Final FAQ

I can't say too much about the final because my hints may be jumping ahead of how you're thinking about the problem. This page mostly covers clarifications.

• Clarifications on problem 1.
  • In part b, you don't want to consider alternative orders for the cities--you should have already proven alternative orders won't work in the greedy alternatives in part (a).
  • For the final algorithm/solution: It seems like students are missing two key lines (and I understand why you're missing it--because of the greedy possibilities I have you consider; the reason I had you look at those possibilities is because they don't work):

    The problem statement says: "Murray, your chief cartographer, estimates that just following the currents will take you past exactly one plunderable town a day, for a total of n days... None could actually withstand a full attack, but some might do enough damage that you'd probably have to sail past a few towns while repairing the ship. So you need to decide which towns to plunder." Meaning: You're a pirate on a pirate ship, so you can't go back to a previous city because of the currents--you don't want to go against the current. Conclusion: Trust Murray's schedule.

• General reminders
  • You may use my lecture notes/slides, your notes, your journals, the textbook. You may not talk to anyone else nor can you use the Internet.

Honor Code Policy

Open brain, your notes, your (and only your) problem sets, solutions on Sakai, your wiki, my slides, and the textbook.

Closed everything else.

There should be no discussion of the exam with peers, e.g., nothing about how hard/easy it is, how much time certain problems take to solve, what types of problems there are, etc. There will be plenty of opportunities to discuss the exam after the submission deadline.