Boston University

College of Arts and Sciences

Computer Science Department

111 Cummington Street

Boston, MA 02215

Phone: (617)-353-8919 / Fax: 353-6457

Web: http://www.cs.bu.edu/

CS 132 -- Geometrical Algorithms

Wayne Snyder

Associate Professor of Computer Science

MCS 147

Office Hours: the hour after lecture and by appointment

Cell: 617 966 1065 Email: waysnyder@gmail.com

www.cs.bu.edu/fac/snyder/cs132

Prerequisites

CS 111 is required, and knowledge equivalent to MA 123 is necessary. See me if you have concerns.

Description

Basic concepts, data structures, and algorithms of linear algebra and geometric reasoning as applicable to computer science. This course will cover the basic topics of linear algebra and geometric reasoning as necessary for courses such as Graphics, Video Computing, Audio Computing, and Artificial Intelligence. The first part of the course will be a fairly standard introduction to linear algebra; the second part will cover some fundamental problems, data structures, and algorithms in geometric reasoning. Examples of the latter topics: queries and sampling, triangulation, curve fitting, regressions and geometrical interpretation of machine learning problems, etc.

Course Materials and Handouts

The following (online, free) text will be used throughout the course:

Interactive Linear Algebra

I may also distribute additional materials online on the course website:

Policies

This is a remote class, and all lectures and tests will be on Zoom. Lectures will be recorded and available on my YouTube channel, which is linked on the class web page. Lectures are MWF 2:00-4:30pm, with a 10-minute break around 3:30. I will be available after lecture for any questions regarding the course or the assignments;
We will also be doing weekly programming assignments, handed out at Lab on Thursday at 2pm, and due the following Wednesday at midnight. The teaching fellow will announce office hours on Tuesday, and I will hold office hours after lecture.

Tests and Grading

You will have a final (comprehensive) exam on the last day of class (Friday the 13th!!)

Grades (tenative)

60% Homeworks
40% Final Exam (cumulative)

These percentages are tentative and may be changed at my discretion at any time. Class participation, coming to office hours and saying something intelligent, emails with interesting comments on the course material, etc. will be considered at the end of the term when I decide on the curve for the final grades. I am a sucker for students who show a genuine interest and enthusiasm for the course material, and this may bump you up to the next highest grade if you are close to the borderline! However,"genuine" is the important word here, and I have been teaching for two decades and I'm hard to fool.....

Miscellaneous

There will be no incompletes in this class except for reasons of dire illness near the end of a semester in which all previous work has been completed satisfactorily.
You can not redo any exam, or do extra work after the semester is over to improve your grade, as this arrangement would then by fairness have to be extended to the rest of the class (an impossible situation).
I have zero tolerance for any kind of academic misconduct (e.g., cheating on exams), and be assured that I will instantly report violations of the Academic Code to the Academic Conduct Committee. I am a past member and chairman of this committee. Please read the following section carefully. Also note that we intend make use of sophisticated plagiarism-checking programs for submitted code.

Policy on Academic Conduct

Collaboration Policy

Collaboration policy for this class is as follows.

You are encouraged to collaborate with one another in working on the problem sets!
You will learn just as much (if not more) by teaching another student something you think you know, as by being taught something by another student
Simply showing another student the solution to a problem is close to useless: this is like going to the gym twice a week and having someone show you how to lift weights while you watch, and then wondering after several months why you are still not in shape!
Collaboration should have the aim of learning the basic definitions of the mathematical objects we are studying, and then learning the manipulations and processes we subject those objects to. Both are necessary, but learning definitions is only the first 10%....
You are forbidden to simply copy the answer of another student as a means of satisfying the homework part of the grade--be warned that if you do this, you will perform disasterously on the exams, in addition to violating my collaboration policy!
On programming assignments, you may help each other understand the problems, and the general approach to a solution, but you must do your own coding and your own debugging. You may NOT share files with each other and ANY use of material from outside lecture and the book must be cited or it will be considered plagiarism.