18.310 Fall 2008 Syllabus (very tentative)

Lecture Day and Date Topic Assignment Due
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W 9/03/08 
F 9/05/08 
M 9/08/08 
W 9/10/08 
F 9/12/08 
M 9/15/08 
W 9/17/08 
F 9/19/08 
W 9/24/08 
F 9/26/08 
M 9/29/08 
W 10/01/08 
F 10/03/08 
M 10/06/08 
W 10/08/08 
F 10/10/08 
W 10/15/08 
F 10/17/08 
M 10/20/08 
W 10/22/08 
F 10/24/08 
M 10/27/08 
W 10/29/08 
F 10/31/08 
M 11/03/08 
W 11/05/08 
F 11/07/08 
W 11/12/08 
F 11/14/08 
M 11/17/08 
W 11/19/08 
F 11/21/08 
M 11/24/08 
W 11/26/08 
M 12/01/08 
W 12/03/08 
F 12/05/08 
M 12/08/08 
W 12/10/08 
Introduction. Weighing. 
Some Sorting Methods 
Finding Medians 
Batchers' Algorithm 
Shannon's Source Coding Theorem 
Coding for Efficiency, Huffman, Hu-Tucker, LZ 
Probability Theory 
Shannon's Channel Coding Theorem 
Matrix Codes 
Polynomial Codes 
BCH Codes 
Finite Fields 
Locating Several Errors using BCH Codes 
Exam review 
Exam 1 
Secret Codes: RSA 
Encoding and Decoding in RSA 
Breaking codes 
Some Graph Theory 
Planarity 
Counting Trees 
Symmetries and Counting Patterns 
Generating Functions 
Catalan Numbers and Gambler's Ruin 
Fourier Transforms, Fast Fourier Transform 
FFT and Multiplying Numbers 
Sequential Choice 
Matching 
Review 
Exam 2 
The Simplex Algorithm 
Duality 
Applications of LP: Max Cut/Min Flow 
Applications of LP: Game Theory 
More Game Theory 
Probability "Paradoxes" 
The Ellipsoid algorithm and others 
NP-completeness and Computational Complexity 
Statistics? 
   
 
 
Problem Set 1 
 
 
Problem Set 2 
 
Problem Set 3 
 
 
Problem Set 4 
 
Problem Set 5 
 
 
 
 
First Draft of short paper 
Problem Set 6 
 
 
Problem Set 7 
 
 
Problem Set 8 
 
Problem Set 9 
 
 
Final Draft of Short Paper 
 
 
 
Problem Set 10 due 
somewhere around here 
 
 
Term Paper Due