Cultivate your career with expert-led programs, job-ready certificates, and 10,000 ways to grow. All for $25/month, billed annually. Save now
This course is part of Fundamentals of Computing Specialization
Instructors: Luay Nakhleh
Instructor ratings
We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.
25,732 already enrolled
Included with 
(216 reviews)
(216 reviews)
Add to your LinkedIn profile
2 assignments
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV
Share it on social media and in your performance review
Experienced Computer Scientists analyze and solve computational problems at a level of abstraction that is beyond that of any particular programming language. This two-part class is designed to train students in the mathematical concepts and process of "Algorithmic Thinking", allowing them to build simpler, more efficient solutions to computational problems.
In part 2 of this course, we will study advanced algorithmic techniques such as divide-and-conquer and dynamic programming. As the central part of the course, students will implement several algorithms in Python that incorporate these techniques and then use these algorithms to analyze two large real-world data sets. The main focus of these tasks is to understand interaction between the algorithms and the structure of the data sets being analyzed by these algorithms. Once students have completed this class, they will have both the mathematical and programming skills to analyze, design, and program solutions to a wide range of computational problems. While this class will use Python as its vehicle of choice to practice Algorithmic Thinking, the concepts that you will learn in this class transcend any particular programming language.
Sorting, searching, big-O notation, the Master Theorem
13 videos2 readings1 assignment
Closest pairs of points, clustering of points, comparison of clustering algorithms
4 readings1 peer review2 app items
Dynamic programming, running time of DP algorithms, local and global sequence alignment
7 videos1 assignment
Computation of sequence alignments, applications to genomics and text comparison
1 video3 readings1 peer review1 app item
We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.
Instructor ratings
We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.
Rice University is consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in the U.S. and the top 100 in the world. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Rice University
Course
Rice University
Course
Rice University
Course
Coursera Instructor Network
Course
216 reviews
80.55%
11.11%
4.62%
2.31%
1.38%
Showing 3 of 216
Reviewed on Apr 28, 2018
Excellent class in the series. Even if computational biology is not your thing, the assignments are really interesting, fun and informative.
Reviewed on Mar 24, 2018
Great class...Luay's lectures and problem sets were a great continuation to what Joe and Scott started. I suppose I will get started on Course 7 shortly.
Reviewed on Sep 22, 2016
You cannot get easy answers for homework and it pushes you to think hard.
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Financial aid available,
Learn on your own time from top universities and businesses.
Already on Coursera?
Having trouble logging in? Learner help center
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.