CMSC 391 - Fall 2009
Problem Solving Seminar

Course Information

Contact Info and Office Hours

Offices: ITE??? or MAPLE Lab ITE 339
Walk-in Office Hours: Tuesday 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Wednesday 2:30-3:30pm
By appointment Office Hours: Tuesday 4:00pm-5:00pm, Wednesday 11:00am-2:00pm, after class
E-mail:

Problem Sets

You are to complete at least two thirds of all problems assigned during the course to pass. Answer any additional questions in the header comments of your source code. Write each program in a separate file. You should include enough comments to explain what you are doing.

At the top of every source file, you should include the following content in a header comment:

Your name
A quick description of your approach (e.g., "Brute forced every combination until I found the solution")
The final solution
The running time of a typical execution, in seconds

Email your solutions in a zip file that is named lastname9-9.zip. The title of your email should contain the number "391" and the problem set (e.g., "CMSC391: Problem Set 9/9"). The names of your source files should indicate in some way what problem it is. Problem sets are due before class on the date indicated.

You may use any programming language.

Due Date	Problems
9/9	PE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 For each of your solutions, determine the time and space complexity (this assignment only).
9/16	PE: 10, 35, 37, 47, 77, 216*
9/23	Recursion Exercises
9/30	PE: 50, 59, 68, 206
10/7	PE: 81, 82, 92, 215
	Problem presentations: Problems from the first 2 pages.

Problem Presentations

A couple times during the semester, each student will be required to present a problem to the class. You must complete the following for each presentation:

Submit a proposal for a problem you want to work on via e-mail to the instructor (i.e., project euler problem number).
Prepare a casual presentation that covers the following:
- An analysis of what the question is actually asking.
- A comparison of several approaches at solving the problem, ranging from obvious to clever. Be sure to compare running time, space complexity and any other considerations.
- Any supplemental mathematical explanations should be explained in detail.
- Anything else that is interesting.
Your presentation should mostly be explained on the whiteboard. Powerpoint slides may be used as a supplement to show any diagrams, algorithms, etc., but should not be used as the primary source of information.

Schedule

Date	Topic	Notes
9/2	Introduction and Project Euler	Get PE account
9/9	Primes	Lecture Notes
9/16	Greedy	-
9/23	Search	-
9/30	Dynamic Programming	-
10/7	Graph Algorithms	-
10/14	Computational Geometry	-
10/21	Parallel Programming	-
10/28	Metaheuristics	-
11/4	Problem Presentations	-
11/11	Problem Presentations	-
11/18	Problem Presentations	-
11/25	Problem Presentations	-
12/2	Problem Presentations	-
12/9	Problem Presentations	-
???	Final Exam Slot	-

Students: