Course Information

Course:
Math 170, Spring 2011
Professor:
Dr. Nguyen
TA:
David Lonoff (and Julius Poh)
Lectures:
MWF 11-12 AM, DRL A8
Text:
For All Practical Purposes, 8th Edition, by COMAP.

Recitation and Office Hours

Recitations:
Sect.TimeLocation
201 Tues 8:30-9:30 AM DRL 2C6
202 Tues 9:30-10:30 AM DRL 2C6
203 Thur 8:30-9:30 AM DRL 2C6
Office Hours:
N/A
Office:
3N2D

Grades

As posted on Dr. Nguyen's website, your grade is 20% homework and quizzes, 40% midterms, and 40% final exam. Grades will be posted to the Blackboard site for you section. If you are having trouble accessing Blackboard, please let me know.

Quizzes

There will be quizzes given approximately once every two weeks in recitation. There will not be any makeup/late quizzes. To account for emergencies, your lowest quiz score will be dropped. If you know in advance you will be missing recitation, you can make arrangements by Monday of the week in question to attend a different recitation to take the quiz.

Quizzes will be short, basic tests of understanding. If you have been going to lecture and have done the homework, you should have no trouble.

Homework

There will be weekly homework assignments posted on Dr. Nguyen's website on Fridays; I will also mirror the assignment below. Assignments are due the following Friday by 5pm in my mailbox, which is located in the Math Office, 4W2. Late assignments will not be accepted.

Two problems from the assignment will be graded for 3 points each, and 4 points will be assigned as a completion grade (a total of 10 points). If you make an honest, neat effort of every problem you should get at least 6 points.

I encourage you to work with other students, but you should write up your homework on your own. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to explain or recreate your solution without having to refer to what you have written.

What's Happening in Recitation

Week 13. (April 19, 21, 26) We will be talking about the Shapley-Shubik power index and Banzhaf index, with a few examples similar to the homework (and maybe some actual homework problems too). Quiz #6 will be on April 21 and 26.

(p. 362 onwards) 8, 10, 14 (b,c,d), 18, 23, 28, 29, 30, 36, 38 (due Tuesday April 26). Full solutions

Week 12. (April 12-14) We will be talking about manipulability, and look at some examples. If time, we will have some homework questions, and we will finish with the quiz.

(p. 328 onwards) 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25 (due Friday April 15). Full solutions

Week 11. (April 5-7) We will go over the various voting schemes and what each voting scheme lacks in certain situations. We will look at some problems similar to the homework, and have time for questions.

(p. 308 onwards) 4, 12, 16, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36 (due Friday April 8). Full solutions

Week 10. (March 29-31) We will go over the most recent quiz (see solutions in the sidebar above), any lingering homework problems, and review for the exam on Friday. Note the correction to the homework solutions for #40 and 48.

Here is a worked example of a density curve problem: density example

Week 9. (March 22-24) We will do some examples similar to the homework, answer any questions, and then have the quiz.

(p. 275 onwards) 14, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 36, 40, 46, 48 (due Friday March 25). Full solutions

Week 8. (March 15-17) A couple of examples similar to the homework, and any questions (homework or otherwise) answered. Other announcements:

(p. 237 onwards) 10, 12, 16, 30, 38, 40, 44, 47, 52, 58 (due Friday March 18). Full solutions, rat data.

Week 7. (March 1-3) We will do some examples relating to correlation and regression. Here's a funny comic which fits with this week's topic. We will try to squeeze in some homework questions, and then have the quiz.

(p. 202 onwards) 6, 10, 12, 16, 26, 28, 34, 35, 38, 43 (due Friday March 4). Full solutions

Week 6. (February 22-24) Midterm I will be returned Midterm I Solution. Some examples similar to the current homework. Questions answered. No quiz this week (quiz next week).

(p. 175 onwards) 5.1 & 5.2: 5; 5.3 & 5.4: 8, 15; 5.5 & 5.6: 20, 28 ; 5.7: 33, 36; 5.8 & 5.9: 37, 49, 54 (due Friday February 25). Full solutions.

Week 5. (February 15-17) We will be reviewing for the exam. Bring questions from old homework or quizzes, and I will have a few examples of my own.

Week 4. (February 8-10) We will go over a few items from last week's homework. Then, a basic example of linear programming, and quiz 2. If time, we will go over some of the current homework:

(p. 139 onwards) 4.1: 13, 24; 4.2, 4.3 & 4.4: 28, 29, 35, 38; 4.5 & 4.6: 55, 59 (for i and ii) (due Friday February 11). PDF of Problems. Full solutions.

Week 3. (February 1-3) Some examples of critical path scheduling problems, bin packing, and graph coloring, along with the heuristic algorithms associated with these problems. If there's time, we might do a problem or two from the new homework:

(p. 91 onwards) 3.1 & 3.2: 6, 18, 20 (a,b), 26; 3.3: 36, 38; 3.4: 48, 62(b,d); 3.5: 68 (graphs a, b, h), 70 (due Friday February 4). PDF of Problems. Selected solutions.

Week 2. (January 25-27) Some examples of Hamiltonian circuits, the Traveling Salesman problem, minimum spanning tree, and the algorithms associated with these problems. Also, we will have the first quiz. If there's time, we might do a problem or two from the new homework:

(p. 54 onwards) 2.1: 10, 19, 34; 2.2 & 2.3: 38, 40, 42 (just a. and b.), 46; 2.4: 50, 53 (just a.,b. and d.); 2.5: 75 (due Friday January 28). PDF of Problems

Week 1. (January 18-20) Some examples of Euler circuits, Eulerizing graphs, and a few homework problems, if any.

Week 0. (January 13) Introductions, course policies, and other information. We may look at a problem or two from the upcoming homework:

(p. 22 onwards) 1.1 & 1.2: 6, 8, 24, 29, 30; 1.3 & 1.4: 34, 38, 40, 44, 48 (due Friday January 21)