Introduction to Algorithms: 6.006Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 3, 2009Professors Sivan Toledo and Alan Edelman Handout 1Course InformationThis handout describes basic course information and policies. Most of the sections will beuseful throughout the course. The main items to pay attention to NOW are:1. Be sure to create an account on the 6.006 website and fill out the student information sheet.You MUST do this by midnight tonight in order to receive a recitation assignment.2. Please note the dates of the quizzes on the attached calendar and plan trips accordingly.Notify the staff if you have an unavoidable conflict, e.g. an exam in another class.3. Please note the collaboration policy for homeworks.4. Please note the grading policy.1 StaffLecturers: Sivan Toledo 32-G918 [email protected] Edelman 2-343 [email protected] Assistants: Jason [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Singh [email protected] Speer [email protected] Wide Web: http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.006Email: [email protected] Handout 1: Course Information2 PrerequisitesA strong understanding of programming in Python and a solid background in discrete mathematicsare necessary prerequisites to this course.You are expected to have taken 6.01 Introduction to EECS I and 6.042J/18.062J Mathematicsfor Computer Science, and received a grade of C or higher in both classes. If you do not meet theserequirements, please talk to a TA before taking the course.3 Course 6 requirementsUnder the new curriculum, 6.006 serves as a Foundational Computer Science course. It is a pre-requisite for 6.046, which serves as a Computer Science theory header.4 LecturesLectures will be held in Room 32-141 from 11:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.You are responsible for material presented in lectures, including oral comments made by thelecturer.5 RecitationsOne-hour recitations will be held on Wednesdays and Fridays.Students must attend recitations. You are responsible for material presented in recitation. At-tendance in recitation has been well correlated in the past with exam performance. Recitationsalso give you a more intimate opportunity to ask questions and interact with the course staff. Yourparticipation in recitation counts for a part of your grade, and your final grade will be assigned byyour recitation instructor.We do not use the recitation assignments made by the scheduling office. The course staff willassign recitations based on the information you provide on the course website. Please completethe online form by midnight on Tuesday night. Recitation assignments will be posted shortlythereafter to the course website. If you cannot make any recitation time, you cannot take the class.The following recitation times are available:Time Room Instructor11-12 36-112 Rishabh Singh12-1 36-156 Rob Speer1-2 36-156 Chieu Nguyen2-3 36-144 Jason Juang3-4 36-144 Matthew NgHandout 1: Course Information 36 Problem setsSix problem sets will be assigned during the semester. The course calendar, available from thecourse webpage, shows the tentative schedule of assignments, and due dates. The actual due datewill always be on the problem set itself.A large portion of each problem set will be a coding assignment to be done in Python. Anycode for submission must uploaded to the class website, and the final submission will be graded.• Late homework will generally not be accepted. If there are extenuating circumstances, youshould make prior arrangements with your recitation instructor.An excuse from the Dean’s Office will be required if prior arrangements have not been made.• We strongly encourage that problem set solutions (other than code) be written in LaTeXusing the template provided on the website. They should be uploaded to the class websitein PDF form by 11:59PM of the due date. If hand-drawn diagrams are useful for explainingsolutions, please refer to the diagrams in your LaTeX submission, scan them, and includethem in your submission. If you are unable (or unwilling) to use LaTeX you may scan andsubmit your handwritten problem set solutions. CSAIL has large Xerox machines aroundthe Stata Center that will scan documents and e-mail them to you; you may find these useful.Be sure to fill in the “Collaborators” section of each problem. If you solved the problemalone, write “none”.• The problem sets include exercises that should be solved but not handed in. These questionsare intended to help you master the course material and will be useful in solving the assignedproblems. Material covered in exercises will be tested on exams.7 ExamsThere will be two evening quizzes, on Wednesday, March 11, and Wednesday, April 15. Thequizzes will be two hours long, starting at 7:30PM. (The location will be announced on the coursewebsite closer to the test dates.) Recitations those days will be optional review sessions.There will also be a final exam during finals week.8 Grading policyThe final grade will be primarily based on 6 problem sets, two quizzes, and a final. The problemsets will together be worth 40 points, each quiz will be 15 points, and the final exam 25 points.Recitation participation will be worth 5 points.The specifics of this grading policy are subject to change at the discretion of the course staff.4 Handout 1: Course InformationGrading of CodeCode will be graded for correctness and for the algorithm used.Correctness You will be given a public set of unit tests to test your code. For grading purposes,we may run your code against a more thorough private set of unit tests. Your code must runwithin the time allotted (which will vary by assignment).Algorithm Your code must come well-commented describing the algorithm used. Your code mustbe readable so the TAs will believe that your code does what it claims to do. Your algorithmshould be efficient.9 Collaboration policyThe goal of homework is to give you practice in mastering the course material. Consequently, youare encouraged to collaborate on problem sets. In fact, students who form study groups generallydo better on exams than do students who work alone. If you do work in a study group, however,you owe it to yourself and your group to be prepared for your study group meeting. Specifically,you should spend at least 30–45 minutes trying to solve each problem beforehand. If your groupis unable to solve a problem, talk to other groups or ask your recitation
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