LECTURE: M-Th
12:00-12:50pm, Sp-226;
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Pante
STANICA, 268 Spanagel, 656-2714,
(I prefer to be
contacted by email)
OFFICE HOURS: M,T,W,Th 13:00-13:30pm (or come by if my door is open).
(Be aware that office
hours are not a substitute for regular class time)
TEXT:
Introduction to Coding and Information Theory (ed. 1997);
by Steven Roman
We shall also cover some topics found in other materials, so good notes are a
must.
PREREQUISITE: MA1025, or equivalent exposure to elementary propositional
and predicate logic and mathematical proof.
CALCULATOR POLICY: Using a CAS like Mathematica
or Maple can give more insight.
MATERIAL TO BE COVERED (and Objectives for the course—subject to be
adjusted along the way):
* Introduction to Codes
* Coding Theory Problem
* Linear Codes
* Special Codes
HOMEWORK: You are encouraged to do as many problems as you can
from the book. However the standard (default) assignment for each week is to
read carefully the indicated sections and to prepare for homework the problems
I will assign in class. The homework will not be collected. However, the exams
may contain problems from the assigned homework. Every student will be required
to do a presentation in front of the class. I will provide a list of topics,
but the student may choose a topic which will have to be approved by me.
GRADING: The number of possible points is 200 (well, a bit more than that if
you take the quizzes). For the letter grade I will use the following scale (be advised
that class participation will be considered, especially in the borderline
grades) (there are no exceptions from this scale!!!!):
185-200: A
175-184: A-
170-174: B+
160-169: B
155-159: B-
145-154: C+
135-144: C
130-134: C-
125-129: D+
100-124: D
0-99: failing grade.
An unresolved absence from either of the two tests or the final examination
will result in a final grade of “FA”.
ACADEMIC
HONESTY: Cheating in this course will
not be tolerated and will be dealt with as harshly as the University permits.
I will report any student behavior that appears contrary to the standards of
discipline and academic honesty or violations of the provisions described in
the current edition of NPS Student's Catalog.
CLASS
ATTENDANCE AND ENVIRONMENT: You
should do every attempt to arrive on time and attend each class. You are
responsible for the material covered in missed classes. I do not tolerate any
rude behavior; however, I encourage constructive comments on the material
and/or lecture. We have to maintain a class environment conducive to learning
therefore I am against bringing “active” cell phones, pagers, and
other similar disruptive devices into the classroom.
NOTES: The course is intended to provide an introduction to
both the classical enciphering systems and also the more modern public key
cryptosystems. We will show the strengths and weaknesses of the simple systems
and indicate some simple cryptanalytic approaches to their solution. In
general, the cryptanalytic techniques will lie beyond the scope of the course.
A reasonable prerequisite for the course is a foundational grounding in the
subject of applied modern algebra and finite fields as could be acquired in MA
3560. There will be a brief discussion of these topics later in the course.