COT 5410. Complexity of Algorithms

Project topics

In your project, you will study a topic in detail and present a critical review of work done in this area. You will need to refer to journal and conference proceedings, and make oral and written presentations. If you develop new results, that will, of course, be even better! Some possible topics are listed below.

1. Approximation algorithms for NP hard problems in different fields, such as:

   1. Computational biology.

   2. Compilers.

   3. Parallel computation.

   4. Operations research.

2. Graph partitioning.

3. Complexity classes other than P and NP.

4. Research results on the issue of whether P = NP?.

Deadlines

• Feb 12 Project topic due. You should email me a list of at least three project topics, ranked in order of preference. These topics can either be from the list above, or anything else that you want to work on, if I think it is reasonable for this course. I will confirm your topic in a couple of days.
• Feb 20 Project topic, abstract, and reference(s) due. You should give me a hardcopy of an abstract for the project. This should be about one page, and should contain your name, project topic, an abstract, and cite at least one journal or good conference proceedings article. In order to write the abstract, you will read at least one article on the topic you chose, summarize it, and then write what you intend doing in the project.
• Mar 26 Project progress report due. You should give me a hardcopy of your progress report, which will be around four pages long. It will include the project topic, your name, a report on what you have read so far, and references to articles that you have read. The report may not perform a critical review of the papers that you have read, but should at least summarize them in a coherent manner.
• Apr 19 Project report due. You should give me a hardcopy of your project report, which will be around ten pages long. It will include the project topic, your name, your final report, and references to articles that you have read. You should first summarize material you have read. You will also perform a critical analysis here. For example, if you are looking at approximation algorithms for a certain problem, then you may compare different algorithms that have been proposed for it, and give their relative advantages and disadvantages. If you feel that authors of certain articles have made incorrect statements (usually praising their algorithm more than it deserves to be), then you can point it out. You can report on any empirical or theoretical analysis you have made, too.
• Apr 19 and 21 Project presentations. You will make an oral presentation on your project in class. The aim here is to make others understand the material, rather than to show off your knowledge. You should also be able to answer questions that others ask.

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