The Theory of Computation Kun-Mao Chao ( 趙坤茂 ) National Taiwan University

2 About this course Course: The Theory of Computation ( 限在職生選修 ; This evening class is for part-time students only.) Fall semester, :30 – 21:15 Tuesday, R439 CSIE Building. 3 credits Web site: Instructor: Kun-Mao Chao ( 趙坤茂 ) Teaching assistant: Yen-Wei Wu ( 吳彥緯 )

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

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

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

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