MPCS 55005: Advanced Algorithms
Spring 2023

Take-home final examination: released Thursday May 18 at 9:00 pm; due Thursday May 25 at 11:59 pm

Textbooks: Introduction to Algorithms (Third Edition) by T. H. Cormen, C. E. Leiserson, R. L. Rivest, & C. Stein (ISBN 978-0-262-03384-8) = CLRS. Available online.
Algorithm Design by J. Kleinberg & E. Tardos (ISBN: 0-321-29535-8) = KT. Available online.
Algorithms by S. Dasgupta, C. Papadimitriou, & U. Vazirani (ISBN 978-0-07-35340-8) = Dasgupta et al. Available online.

Probability and Computing by M. Mitzenmacher & E. Upfal (ISBN 978-0-521-83540-4). Cambridge University Press. Available online.
Textbook material may be supplemented with readings from other publications.
Grading scheme:

(80%) Weekly homework assignments: each counts for 10% of the course grade. Weekly homework assignments include a programming problem(s) in python. Students are required to submit homework, including the weekly programming assignments, to pass the course.
(20%) Take-home final examination; released Thursday May 18 at 11:59 pm; due Wednesday May 24 at 11:59 pm.

March 23: Meeting 1; Intractability; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: KT, Algorithm Design, chapter 8, sections 8.1–8.8; Dasgupta et al., Algorithms, chapter 8; CLRS chapter 34
March 30: Meeting 2; Approximation algorithms; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: CLRS chapter 35, sections 35.1–35.3; KT, Algorithm Design, chapter 11, sections 11.1‐11.3
April 6: Meeting 3; Randomized algorithms; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: Probability and Computing, chapters 1–3; KT, Algorithm Design, chapter 13, sections 13.1–13.4
April 13: Meeting 4; Trees: Red-Black trees and B-trees; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: CLRS chapters 13 and 18
April 20: Meeting 5; Optimization: Local search, Gradient descent, Newton's method; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: KT, Algorithm Design, chapter 12
April 27: Meeting 6; Linear programming; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: Dasgupta et al., Algorithms, chapter 7
May 4: Meeting 7; Computational geometry; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: CLRS chapter 33
May 11: Meeting 8; String algorithms: Radix Sort, Rabin-Karp and Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithms; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: CLRS chapters 8 and 32
May 18: Meeting 9; Streaming algorithms: approximate counting, heavy-hitters, Bloom filters and k-ary sketching; 5:30–8:30 pm in Ryerson 276; Readings: tbd

Topics subject to change based on class progress and student interest.

Organization

Instructor:
Gerry Brady
Email: brady at cs dot uchicago dot edu
Office hours: Friday at 4:00 pm in JCL 346
Teaching Assistants:

Jack Casey
Email: jcasey at uchicago dot edu
Office hours: Mondays from 1:00 to 2:00 pm in JCL 207
Andrew Eckart
Email: andreweckart at uchicago dot edu
Office hours: Tuesdays at 9:00 pm on Zoom: Andrew's office hours
Jason Lin
Email: linj24 at uchicago dot edu
Office hours: Saturdays at 12:00 noon on Zoom: Jason's office hours

brady at cs dot uchicago dot edu