CMPSCI 401: Theory of Computation

David Mix Barrington

Spring, 2009

Course Requirements and Grading

Your grade in CMPSCI 401 will be based on the following:

• Midterm Exams: There will be two midterm exams, on Monday evenings (2 March and 13 April) as specified on the syllabus. Each will count for 20% of the course grade. I will write exams intended to be finished in an hour, and give you from 7:00-9:00 to finish them. (Over the years my students have accused me of overestimating what they ought to be able to finish in an hour.) I taught this course a year ago, and the exams from that offering, listed here, are similar to what I will ask this time.
• Final Exam:This will be during the December final exam period as scheduled by the University, and will be cumulative. You will have two hours. This exam will count for 25% of your final grade, except that I will count it for 50%, and reduce the weights of all other components proportionally, if this is to your advantage. Again, the final from a year ago, together with the practice final and solutions to each, are on my web site and should be useful as practice.
• Homework: There will be six homework assignments during the term. Together they will count for 30% of your final grade. The questions will mostly be taken from the textbook. Late homework will in general not be accepted -- we'll deal with valid excuses by giving "excused" grades on particular assignments. Note: The best five of the six homeworks will each count for 6% of the grade -- the lowest mark will not count at all.
• In-Class Writings: At random unannounced times during the semester I will assign in-class problems for which each group is to submit a written response. Groups for in-class writing will be assembled at the time and last only for that class period. These will be graded individually by me on a scale of "check-plus (A)", "check" (B), "check-minus" (C), and "no response or absent" (F). Any sincere attempt to solve the problem will get at least a check. Often actually solving the problem is enough for a check-plus. (Often there will be a series of problems and I'll decide after the fact how far you need to have gotten for the check-plus.) The in-class writings will count together for 5% of your final grade. (Attendence at lectures is thus "required", in that missing a discussion without a major excuse (medical, family emergency, etc.) incurs a grade penalty if there happens to be an in-class assignment that day.)

Academic Honesty Policy

All work submitted must be your own in presentation. How much outside help is allowed depends on the course component.

• The exams are closed-book and no outside help is allowed. Any cheating on an exam is grounds for an F in the course.
• For in-class assignments, almost anything goes as a source of information, including the instructor, TA, and your classmates, but you must still write up the solution in your own words so direct copying is not allowed.
• With homework the situation is in between and the rule harder to specify. You may discuss homework with other students, in fact I encourage this as a learning experience. But again, the writeup must be your work. Copying is not allowed, and collaboration so close that it looks like copying is not allowed. (In general, if I get two identical homeworks I will accept neither of them (i.e., both get F's) and will give you a stern warning that could lead to formal action the next time.) A good practice is to divide your work into an "ideas phase" where you collaborate and a "writeup phase" where you work alone -- enter the writeup phase with notes, but not written solutions.
• If you make use of a printed or on-line source for the homework, other than specific course materials such as the textbook or web site, please mention it in your writeup. Of course copying a solution to a problem from the web is cheating, and this is easier for us to detect than you might think.

Last modified 23 January 2009