Schedule

In this schedule page, you will find the list of assignments you will have to complete this semester:


  1. L#: These are the Asynchronous PrairieLearn Lecture Assignments including the pre-recorded lectures and short questions testing concepts introduced in the videos. These PL assessments will also include links to lecture notes, slides and annotations from the lectures. You are encouraged to complete these assessments on the date they appear on the course schedule. Tuesday lectures will be due on the following Sunday at 9am, and Thursday lectures will be due on the following Tuesday at 9am (5 days to complete). You can find all the due dates directly in PrairieLearn. There will be a total of 24 graded lecture assignments, and the lowest 4 scores will be dropped. Combined they will count towards 4% of your final grade.

  2. GA#: These are the Synchronous PrairieLearn Group Activities to be completed on Tuesdays either during the 2pm zoom lecture, or at the other two available zoom meetings on the same day at 9am or 8pm. The GAs cover material learned during previous lecture assignments, so make sure to complete the open PrairieLearn Lecture Assignments before you meet with your group. You can find a lot more information about the group activities on the Collaborate page.

  3. HW#: These are the PrairieLearn Homework Assigments due on most Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8pm. These are individual assessments. The schedule indicates when the HW will be open, and the due date for 100% credit. You can still submit all the HWs by May 5 for 96% credit. Almost every PrairieLearn Lecture Assignment has a corresponding HW. You are strongly encouraged to complete the PrairieLearn Lecture Assignment before you start your HW. There will be a total of 20 HW assignments, and the lowest 2 scores will be dropped. Combined they will count towards 25% of your grade.

  4. MP#: These are the PrairieLearn Machine Problems The schedule indicates when the MPs will be open, and the due date for 100% credit (all at 8pm). You can still submit all the MPs by May 5 for 96% credit. These are individual assessments. There will be a total of 6 MP assignments, and no drops. Combined they will count towards 10% of your grade.

  5. Q#: These are the Synchronous PrairieLearn Quizzes that happen on Thursdays during the official lecture time at 2pm. The quizzes will be delivered using CBTF-online. Make sure to register at CBTF (You can find more details on their website). If you need to request to take the conflict quiz, you can get instructions here. You can find on the schedule the content covered in each quiz (corresponding HW assignments) and also the dates when the Practice Quizzes (Q#P) will be open. Practice Quizzes will not count towards your grade (zero credit). There will be a total of 6 quizzes and the lowest score will be dropped. Combined they will count towards 35% of your grade.

The only required synchronous components of this class are the GAs and Quizzes. Attendance in the first week of classes is strongly encouraged, since we will be talking about all the logistics of the course, and having a demo for the group work.

You can see from the schedule below that many of the Thursday classes have a placeholder for a "Demo" class. These classes are not required. In Fall 2020, these demo classes (that include live coding using jupyter notebooks) were pre-recorded and included in the Lecture Assignments. However, many students indicated they would prefer to be able to have this type of activity following an synchronous format. Hence this semester we will have "demo classes" on some Thursdays, which will be recorded and posted inside a PrairieLearn assignment (for the students that prefer the asynchronous format). These jupyter notebooks are available in PrairieLearn under the label WS#: Workspace.

Semester Progress
91%
Jan May
Week 1
Tue, Jan 26, lecture 1
Syllabus and course content

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L1: Introduction to CS 357

Also opening today:

Google form - Course survey and consent (Extra credit)
HW0: Linear Algebra Review

Due today:

Thu, Jan 28, lecture 2
Working in groups

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L2: Python Tutorial

Also opening today:

T1-1: Select your group
HW1: Working with Python

Due today:

Week 2
Tue, Feb 02, lecture 3
GA1: Working with Python

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L3: Errors, Big-O notation, plots

Also opening today:

HW2: Errors and Big-O notation
Q1P: Linear Algebra + Python + Errors

Due today:

Thu, Feb 04, lecture 4
Demo: Errors, Big-O notation, plots

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L4: Floating point

Also opening today:

HW3: Floating point

Due today:

HW1: Working with Python
Week 3
Tue, Feb 09, lecture 5
GA2: Floating Point

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L5: IEEE

Also opening today:

HW4: IEEE

Due today:

HW2: Errors and Big-O notation
Thu, Feb 11, lecture 6
Q1: Linear Algebra + Python + Errors (HW0-HW2)

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L6: Rounding, cancellation

Also opening today:

HW5: Rounding

Due today:

HW3: Floating point
Week 4
Tue, Feb 16, lecture 7
GA3: Rounding

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L7: Taylor Series

Also opening today:

HW6: Taylor Series
Q2P: Floating Point + Rounding + Taylor Series

Due today:

