General Information

Instructor: Weizhen Mao, McGl 114, 221-3472, wm@cs.

Lectures: MWF 11:00-11:50, McGl 002.

Office hours: MWF 9:00-10:00 and F 1:00-2:00.

Textbook: None, but lecture notes and related papers will be distributed in class.

Course description: The following topics will be covered in this course:

• Algorithms for geometry, molecular biology, and the RSA cryptosystem
• Approximation algorithms for graph problems, set problems, and strings problem
• Online algorithms for load balancing, bin packing, and trading
• Randomized algorithms (if time permits)

Grading and course work: Grades will be assigned based on how well the course work (listed below) is completed. The emphasis will be on the quality of the presentations and papers.

• Class attendence and discussion (10%);
• Three homework assignments (30%);
• Two in-class presentations (10%+20%); and
• One research paper (30%).

Disability: If you have a disability that may effect your participation in this course and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.