The Theory of Computation KunMao Chao National Taiwan

The Theory of Computation Kun-Mao Chao (趙坤茂) National Taiwan University http: //www. csie. ntu. edu. tw/~kmchao/

About this course • Course: Theory of Computation (限在職生選修; This evening class is for part-time students only. ) • Fall semester, 2014 • 18: 30 – 21: 15 Tuesday, R 439 CSIE Building. • 3 credits • Web site: http: //www. csie. ntu. edu. tw/~kmchao/theory 14 fall • Instructor: Kun-Mao Chao (趙坤茂) • Teaching assistant: Yen-Wei Wu (吳彥緯) 2

Instructor: Kun-Mao Chao (趙坤茂) & TA: Yen-Wei Wu (吳彥緯) Kun-Mao Chao Yen-Wei Wu 3

Topics ü Sets, Relations, Languages ü Finite Automata ü Context-free Languages ü Turing Machines ü Undecidability ü Computational Complexity ü NP-completeness ü Related Topics 4

Grading policy • Homework assignments and Class participation (10%) • Two midterm exams (70%; 35% each): – Midterm #1: Oct. 28, 2014 (tentative) – Midterm #2: Dec. 9, 2014 (tentative) • Oral presentation of selected papers/topics (20%) – Dec. 30, 2014 and Jan. 6, 2015 5

Textbook • Elements of the Theory of Computation, Second Edition – by Harry R. Lewis and Christos H. Papadimitriou, Prentice-Hall, 1998. 6

Textbook -- a glance 7

Other matters • No class on Dec. 16, 2014 • Popular X problems on Dec. 23, 2014 • Class presentations on Dec. 30, 2014 and Jan. 6, 2015: TBA 8

Top ten reasons for taking this class 10. You may bring your dinner to the class as long as it is not stinky and you clean up your table afterwards. 9. A good mental exercise. 8. To learn more about theoretical computer science. 7. To sharpen your skills in proving theorems. 6. To learn more about computation. 9

Top ten reasons for taking this class 5. To improve your programming ability. 4. To explore the pleasure of pressure. 3. To figure out your potential that you never knew. 2. To get inspired. 1. You tell me! 10