Algorithmic Problem Solving: How to complete the course

This course consists of a series of round-table discussions on Fridays at 13:15. The teaching personnel will not fill the lecture time, rather it is intended to be for discussing problems, usually ones that students bring in.

The course can be read at either 25% or 12.5% pace (half a year or a full year). You do not need to make an explicit choice at the start. With some hard work it can mostly be fit into a 50% pace (half a year), though some round-table discussions will have to be attended outside the period.

Specifically, what each student does during this course is:

  • Pick some problem. See finding problems for more information on this.
  • Aim to solve it, by working on your own and discussing it at the round-table discussions:
    • Find an algorithm that efficiently solves it (ideally demonstrate efficiency formally, otherwise by experiment).
    • Demonstrate that an existing (or trivial) algorithm solves it efficiently.
    • Discover after working on it that it is entirely trivial, or appears hopelessly hard. Then pick a new problem.
  • In the process of the above, discuss your problem at the round-table discussion: this will give you a lot of help.
  • In the process of the above, give at least two prepared presentations (with slides, aim for at least 20 minutes) about your problem(s).
  • Write report about your problem(s), detailing the work and results. Even if the results turn out badly a good report can be prepared discussing the difficulties. One presentation should ideally be given as the report nears completion.

More concretely, these are the requirements and expected amount of work for completing the course (see the syllabus for full information):

  • Attend at least 12 of the 2-hour sessions (round-table discussions and/or the introductory lecture). This accounts for 17% of the work.
  • Give at least 2 presentations during the sessions. This accounts for 34% of the work (implicitly including work on your problem(s)).
  • Write a report about your problem(s), the work you have done, and the results. This accounts for 49% of the work (implicitly including work on your problem).

Email Martin if you have any further questions or requests.