6.854/18.415J: Advanced Algorithms (Fall 2018)
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Lecture:
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Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2:30-4 in 2-190. |
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Units:
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5-0-7 Graduate H-level
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Instructors:
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David Karger
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karger@mit.edu
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Office hours: Arrange by email. In Building
32,
Room G592
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Aleksander Mądry
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madry@mit.edu
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Office hours: Arrange by email. In Building
32,
Room G666
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TAs:
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Kyriakos Axiotis |
kaxiotis@mit.edu |
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Brynmor Chapman |
brynmor@mit.edu |
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Aleksandar Makelov |
amakelov@mit.edu |
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Sandeep Silwal
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silwal@mit.edu |
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| Office hours: | Monday and Friday 4-5pm in 2-132 |
Course assistant:
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Rebecca Yadegar
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ryadegar at csail.mit.edu
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Course Announcements
- Sign up for the course here. You should do this as soon as possible to receive important course announcements.
- Sign up for an NB account here to get access to the problem sets and notes. NB is a system that allows you to annotate PDF files in a collaborative way. You are encouraged to post your questions about problem sets and notes before contacting the course staff as many others likely will have the same question. We will answer questions there on a regular basis.
- Fill out the background survey here This will determine some of the topics that we cover in class.
Course Overview
The need for efficient algorithms arises in nearly every area of
computer science. But the type of problem to be solved, the notion of
what algorithms are "efficient," and even the model of computation can
vary widely from area to area.
This course is designed to be a capstone course in algorithms that surveys some of the most powerful algorithmic techniques and key computational models. It aims to bring the students up to the level where they can read and understand research papers.
We will cover a broad selection of topics including amortization, hashing, dimensionality reduction, bit scaling, network flow, linear programming, and approximation algorithms. Domains that we will explore include data structures; algorithmic graph theory; streaming algorithms; online
algorithms; parallel algorithms; computational geometry; external memory/cache oblivious algorithms; and continuous optimization.
The prerequisites for this class are strong performance in undergraduate courses in
algorithms (e.g.,
6.046/18.410)
and discrete mathematics and probability
(6.042 is more than sufficient),
in addition to substantial mathematical maturity.
The coursework will involve problem sets and a final project that is
research-oriented. For more details, see the handout on
course information.
Problem Sets
- Homework is due Wednesdays at the beginning of class. We'll have boxes or piles for dropping them off at the back of the room. Those boxes will be collected a few minutes in, and homework arriving after will be considered late.
- Each student has a total budget of 15 "slack" points to accommodate his/her late problem submissions. Each problem that is submitted late but in before Friday class will consume one slack point (and incur no grade penalty). If that problem is submitted in before Monday class, it will consume two slack points (and, again, incur no grade penalty). No late problem will be considered if submitted after the Monday class begins. (So, for example, if there is a problem set with a total of five problems on it, submitting three of these problems on time, one of them before Friday class, and one of them before Monday class will consume three slack points in total.)
- Write each subproblem on a separate sheet of paper and include your name and email address. Also, make sure your name appears on each page.
- Collaboration is strongly encouraged except where
explicitly forbidden. However, each person must independently write
up his/her own solution, and you must list all collaborators for each
problem on your
problem set. Collaboration groups should be small (3 or 4 students)
to ensure that everyone is actively engaged with the problems.
- You may not seek out answers from other sources without
prior permission. In particular, you may not use bibles or posted
solutions to problems from previous years.
- Each student is required to grade (at least) one problem
in the semester. We will have a TA-supervised grading session each week. This session is used to make sure
that the graders fully understand the solution, while they can grade the
problems at home after this session.
- For questions about grading, please contact the graders (emails listed on the website) first.
Once you reach an agreement, the grader should send an email to the grading supervisor with a short explanation
and a new grade.
- All late psets should be sent electronically to 6854-tas@mit.edu.
| Problem Set |
Due Date |
Grading Supervisor |
Graders |
(Mandatory) Time Report |
(Optional) Difficulty/Usefulness Survey |
| PS 1 |
Wed, Sep. 12 |
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Link |
Link |
Lectures
Note: The schedule is subject to change, but we will finish lectures before
Thanksgiving.
Be aware that some of the scribe notes might be very old, and do not necessarily
reflect exactly what happened in this year's class.
| # |
Date |
Topic |
Raw Notes |
Scribe |
| 1. |
Wed, Sep. 5: |
Course introduction. Fibonacci heaps. MST. |
nb |
nb |
| 2. |
Fri, Sep. 7: |
Persistent Data Structures. |
nb |
nb |
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Mon, Sep. 10: |
(Optional lecture) Spectral Graph Theory I |
nb |
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| 3. |
Wed, Sep. 12: |
Splay trees. |
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