CS 4540 Advanced Algorithms

Fall 2010

[Syllabus] [Homework]


 
Topics
Date(s)
Reading
Randomized Algorithms, First Application:
Contention Resolution in a Distributed System.
Primitives of bounding probability of success/failure.
Union Bound.
Class Notes.
Mon, Aug 23
Randomized Algorithms, Chapter 13 of "Algorithm Design" by Kleinberg and Tardos, pages 707-713
and Class Notes.
Randomized Algorithms, Second Application:
Coupon Collection, a "high probability" bound.
Primitives of bounding probability of success/failure (continued).
Random Variables, Expectation, Linearity of Expectation.
Class Notes.
Wed, Aug 25
Randomized Algorithms, Chapter 13 of "Algorithm Design" by Kleinberg and Tardos, paragraph 13.3, pages 719-724
and Class Notes.
Randomized Algorithms, Second Application:
Coupon Collection, in "Expectation" analysis.
Random Variables, Expectation, Linearity of Expectation, Waiting for first Success.
Class Notes.
Fri, Aug 27
Randomized Algorithms, Chapter 13 of "Algorithm Design" by Kleinberg and Tardos, paragraph 13.3, pages 719-724
and Class Notes.
A Randomized Algorithm for MAX 3-SAT
Markov's Inequality.
Class Notes.
Mon, Aug 30
Randomized Algorithms, Chapter 13 of "Algorithm Design" by Kleinberg and Tardos, paragraph 13.4, pages 724-727
and Class Notes.
Review Homework 1
Wed, Sept 1
Homework 1
Finding a Global Min-Cut:
Karger's Randomized Algorithm
(Lecture by Prof. Eric Vigoda)
Fri, Sept 3
Randomized Algorithms, Chapter 13 of "Algorithm Design" by Kleinberg and Tardos, paragraph 13.4, pages 714-718
and Randomized Algorithms by Motwani and Raghavan, pages 7-10.
Labor Day
Mon, Sept 6
-----
Chernoff Bounds
and Class Notes, Motivation and Theorems, Class Notes, Proof Skeleton
Check Wikipedia for various forms of the bounds, and to see in details how Taylor Series give simpler expressions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernoff_bound,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_logarithm,

Application I: Estimating Ratios.
Wed, Sept 8
(1)Class Notes,
(2)Randomized Algorithms by Motwani and Raghavan, pages 67-72,
(3)Notes by John Canny.
Balancing Balls and Bins.
( Chernoff Bounds, Application II )
Fri, Sept 10
(1)Class Notes,
(2)Load Balancing, in Kleiberg and Tardos, paragraph 13.10, pages 760-762.
Set Balancing, aka Set Discrepancy (Class notes to be added).
( Chernoff Bounds, Application III )
Mon, Sept 13
(1)Class Notes (to be added)
(2)Set Balancing, Motwani and Raghavan, Example 4.5, page 73.
(3)Six Standard Deviations Suffice, by Joel Spencer, (in class we covered the notion of "realistic colorings"), (4)Raghavan's 1998 original paper.
Simple randomized algorithms as starting points towards fundamentally new algorithmic techniques:
Derandomization I:
The Method of Conditional Probabilities (example: MAXKSAT)
Pairwise Independence (example: MAX2SAT)
Wed, Sept 15
(1)Class Notes (to be added),
(2)Maximum Satisfiability, in Approximation Algorithms, by V. Vazirani, pages 131-134,
(3)Pairwise Independence and Derandomization, by Luby and Widgerson.
Review Homework 2
Fri, Sept 17
Homework 2
SAT versus MAXSAT (a detour in COMPLEXITY) (I)
2SAT is in P, a polynomial time algorithm for 2SAT
MAX-2SAT is NP-hard, reduction fron 3SAT
Class Notes.
Mon, Sept 20
On the Hardness of Satisfiability Problems
Notes by Muli Safra, also in ppt format
SAT versus MAXSAT (a detour in COMPLEXITY) (II)
2SAT is in P, a polynomial time algorithm for 2SAT
MAX-2SAT is NP-hard, reduction fron 3SAT
Class Notes.
Wed, Sept 22
On the Hardness of Satisfiability Problems
Notes by Muli Safra, also in ppt format