CS280: Course Policies and General Information

Staff and office hours:
Can be found here

Prerequisites:
The official prerequisite for course is CS211. Please speak to Prof. Halpern if you haven't taken CS211. It shouldn't be a problem if you're taking CS211 concurrently.

Text
Discrete Algorithmic Mathematics (3rd edition), Stephen B. Maurer and Anthony Ralston, A. K. Peters. Note: this edition is somewhat better than the second edition, also published by A.K. Peters, but is more expensive. You can actually use the second edition (which is still available on Amazon) for the course. When I assign homework from the 3rd edition, I'll let you know the corresonding problems in the 2nd edition. The first edition of the book was published by Addison-Wesley, and is also fine for use in this course (if you can get it second hand, for example). It's essentially identical to the second edition.

Kenneth Rosen's book ``Discrete Mathematics and its Applications'' is also a helpful backup text. It is on reserve at the engineering library.

Coverage:

Roughly: Chapter 0, 1, 2, algorithmic number theory, 4, 6, 7.

Grading:
There will be one midterm, which will probably be at the Cornell-scheduled time (Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 PM), and a final, which will be definitely be at the Cornell-scheduled time (Thursday, May 8, 7-9:30). If you have a conflict with that time (or too many exams scheduled on that day), let me know as soon as possible. I don't promise to be able to do something about it, but the sooner you tell me, the more likely it is that I will be able to do something about it. I believe that doing homework regularly is the best way to learn the material, and the grading reflects that. Homework, midterm, and exams will be weighted roughly as follows:

Newsgroup:
There is a newsgroup for the class: cornell.class.cs280. You should subscribe to the newsgroup. Post questions to the newsgroup regarding homework (or anything else relevant to the course), and I or one of the TAs or graders will try to answer it, usually the same day that you post it. If you don't know how to read newsgroups, here is some further information; and here is a much more detailed account.

Homework:
There will be about 12 homework assignments. They will be due at the beginning of class.

Late Homework Policy: Homework will only be accepted in class and on time. Every day or part of a day that homework is late, 20% will be deducted from the grade. Excuses for late homework will be accepted only under unusual circumstances. To compute the final homework grade, I will drop your two lowest assignments. If you miss handing in an assigment (for emergency, illness, whatever), this will be among those dropped.

Academic Integrity: It's OK to discuss the problems with others, xbut you MUST write up solutions on your own, and understand what you are writing. You may not copy any part of someone else's code or written homework. To do so is a violation of the Academic Integrity Code.