Syllabus

CS 529: Advanced Algorithms for Scientific Computing

Winter 2013

Learning Outcomes and Course Objectives: This course is a continuation of the previous CS 528 Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms and has the role of  introducing more advanced topics. As part of the first pair of courses in the Computational Science Master’s Program, it will bring students which may come with different computational background to the same basic level. It focuses on the understanding and design of fundamental algorithms, with a more thorough presentation of time and space complexity.

Topics include:

• Red/Black Trees and B-trees
• Multi-threaded Algorithms
• The FFT
• Matrix Operations
• Linear Programming
• Number-Theoretic Algorithms
• String Matching
• Computational Geometry
• NP-Completeness
• Approximation Algorithms

Lecture Resources

Some excellent video lectures following this textbook are available from MIT's Open Courseware, along with assignments, readings, solutions, and so forth. The same videos are also available for download through iTunes University in iPod/iPhone-ready formats. MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to put all of the educational materials from its undergraduate- and graduate-level courses online. The lectures of many courses are available in video format, freely downloadable.

Very interesting are also the MIT Open Courseware on the mathematics of computational science. We are not going to focus on these topics, since they will be subject of other courses.

Final Research Paper
The Final Research Paper should be submitted as a technical report and will presented in class during the final exam period. You are encouraged - though not required - to demonstrate your topic with a program.
 
The report document should contain: problem description, benchmarking, figures, and discussion. Tables and a list of references are a plus. A prospectus for the paper should be presented in class on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Guidelines for writing such a research paper can be found at http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html.
 
The presentation should be made with 10-15 slides, in about 15 minutes, including questions and answers. Presentation guidelines can be found at http://engineeringsolutions.homestead.com/presentation.html.
 
Submit the paper by email.

Honor Code: All work turned in for credit, including exams and all components of the project, are to be the work of the student whose name is on the exam or project. For all project components, the student can receive assistance from individuals other than the instructor only to ascertain the cause of errors. Thus you can get help if you need it to figure out why something doesn't work. You just can't get help from anyone, other than the instructor, to figure out how to make something work. All solutions turned in for credit are to be your individual work and should demonstrate your problem solving skills, not someone else's.

The following text should appear on all assignments:
I pledge that I have neither given nor received help from anyone other than the instructor for all program components included here.

The student should sign his or her name under the pledge. Any deviation from this policy is an honor code violation and will be treated as such if detected. It should be included as a comment in your source code and part of your written report.

• First violation: Students must meet with the instructor. In most cases, the grade will be split between the authors of the copied programs.
• Second violation: Students will receive no credit for the assignment. An incident letter will be placed on file in the Computer Science Department.

Class Attendance: Class attendance is expected.

ADA Statement: Students who have special needs or disabilities that may affect their ability to access information and/or material presented in this course are encouraged to contact me or the Director of Disability Support Services, on campus at 963-2171.

Caveat: The schedule and procedures for this course are subject to change. It is the student's responsibility to learn of and adjust to changes.

Last updated: Jan. 4, 2013

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