Time

Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

• Introduction to NP and Approximation

•  Combinatorial Algorithms, including:

  • Greedy Techniques

  • The set of following problems: Set Cover, Vertex Cover, Minimum Steiner Tree, Multiway Cut, k-Cut, k-center, Bin Packing, and Connected Dominating Sets

Appendix A, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and my notes

Weeks 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

• Midterm: 10-17-2007

• Introduction to Linear Programming

• LP duality

• LP Relaxation, Rounding, and Randomized Primal-Dual Schema

• Dual Fitting Analysis.

• Semidefinite Programming

Chapters 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 26, and my notes

Week 17

12-15

Submit Final Project by 4pm at my office