Math 187A: Introduction to Cryptography (Winter 2020)

Main Handouts Grades Applets


Lecture: MWF 2-2:50pm in Center Hall, room 115

Instructor: Alina Bucur
Office: AP&M 7151
Email: alina@math.ucsd.edu
Office hours: M 3:30-5:30pm or by appointment

Discussion sections: Everyone is expected to attend the section they are registered for. Attending section is not mandatory, but if you do attend, you have to go to the section you are registered in. Only students registered in that section will be allowed in the discussion classroom. Quizzes will be returned in discussion to the students registered in that section. Please check blink for your discussion time.

TAs: Daniel Copeland Randy Martinez Mozhgan Mirzaei Bharatha Rankothge Peter Wear
A01 A02 A05, A06 A03 A04
drcopela@ucsd.edu ram035@ucsd.edu momirzae@ucsd.edu brankoth@ucsd.edu pwear@ucsd.edu
OHW 3:30-5:30pm F 10-11am, 1-2pm Tu 10am-12pm Tu 1:50-3:50pm Th 3:30-5:30pm
APM 6218 APM 5218 APM 5748APM 6436 APM 5760

Required text: none. Notes will be provided as handouts in class and/or online. For those who want to read more, a good reference is An introduction to mathematical cryptography by Hoffstein, Pipher and Silverman. (The link provides electronic access through UCSD library.)

Handouts: You will need a username and password to access this part of the website. The credentials will be posted in TritonEd.

Quizzes: There will be 6-8 quizzes administered Fridays during lecture. Sample quizzes will be posted on Friday the previous week.

Homework: There will be 1-2 computer assignments, one of which will be on codebreaking using the applets. Each computer assignment counts as one quiz.

Final exam: M 3/16/20 3-6pm, location TBA. Please note that by signing up for this course, you are agreeing to sit for the final examination at this date and time. The exam is not cumulative and it counts as 3 quizzes. This grade cannot be dropped. You do not need to bring a blue book to the final.

Grading: All grades are recorded on TritonED.
Only grades that appear in TritonED will be included in calculating the total score for the course.
The final will be worth as much as 3 quizzes. The computer assignment(s) count as 1 quiz (each).
It is your responsibility to make sure your grades are recorded in TritonED. If you do not have access to TritonED, make sure you get it by Wednesday Jan 17.
All tests will be open books and open notes. You will not need a computer for the any of the tests, but a calculator might be useful for some of the tests. If you do use a computer, you can only access the class website. No other websites, no messaging, no search engines, no communication of any sort with any other people, be they friends or enemies.
The lowest quiz score will be dropped. If you miss one quiz, your score will be 0 on it and that will automatically become your lowest quiz score and be dropped. The final exam grade will not be dropped under any circumstances.
No make-up exams and no make-up quizzes will be given.
Cheating on an exam/quiz or any infringement of UCSD's academic integrity or harassment policies will result in failing the class, as well as further disciplinary action. If you suspect a violation, please bring it to the attention of the instructor and/or TA immediately.

Grade Recording Errors:  Keep all of your returned quizzes and homeworks. If there is any mistake in the recording of your scores, you will need the original assignment/quiz in order for us to make a change. The error has to be reported within 1 week since it occurred. No error reports will be accepted after week #9 of the term.

Regrade Policy:  All graded material (except the final) will be returned in discussion sections. If you believe there might be an error in the grading and wish to have your quiz/homework regraded, you must observe the following rules.

  1. Return your test immediately to your TA. Regrade requests will not be considered once the test leaves the room.
    • If you disagree with the TA's answer to your regrade request, you may ask for the instructor to review it. In order to do this, you must:
      1. return your test immediately to your TA
        2. and
      2. ask that they forward it to the instructor.
    • Instructor review requests will not be considered once the test leaves the room.
  2. Retrieve your test during discussion section or arrange to pick it up from your TA within one week after it was made available for pickup (i.e., returned) in section. In order to be considered, regrade requests must be submitted within one week after being returned in section.

Letters of recommendation:  In general, you should try to get a letter of recommendation from a professor with whom you had some one-to-one contact. I will consider recommendation requests only from people who have placed in the top 25% of the class (in the past, this meant a grade of A+) and who have had some nontrivial interaction with me outside lecture.

Communication:  I am happy to talk/answer questions right before and after class or during office hours. If you cannot make the office hours posted, email me to make an appointment. Due to the large size of the class, I will not respond to email unless it is a request to set up an appointment. If you email me with a general question, the answer might be an update to the website for the benefit of anyone with the same question!

Electronic devices: Please do not use devices (such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, iPods) for non-class-related matters while in class/section. No visual or audio recording is allowed in class/section without prior permission of the instructor (whether by camera, cell phone, or other means).

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