Introduction to Algorithms and Their Limitations

Harvard Extension School

CSCI E-120

Section 1

CRN 17468

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This is an introductory course in theoretical computer science, aimed at giving students the power of using mathematical abstraction and rigorous proof to understand computation. Thus equipped, students are able to design and use algorithms that apply to a wide variety of computational problems, with confidence about their correctness and efficiency, as well as recognize when a problem may have no algorithmic solution. At the same time, they gain an appreciation for the beautiful mathematical theory of computation that is independent of (indeed, predates) the technology on which it is implemented.

Credits: 4

Term

Fall Term 2026

Part of Term

Full Term

Format

Online

Credit Status

Graduate, Undergraduate

Section Status

Open

Instructor Info

Anurag Anshu, PhD

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Rebecca Nesson, PhD

Executive Director, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and Lecturer on Computer Science, Harvard University

Meeting Info

8/31 to 12/19

Participation Option: Online Asynchronous

Deadlines

Last day to register:

Additional Time Commitments

Optional sections to be arranged.

Prerequisites

Experience with proofs and discrete mathematics at the level of CSCI E-20, and (Python) programming at the level of CSCI E-50.

Notes

The recorded lectures are from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences companion course Computer Science 1200. Registered students can ordinarily live stream the lectures Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:45-2:00 pm starting September 2 or they can watch them on demand. The recorded sessions are typically available within a few hours of the end of class and no later than the following business day. Class sessions for this course may include students enrolled in the FAS companion course. Accordingly, when you participate in live class sessions, you will do so alongside both Division of Continuing Education (DCE) and FAS students. If you participate in a way that causes you to appear in recordings of the class, those recordings may be shown to DCE students enrolled in this course or FAS students enrolled in the companion course, according to the policies of the two schools on accessing recordings of class sessions.

Tuition

All Sections of this Course

CRN	Section #	Participation Option(s)	Instructor	Section Status	Term Dates
17283	1	Online Asynchronous	Salil Vadhan	Field not found in response.	Sep 2 to Dec 20
27230	1	Online Asynchronous	Salil Vadhan	Open	Jan 25 to May 15
17468	1	Online Asynchronous	Team Taught	Open	Aug 31 to Dec 19