Math 187A Section A (Fall 2025)

September 25:

Here are some resources from other UCSD instructors that you may find useful:
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Lecture Time: MWF 2pm to 2:50pm
Lecture Location: Pepper Canyon Hall Room 106
Textbook: An Introduction to Cryptography, by Shishir Agrawal. Available online via this link.

Discussion Section:
Section A01: Th 5:00pm-5:50pm at CENTR 220
Section A02: Th 6:00pm-6:50pm at CENTR 220
Section A03: Th 7:00pm-7:50pm at WLH 2208
Section A04: Th 8:00pm-8:50pm at WLH 2208
Section A05: Th 7:00pm-7:50pm at CENTR 220
Section A06: Th 8:00pm-8:50pm at CENTR 220

Course Personnel:
Instructor: Karthik Ganapathy Venkitachalam
Teaching Assistant for Sections A01 and A02:
Teaching Assistant for Sections A03 and A04:
Teaching Assistant for Sections A05 and A06:
Graders:
Note: To contact us, please use Piazza. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TA, and myself. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza.

Office Hours:
Karthik Ganapathy: MWF 12:45am to 1:45pm at AP&M 1230, or by appointment.

Course Schedule: The schedule is up to date on Canvas. See Important dates to keep in mind on the bottom of this page.

Homework:
Homework assignments will be posted here and on Canvas almost every week by Friday. Normally you will have one week to submit your completed homework via Gradescope. Your lowest homework assignment will be dropped at the end of the course when computing your grade.

Exam:
There will be two midterm exams and one final exam. No makeup exams will be given in this course.
Note: It is standard Math Department practice to utilize different versions of exams, both within each lecture's exam, and between lectures whose exams are at different times.

Midterm I: It will be in class on October 20, 2025. No cheat sheets are allowed.
Midterm II: It will be in class on November 17, 2025. No cheat sheets are allowed.
Final exam: It is on December 10 from 3pm-5:50pm in PCYNH 106. Cheat sheet policy is TBA.

Regrades: Regrade requests will be made using the built-in regrade request feature in Gradescope. There will be a limited window of time after the exams are made available during which the regrade request feature will be active. This time window will be announced when the exam scores are released. Only the regrade requests sent within the time window will be considered.

Grading Policy:

The grades will be determined as the best of: 

a) 20% Homework, 20% Midterm Exam I, 20% Midterm Exam II, 40% Final Exam; OR

b) 25% Homework, 25% Best Midterm Exam, 50% Final Exam.

Attendance Policy: You are expected to attend every session of the lectures and discussion section you are enrolled in. Students who do not attend class rarely succeed in this course.  If you must miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to catch up on the material. You are also responsible for the information given in any announcements made during class. To help you with this, I will record every lectures in the event you are unable to attend. Lecture recordings can be found at UCSD Podcast.

Academic Integrity: Academic dishonesty is considered a serious offense at UCSD. Students caught cheating will face an administrative sanction which may include suspension or expulsion from the university. It is in your best interest to take pride in your work maintain your academic integrity.

Accommodations: Students requesting accommodations for this course due to a disability must provide a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter issued by the Office for Students with Disabilities (https://osd.ucsd.edu/.) Students are required to discuss accommodation arrangements with instructors and OSD liaisons in the department in advance of any exams or assignments.