Learn about the core principles of computer science: algorithmic thinking and computational problem solving.

At a glance(Overview)

• Institution: PennX
• Subject: Computer Science
• Level: Intermediate
• Prerequisites:
  • Discrete Mathematics – sets, functions, relations; proofs, and proofs by induction; Boolean logic
  • Basic probability
  • Basic knowledge of Java

• Language: English
• Video Transcript: English
• Associated programs:
  • Professional Certificate in Computer Science Essentials for Software Development

What you’ll learn(Outline)

• How to represent data in ways that allow you to access it efficiently in the ways you need to
• How to analyze the efficiency of algorithms
• How to bootstrap solutions on small inputs into algorithmic solutions on bigger inputs
• Solutions to several classic optimization problems
• How to critically analyze whether a locally optimal approach (greedy) can provide a globally optimal solution to a problem

Syllabus

Week 1: Mathematical Preliminaries; Asymptotic analysis and recurrence relations; Sorting and Searching; Heaps and Binary Search Trees

Week 2: Algorithm Design Paradigms – Divide-and-Conquer algorithms, Dynamic Programming, Greedy Algorithms

Week 3: Graphs and graph traversals; minimum spanning trees; shortest paths

Week 4: Flows; NP-completeness; Approximation Algorithms

Testimonials