Syllabus | Lectures | Textbook |Quizzes | Homeworks and Grading Policy | Final Exam | Final Letter Grades |
The syllabus for the course can be found here. Most (but not all) of that information is summarized here.
Lectures will be held in-person in the classroom listed on the University Registrar. Lectures will be recorded for the convenience of those who cannot intend or prefer not to for any reason.
You will really need to read and study material other than the slides. There are many choices where you can get more details about our topics, but a textbook is the easiest option.
We’ll post readings from the following textbook, and we urge you to read them or get that info from another source.
Introduction to the Theory of Computation by Michael Sipser, 2nd edition.
The course is divided into 5 modules, each which lasts for about 2-5 lectures each. The 5 modules are listed below:
Each module has one quiz associated with it, and you will take one quiz per class period with a 1 hour time limit. Each individual quiz will be written to take about 40 minutes. In addition, there is a final exam quiz that contains material from the entire semester (summative) that will be taken during the final exam (nore detail in final exam section below). The current dates for taking quizzes are as follows, but are subject to change:
These dates are subject to change. Each quiz will be graded separately, and thus you will earn a different grade for each individual quiz. Some quizzes can be retaken to improve your grade (modules 1-4). Some quizzes (module 5, the sixth summative quiz) can only be taken once due to time constraints.
The final exam is for multiple days. I am in the process of trying to procure a single exam time for our class. I will update this page once the data/time of our final exam is settled.
During the 3-hour exam period you will take 2-6 quizzes, depending on your specific situation in the class. The quizzes will be made available to you individual and you can take the ones that best suit your needs. The quizzes are:
This may seem daunting, but most students are not expected to take all six quizzes during the 3-hour period. Everyone will take the module 5 quiz and the final exam quiz, and most students will take 1-3 of the retake quizzes. Here is an expected time breakdown during the final exam:
This amounts to 30+30+90 = 180 minutes = 2.5 hours with 30 minutes of buffer time. If you WANT to try to take all four retake quizzes, you are welcome to try to within the 3-hour period.
There are one or two homework assignments per module (depending on the module), that must be completed. These will be graded on a traditional scale (out of 10 points). See the syllabus and the homeworks page for more details.
Late Policy: Homeworks have firm deadlines, but extensions can be requested via an online form (which will be provided to students at a later date). By filling out this form, you can request 10 days of time to work on the assignment. In general, these will always be granted for any reason. There will be No extensions for any reason beyond the 10 day initial extension. If you need additional time on homeworks, you should consider appealing for a grade of Incomplete at the end of the semester (contact the instructor for details).
Your letter grade will be calculated using a traditional weighted average. The weights are:
Homeworks will be graded on a traditional percentage scale. Quizzes will be graded on a traditional percentage scale as well. However, I believe that once a quiz grade reaches a certain level, a student has clearly mastered the material and does need any incentive to retake that quiz. Thus, any quiz grade that exceeds 90 percent (strictly greater than 90 percent) will be automatically rounded up to a perfect score.
Your final letter grade will be determined by the traditional decade curve. The table for which is shown below:
| Letter Grade | Percentage Average |
|---|---|
| F | 0 |
| D- | 60 |
| D | 63 |
| D+ | 67 |
| C- | 70 |
| C | 73 |
| C+ | 77 |
| B- | 80 |
| B | 83 |
| B+ | 87 |
| A- | 90 |
| A | 93 |
| A+ | 99 |