TCS / Studies / T-79.5202 / Exercises and home assignments
Helsinki University of Technology, 
     Laboratory for Theoretical Computer Science

T-79.5202 Combinatorial algorithms / Exercises 2008

Exercises

A collection of exercises and their solutions [pdf, in Finnish] is available. An [English version] is also available. The problems are approximately graded for difficulty as follows:

* -- An easy problem; can be solved directly from the definitions or directly applying the algorithms discussed.
** -- Moderately difficult; requires some insight or is slightly more laborious
*** -- Somewhat challenging; requires applying the knowledge gained in the course or is somewhat laborious

In exercise sessions assistant shows solutions to some demo exercises from the topic of the previous lecture(s). Instructions and hints for the home assignments will also be given.

Home assignments

Home assignments and peer reviewing them are an obligatory part of the course. The three home assignments will be published on this page.

The home assignments (and peer reviewing them) must be passed before taking the exam. The weight of the home assignments on the course is considerable: the maximum score on the exam is 24, and each home assignment is graded on a 0-6 scale. We guarantee that with 50% of all points a student will pass the course. Other than this the grading scale is decided afterwards.

Grading home assignments

If a submission is clearly deficient, the student will be asked to revise it. Also a good report can be returned to the student for revision, if the report contains a significant error.

Approximate guidelines: less than 3 points = unacceptable; significant shortcomings in the solution or badly reported; will be returned to the student to be completed. 3 points = least acceptable performance. Minimum requirements satisfied and adequately reported. 6 points = a truly extraordinary performance. Presents something special regarding the problem considered and is very well reported. If a report is returned to the student for revision, 1 point is subtracted from the score. Each time a student submits a report, a revised report, or a peer review after the deadline similarly costs one point, and one extra point for every three days late.

Familiarize yourself with the instructions for submitting the home assignments. There are also LaTeX templates for the report [pdf] and code [pdf] parts of the submission.

Schedule for home assignments

  • Note also the policy on computation intensive use (in Finnish) of the Computing Centre

    Peer review

    The students will review the submissions of two other students using the given form. The form is emailed to the assistant, who will then forward the evaluations to the authors of the report. In this way everyone receives two peer reviews for each report.

    The reports will be made available to other participants of the course. We will carry out a single-blind review: the reviewers will know whose report they are reviewing, but the author will not know who has reviewed their report.
    Päivitetty viimeksi 06.05.2008. (pjsavola(at)tcs.hut.fi)