CSCI 310 Advanced Algorithms (Fall 2026)

Contact Information

Announcements

  • 10/7: HW9 is now available. Recall that it is due on 10/22 at 8 PM.
  • 10/1: I am required to submit Midterm Grades to the University by 10/5 at noon.
    • I have posted Progress Reports to OAKS.
    • Your Unit 1 Quiz Average is currently calculated as (#Proficiency + #Outstanding) / (#Questions - 1).
    • Your Overall Grade is: (0.1 * HW + 0.35 * Unit1 Quiz Average) / 0.45.
    • Please check that your records agree with mine.
  • 9/30: Some upcoming dates.
    • Homework:
      • HW9 will be due on 10/22 at 8 PM.
      • HW10 will be due on 10/28 at 8 PM.
      • HW11 will be due on 11/23 at 8 PM.
        • This is the Dynamic Programming project. You will not be assessed on this via a quiz or exam.
        • It is designed to give you an opportunity to piece together the various aspects of designing and implementing a dynamic programming solution.
      • HW12 will be due on 11/12 at 8 PM.
      • HW13 will be due on 11/30 at 8 PM.
      • HW14 will also be due on 12/1 at 8 PM.
        • This is optional and will not count towards your grade.
        • I will provide feedback on submissions.
        • HW14 provides an opportunity to deepend your understanding of Computational Complexity and the P vs. NP problem.
      • Please note that Reading Day is 12/2, and the Final is 12/3.
    • Quizzes and MT2:
      • The HW8 quiz will be on 10/20.
      • On 10/22, there will be an in-class worksheet to practice writing dynamic programming recurrence relations. There will be an accompanying exit ticket, asking you to reflect on what you are (not) understanding. The exit ticket will count as a quiz (which, is to your benefit).
      • On 10/29, there will be a quiz on analyzing iterative code (HW9).
      • On 11/1, there will be a quiz on writing down runtime recurrences and the unrolling method (HW9).
      • On 11/5, there will be a quiz on the tree method (HW9).
      • On 11/12, there will be a quiz on filling in a dynamic programming lookup table (HW10).
      • On 11/17, there will be a quiz on writing down dynamic programming recurrence relations (HW12).
      • MT2 will be on 11/19. It will cover HW 8-10 and HW 12.
    • I anticipate using class on 11/24 to cover Hashing. This will be the last topic of the semester. There will not be a quiz this day.
    • MT2 will almost surely be returned on 12/1, in class. I do not anticipate having it graded before Thanksgiving break.
  • 9/29:
    • HW8 is now available. It is due on 10/9 at 8 PM.
    • Please carefully read and refer back to Page 3 on HW8. It is there to answer some questions that frequently arise, as well as make your lives a bit easier.
    • I have worked to streamline this problem set over several iterations of this course. It is still a lot. I recommend starting early and pacing yourself.
  • 9/16:
    • HW6 is now available. It is due on 9/26 at 8 PM.
    • HW7 will become available on 9/22. It is due on 10/2 at 8 PM.
  • 9/2:
    • Some Homework deadlines:
      • HW5 on MSTs is due on 9/21 at 8 PM.
      • HW6 on Network Flows is due on 9/26 at 8 PM.
        • HW6 will consist of two problems and should take only a couple hours to complete.
        • If you are spending more than 45 minutes on either problems, do ask for help.
      • HW7 on Network Flow Reductions is due on 10/2 at 8 PM.
      • HW8 on Asymptotics (Calculus Techniques) is due on 10/9 at 8 PM.
    • Some Quiz and Exam dates:
      • We will have a quiz on HW5- Safe, Useless, and Undecided Edges, on 9/24.
      • We will have a quiz on HW5- Prim and Kruskal, on 9/29.
      • We will have a quiz on HW6- Network Flow Terminology, on 10/1.
      • We will have a quiz on HW6- Ford--Fulkerson, on 10/6.
      • We will have a quiz on HW7- Network Flow Reductions, on 10/8.
      • MT1 will be on Thursday, 10/15. It will cover through HW7.
  • 8/30:
    • We will have a Quiz on HW2, on 9/3.
    • We will have a Quiz on HW3, on 9/10.
    • HW4 goes online on 9/1. It is due on 9/14 at 8 PM.
    • We will have a Quiz on HW4, Greedy Counterexamples, on 9/17.
    • We will have a quiz on HW4, Exchange Arguments, on 9/22.
  • 8/24:
    • HW3 will go online on 8/25. It will be due on 9/7 at 8 PM.
    • Quiz 1 on Proof by Induction will be on 8/27, in-class.
    • HW1 is graded.
      • Gradescope does not let me use labels; only numbers.
      • For this reason, I use 4- Outstanding, 3- Proficiency, 2- Progress, 1- Attempted, 0- No Meaningful Attempt.
      • A score of 3/4 on Gradescope does not mean that you earned a 75%. It means you earned a Proficiency, which on a quiz, would be a 100%.
      • Your grade on HW1 is listed on the problem Grade for HW1, on Gradescope.
      • I use a mix of 0-point rubric items and textbox comments for feedback. You might need to click on a specific problem to see any textbox comments.
      • If you did not get an Outstanding, then I left feedback. If you are not seeing it, please follow up with me after class or in office hours.
  • 8/19: HW2 will go online on 8/20. It is due on 8/31 at 8 PM.
  • 8/10:
    • The Syllabus Quiz will go online on 8/17. It will be due on 8/24 at 8 PM to OAKS.
    • HW1 will go online on 8/18. It will be due on 8/24 at 8 PM to OAKS.
    • In order to prepare homework, you will need a tool to convert LaTeX source files into PDFs. I use MikTeX on my local machine (Windows). Overleaf is an online option; note that Overleaf is an interpreter and will sometimes push past compilation errors (this is not a good thing). There are other options-- choose your favorite.
    • Please fill out this Day One survey. It is optional, and is intended to help me get to know you all and plan the course.
  • 8/7: Website created.