Math 187A: Introduction to Cryptography (Fall 2021, Lecture B) - remote

Main Lecture A Canvas AppletsZulip


This course will be completely remote.
The parellel lecture, namely Lecture A, will be completely in person. To access Lecture A's webpage, click here or on the corresponding tab at the top of the page.


The policies below will continue to be updated as UCSD and local authorities continue to update their regulations.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant travel restrictions, this course will be taught remotely and will accommodate participation from any timezone; however, all times will be announced in San Diego local time. That means Pacific Daylight Savings Time (PDT = UTC -7) until November 7, 2021, and Pacific Standard Time (PST = UTC-8) after that. You are responsible for meeting all deadlines as announced, regardless of the timezone you are in.

Lectures will be given synchronously, recorded, and made available for later viewing. By attending the live lecture, you give permission to be recorded by the instructional staff only, not by other students. If you do not want to be recorded, please view the recorded lecture after it has been posted. You do not have permission to record any other interactions with the instructor or TAs, or to share the recorded lectures.

Online instruction is still a new frontier. I will do my best to give you all the tools to succeed, but I also need your help. I suggest you follow these tips on how to succeed in online instruction from UCSD Educational Psychologist Celeste Pilegard. She is an expert on multimedia learning.

California law prohibits any recording of communication without the express consent of all the attendees. You do not have my consent or any of the TA's consent to record any interactions (including but not limited to lectures, discussions, and office hours). It is therefore illegal to record and you would be liable to prosecution and civil suits.

Students do not have permission to share the recordings or the links to the recordings with anyone at all.

Lecture: MWF 7-7:50pm via Zoom (the link will be posted on Canvas and Zulip)

Instructor: Alina Bucur
Office: AP&M 7151
Email: alina@math.ucsd.edu
Office hours: TBD

Discussion sections: Attending section is not mandatory and you can attend any section you choose, not necessarily the one you are registerd for. Please check blink for your discussion time.

TAs: Daniel Kongsgaard Jun Bo Lau
B01, B03 B02, B04
dkongsga@ucsd.edu jblau@ucsd.edu
OHTBD TBD

Required text: none. Notes will be provided as handouts 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. You will have to VPN into the UCSD network in order to gain access to it.)

Handouts: All handouts will be posted to Canvas. This includes lecture notes, lecture recordings, and homework assignments.

Homework: First and foremost, late homework will not be accepted and there will be no exception to this rule. If you fail to submit your homework before the deadline, then you will automatically receive a zero for that assignment. No exceptions will be made for late adds, so if you are on the waitlist and hope to take the class you need to keep up with the work. Please do not contact the instruction staff to ask for leniency or exceptions!
There will be 4 assignments in total. Homework assignments are posted on Canvas, and due at 11:59pm on the indicated date through Gradescope, usually on Fridays in weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8. Before the deadline, you may submit as many copies of your homework paper as you would like; however, only the most recent submission will be considered. All problems on homework assignments will be graded for correctness. We strongly encourage that you type your solution. Handwritten papers should be legible or your homework may not be graded. HW scores will be available on Gradescope and/or Canvas.

Quizzes: There will be 4 quizzes of 20min each (held Fridays in weeks 3, 5, 7, 9), administered through Gradescope (within Canvas). There will be a practice quiz during week 1 to help you familiarize yourself with the process. Quizzes will be administered during the lecture period (7-7:50pm) and by signing up for this course, you are agreeing to submit the final project by this date and time regardless of the timezone you are in.
During each quiz, you may use any resources (notes, books, even search engines) as long as you do not communicate with any other humans. For example, posting a question to Chegg is not permitted.
The lowest quiz score will be dropped. Handwritten papers must be legible, or else your quiz may not be graded.There will be no makeup or extensions on quizzes. Quiz grades will be available on Gradescope and/or Canvas.

Final project: due W 12/08/21 at 10pm PST. Please note that by signing up for this course, you are agreeing to submit the final project by this date and time regardless of the timezone you are in. But it can be submitted earlier. This grade cannot be dropped. Same rules as the quizzes: you can use any resources but not communicate with any other humans. Again, posting any part of the final project on Chegg and similar sites is not permitted. There is no final exam; disregard any information from the registrar to the contrary.

Grading: All grades are recorded on Gradescope and/or Canvas.
Only grades that appear in Canvas Gradescope in week 10 will be included in calculating the total score for the course.

Since these parameters have been chosen to be somewhat forgiving, no exceptions will be granted, nor will there be an opportunity to make up missed work. This applies even if you join the course late.
Any infringement of UCSD's academic integrity or harassment policies, including cheating on a quiz/hw/project, will result in failing the class, as well as further disciplinary action. If you suspect a violation, please bring it to the attention of course staff immediately; we will also be monitoring Chegg and similar sites for suspicious activity.

There will be no curve in this class, and therefore no pressure to compete against other students. Grade cutoffs:

Percentage 97 93 90 87 83 80 77 73 70
Minimum grade A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C-

Regrade Policy:  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. Regrade requests will not be considered later than 3 days after the material was graded.
  2. 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:
    • make your request within 24 hours of receiving the TA's answer
      • and
    • ask that they forward it to the instructor.
  3. Instructor review requests will not be considered later than 1 week after the material was graded.
  4. No regrade requests will be considered after week 9, except for the final project.

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 (which this quarter amounts to interacting with me during zoom office hours).

Communication: Most communication about the course will take place in Zulip; Zulip includes both a general discussion forum, available to all students in both Math 187A lectures, and one-on-one direct messages. A link to join Zulip will be posted to Canvas. Once you have joined, please use DMs instead of email for questions about the course; I may not answer emails. All course communication is subject to UCSD's academic integrity and harassment policies.

Electronic devices: Please make sure your mic is muted when you don't need to speak. No visual or audio recording is allowed in class/section without prior permission of the instructor and all other attendees (whether by camera, cell phone, or other means).

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