Computer Science Dartmouth College

Computer Science 231 Advanced Algorithms Amit Chakrabarti

Spring 2016

Administrative Details

Homework

Please typeset your homework solutions, ideally using LaTeX, so that your math and pseudocode are rendered neatly. If you are new to LaTeX you may find that typesetting takes up quite a bit of time at first, so plan accordingly. Trust me that your career will benefit greatly from your learning this important skill. To get you started using LaTeX for this course, here is a small template document that shows off several useful features. You should be able to compile it (use pdflatex) to produce this PDF document.

Please submit all homework electronically, in PDF format.

A few important notes on the homework assignments:

• Start early: The problems are designed to stretch your mind and make you think a lot. Typically you cannot solve them in one sitting. Start thinking early and let the ideas come to you slowly.
• Be rigorous: Mathematical rigor will be expected in your solutions.
• Be concise: Express your solution at the proper level of detail. Long, verbose answers are strongly discouraged. Give enough details to clearly present your solution, but not so many that the main ideas are obscured.
• You can discuss with others: It will often be helpful to discuss the problems with others taking the class. Feel free to form study groups. However, the idea is for everyone to understand the problems and experience working through the solutions, so you may not simply "give" a solution to another classmate. In particular, each student must write up his or her own homework solutions and must not read or copy the solutions of others. If you work with others on a problem, you must note with whom you discussed the problem at the beginning of your solution write-up.
• Work on your own before talking to others: Although, as I said above, you can discuss the homework problems with others, you will learn the most by first trying out each problem on your own. Make as much progress as possible on your own before you meet with your study group.

Late Submission Policy

You have three free "late days" for the entire term. If you decide to use one of these, please email the TA saying something like "I want to use one of my free late days for Homework 4". You don't have to give a reason. The flip side of this policy is that once you have used up three late days, any further late homework submissions will not be accepted.

Homework Grading

Each homework problem will be worth 7 points, even though some problems may be harder than others. Our grading guidelines are as follows.

• 7 points: A mathematically correct and concise solution that is written well. Contains no errors other than perhaps small spelling mistakes and minor grammatical errors.
• 6 points: A basically correct solution but with one of the following small flaws.
  • One or two small typos that makes the solution technically wrong.
  • A proof that is missing one or two minor steps of reasoning.
  • A mathematically correct solution but with grammatical errors that make parts of its hard to read or confusing. This includes not writing in complete sentences.
  • An otherwise correct solution that is a bit longer than necessary.
• 5 points: A mostly correct solution with more than a minor flaw. For example
  • Minor flaws in two or three places, as above.
  • Mathematically correct solution but with poor grammar throughout.
  • A correct solution that is much longer than necessary (e.g., writing two full pages when half a page would have sufficed).
• 4 points: A solution that is on the right track but has a big mistake somewhere. To get this score, the problem must require at least two major ideas and the mistake cannot be in the more/most important idea.
• 3 points: An attempted solution that has some of the important ideas required but with a mistake in the most important idea.
• 2 points: An attempted solution that solves only a easy special case of the problem, where solving the full problem would require much more sophisticated idea(s).
• 1 point: An answer that would qualify for 2 points except that it has typos or small errors.
• 0 points: An answer that does not make useful progress towards a solution, or is a solution to something other than what was asked.

Working Together and the Honor Principle

Students are encouraged to work together to do homework problems. Groups who work well together in class should consider working together to do homework. What is important is a student's eventual understanding of homework problems, and not how that is achieved.

The honor principle applies to homework in the following way. What a student turns in as a homework solution is to be his or her own understanding of how to do the problem. The following are the only sources that may be consulted in learning how to solve homework problems.

Additionally, at this learning stage, discussion with fellow students is encouraged. Discussion with the course staff is also encouraged, but only after the student has made an attempt to solve the problem on their own.

While preparing the final draft of homework solutions to be handed in, more restrictive conditions apply. At this stage, the following are the only sources that may be consulted.

In all cases, students must state what sources they have consulted, with whom they have collaborated, and from whom they have received help.

The honor principle applies to exams as follows. Students may not give or receive assistance of any kind on an exam from any person, including the professor.

Students with Disabilities