HW4: IEEE
Thu, Feb 18, lecture 8
Demo: Taylor Series

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L8: Monte Carlo Methods

Also opening today:

HW7: Monte Carlo Methods
MP1: Odds in a Texas Holdem game

Due today:

HW5: Rounding
Week 5
Tue, Feb 23, lecture 9
GA4: Random Walk

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L9: Matrices and Norms

Also opening today:

HW8: Matrices and Norms

Due today:

HW6: Taylor Series
Thu, Feb 25, lecture 10
Q2: Floating Point + Rounding + Taylor Series (HW3-HW6)

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L10: Linear system of equations

Also opening today:


Due today:

HW7: Monte Carlo Methods
Week 6
Tue, Mar 02, lecture 11
GA5: Applications of Norms

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L11: LU Factorization Algorithm

Also opening today:

HW9: Linear System of Equations
Q3P: Monte Carlo, Matrices and Norms, Linsys

Due today:

MP1: Odds in a Texas Holdem game
Thu, Mar 04, lecture 12
Demo: LU Factorization Algorithm

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L12: Sparse matrices and Conditioning

Also opening today:

HW10: Sparse and Conditioning
MP2: Design of a truss system

Due today:

HW8: Matrices and Norms
Week 7
Tue, Mar 09, lecture 13
GA6: Linear System of Equations

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L13: Eigenvalues

Also opening today:


Due today:

HW9: Linear System of Equations
Thu, Mar 11, lecture 14
Q3: Monte Carlo, Matrices and Norms, Linsys (HW7-HW9)

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L14: Eigenvalues

Also opening today:

HW11: Eingenvalues

Due today:

HW10: Sparse and Conditioning
Week 8
Tue, Mar 16, lecture 15
GA7: Structural vibrations

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L15: Markov Chains

Also opening today:

HW12: Markov chains
Q4P: Sparse, Conditioning, Eigs, Markov

Due today:

MP2: Design of a truss system
Thu, Mar 18, lecture 16
Demo: Eigenvalues

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L16: Finite Difference Methods

Also opening today:

HW13: Finite Difference Methods
MP3: Ranking basketball teams

Due today:

HW11: Eingenvalues
Week 9
Tue, Mar 23, lecture 17
GA8: Google Page Rank

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L17: 1D Nonlinear

Also opening today:


Due today:

HW12: Markov chains
Thu, Mar 25, lecture 18
Q4: Sparse, Conditioning, Eigs, Markov (HW10-HW12)

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L18: ND Nonlinear

Also opening today:

HW14: Nonlinear equations

Due today:

HW13: Finite Difference Methods
Week 10
Tue, Mar 30, lecture 19
GA9: A hybrid algorithm for root finding

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L19: 1D Optimization

Also opening today:


Due today:

MP3: Ranking basketball teams
Thu, Apr 01, lecture 20
Demo: ND Nonlinear

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L20: ND Optimization

Also opening today:

HW15: Optimization
MP4: Topology optimization design

Due today:

HW14: Nonlinear equations
Week 11
Tue, Apr 06, lecture 21
GA10: Linear regression using optimization

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L21: Least-Squares (Normal Equations)

Also opening today:

HW16: Least-squares (Normal Equations)
Q5P: FD, Nonlinear, Optimization

Due today:

Thu, Apr 08, lecture 22
Demo: ND Optimization

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L22: SVD

Also opening today:

HW17: SVD

Due today:

HW15: Optimization
Week 12
Tue, Apr 13

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Also opening today:


Due today:

Thu, Apr 15, lecture 23
Q5: FD, Nonlinear, Optimization (HW13-HW15)

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L23: Least-Squares (SVD)

Also opening today:

HW18: Least-squares (SVD)

Due today:

HW16: Least-squares (Normal Equations)
MP4: Topology optimization design
Week 13
Tue, Apr 20, lecture 24
GA11: Pandas and Least-squares

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L24: Other SVD applications

Also opening today:

HW19: Other SVD applications
MP5: Breast cancer predictions
Q6P: Least-squares and SVD

Due today:

HW17: SVD
Thu, Apr 22, lecture 25
Demo: Least-Squares (SVD)

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L25: PCA

Also opening today:

HW20: PCA

Due today:

HW18: Least-squares (SVD)
Week 14
Tue, Apr 27, lecture 26
GA12: Fantasy football predictions

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Also opening today:


Due today:

HW19: Other SVD applications
Thu, Apr 29, lecture 27
Q6: Least-squares and SVD (HW16-HW19)

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Also opening today:


Due today:

HW20: PCA
Week 15
Tue, May 04, lecture 28
GA13: PCA in a soccer dataset

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Also opening today:


Due today:

MP5: Breast cancer predictions
Thu, May 06

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Also opening today:


Due today: