CSC 8510: Theory of Computability
Fall 2013

 

Homework assignments

Lecture notes

Meeting on Thursdays, 6:15-9:00 PM,  John Barry Hall 201B

Course Home Page: http://www.csc.villanova.edu/~japaridz/8510/

Instructor: Dr. G. Japaridze

Teaching Assistant: Ms. Swetha Chigurupati

Textbook:
"Introduction to the Theory of Computation" (3rd edition) By Michael Sipser. Cengage Learning, 2013. ISBN 978-1-133-18779-0

Description and goals: This course is about what computers can and cannot do. It approaches this question in a strict mathematical fashion. The goal of the course is to expand your mind and give you conceptual tools for solving theoretical and practical problems.

Topics and Schedule (tentative):

  1. Regular Languages (1 week)
  2. Context-free Languages (1 week)
  3. The Church-Turing Thesis (1 week)
  4. Decidability (1 week)
  5. Reducibility (1 week)
  6. Time Complexity (4 weeks)
  7. Space Complexity (3 weeks)
  8. Advanced topics (2 weeks)

Examination schedule:

  1. February 28
  2. May 2

Quizzes: Every week. Missed quizzes cannot be made up no matter what the reason was. One quiz of your choice, however, will be automatically forgiven.

Grading: Quizzes --- 20%, Examinations --- 80%.

Presumably, grades will be derived from cumulative scores as follows:

Score

Grade

94 or more

  A

87 or more

  A-

80 or more

  B+

72 or more

  B

63 or more

  B-

54 or more

  C+

45 or more

  C

less than 45

  F