor errors in the hardcover version.)

Grading: There will be no tests or final examination. There will be problems handed out, typically 3 every Thursday, from the book. Your grade will be based completely on your performance on the problems. Problems are always due two weeks after they're handed out. If you hand them in one week after they're handed out, they will graded and returned the following week. You can then redo any problem that you seriously attempted and hand it in again, to improve your grade. On a redo, you can get a maximum of 1 point less than the original value of the problem. (That is, if the problem was originally out of 10, the most you can get is 9.) I will take the higher grade.

Academic Integrity: It's OK to discuss the problems with others, but you MUST write up solutions on your own, and understand what you are writing.

Course Outline: We will be following the text very closely. Very roughly, we will be covering one chapter per week. Topics include modal logic, common knowledge, applying reasoning about knowledge in distributed systems (and economics, depending on interest), knowledge-based programming, dealing with logical omniscience, algorithmic knowledge.

Announcements and Breaking News:

Homework

Note: you can find your grades and solutions to the homework at CMS.

  • Week 1: handed out 8/30; due 9/13 (hand it in 9/6 for a second chance)
  • Week 2: handed out 9/6; due 9/20; hand it in 9/13 for a second chance)
  • Week 3: handed out 9/13; due 9/27; hand it in 9/20 for a second chance)
  • Week 4: handed out 9/20; due 10/4 (hand it in 9/27 for a second chance)
  • Week 5: handed out 9/27; due 10/11 (hand it in 10/4 for a second chance)
  • Week 6: handed out 10/4; due 10/18 (hand it in 10/11 for a second chance)
  • Week 7: handed out 10/11; due 10/25 (hand it in 10/18 for a second chance)
  • Week 8: handed out 10/18; due 11/1 (hand it in 10/25 for a second chance)
  • Week 9: handed out 10/25; due 11/8 (hand it in 11/1 for a second chance)
  • Week 10: handed out 11/1; due 11/15 (hand it in 11/8 for a second chance)
  • Week 11: handed out 11/8; due 11/27 (hand it in 11/15 for a second chance)
  • Week 12: handed out 11/15; due 11/29 (hand it in 11/27 for a second chance)
  • Week 13: no homework :-)
  • Week 14: still no homework :-)