Discrete OptimizationMail Bag - Week 1

Goals of the LectureWeekly update on your progress

(in aggregate)" something unique to this session"

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This time" overview of the student body" progress on the assignments" common questions" hints for the next few weeks

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Overview of the Student Body8,000 students active"

4,000 intend to do all of the homework" 5,000 intend to watch all of the videos"

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4,500 to 2,300 views on introductory videos""

2,000 students registered in the last week" would love to see 2,000 more (tell your friends!)"

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We have a lot of auditors" common in MOOCs

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Overview of the Student Body

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Overview of the Student Body

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Overview of the Student Body

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Carletons Home State

Overview of the Student Body

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Overview of the Student Body

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Overview of the Student Body

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Tasmania

Overview of the Assignments1,500 students active in assignments"

submitted any part of an assignment""

12,900 submissions made" AWESOME work!"

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Knapsack assignment" 700 students active"

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Graph Coloring assignment" 80 students active

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Cumulative Grade Distribution

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On Track

You Win!

Common Questions

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The grader feedback says capacity constraint violated! Check that the order of your variables

matches the input order.""

Why is Branch and Bound still exponential?

Exponential Branch and Bound ExampleExaggerate"

Assume that we have many items, all with essentially the same ratios"

We will explore many of these alternatives because the lower bound will not differentiate then"

Consider" capacity 701" item weights: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2,...., 2, 1" item value: 2.00001,...., 2.00001, 1"

Of course, there are ways around it" some are in the lecture slides (but later)

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Some SuggestionsPeer discussion is essential in this class,

i.e. we need you!" Share your experience on the assignments in the

forums (especially if what you tried worked!)""

The forums are the core discussion venue, but" Facebook Group (connect with alumni)" Twitter, @DiscreteOptimiz, #dopt002" IRC Chat, #coursera-optimization, on freenode.net" All details in the Socialize course page

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Whats Next?

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The Knapsack warmup round is over..." time for serious optimization"

Graph coloring is hard" you have 2 weeks, start EARLY" dont expect to find an optimal solution to

every instance" remember, 7 on every part is like an A grade" 10 on every part is like an A+++"

Good News!" graph coloring is discussed all over the

lectures

Whats Next?

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Have Fun!

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Thanks for all the positive feedback" we worked hard to prepare this" you show us, it was worth the extra effort"

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Tell your friends to join the course, it is all about the community"

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Keep up the awesome optimization!

Have Fun!

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