CMPSCI 501: Theory of Computation

David Mix Barrington

Spring, 2014

Course Requirements and Grading

Your grade in CMPSCI 501 will be based on the following:

• Midterm Exams: There will be two midterm exams, on the evenings of Wednesday 19 February and Thursday 27 March, in locations to be assigned, 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 have taught this course the past six springs, and the exams from those offerings, from Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, and Spring 2013, are similar to what I will ask this time.
• Final Exam: This will be during the May 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 earlier final exams, all with solutions, 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 22 January 2014