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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Divide and Conquer, Sorting and Searching, and Randomized Algorithms by Stanford University

4.8
stars
5,244 ratings

About the Course

The primary topics in this part of the specialization are: asymptotic ("Big-oh") notation, sorting and searching, divide and conquer (master method, integer and matrix multiplication, closest pair), and randomized algorithms (QuickSort, contraction algorithm for min cuts)....

Top reviews

KS

Sep 13, 2018

Well researched. Topics covered well, with walkthrough for exam.le cases for each new introduced algorithm. Great experience, learned a lot of important algorithms and algorithmic thinking practices.

DT

May 26, 2020

Thank you for teaching me this course. I learned a lot of new things, including Divide-and-Conquer, MergeSort, QuickSort, and Randomization Algorithms, along with proof for their asymptotic runtime

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101 - 125 of 1,001 Reviews for Divide and Conquer, Sorting and Searching, and Randomized Algorithms

By Ethan h

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Dec 11, 2017

I would probably still be fascinated by algorithms without the enthusiasm of these lectures, but it certainly helps. The discussion forums don't seem to be too busy these days, but enough people have taken this course over the years that I'm sure any stumbling blocks along the way have already been navigated somewhere in the archives. Anyone who enjoys puzzle-solving and analysis should appreciate this course.

By Ellen Y

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May 6, 2017

The instructor speaks very clearly and describes everything in a good amount of detail. There were quizzes throughout lectures that keep you engaged and test your understanding, and I liked that I could use the problem sets as a way to practice since there's no penalty for multiple tries. I really enjoyed the course and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a solid understanding of algorithms.

By Vladimir M

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Dec 5, 2020

Excellent course. Very good and thorough explanations of brilliant algorithms and their asymptotic analysis. Also refresher on discrete probability was very good and useful. Separately want to thank professor for great problem sets and assignments. What else I can say, very very solid and useful course for everyone striving to get better at analytical thinking and problem solving. Liked it all the way

By Derrick W

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Mar 10, 2021

The course material is clear, and the instructor is enthusiastic about the material which is quite nice. The only drawback is the course focuses a bit more on theory rather than implementation, but since the class is not targeting any programming language it makes perfect sense. I'm also expecting more materials from the programming assignment, with less focuses on weekly quizzes (i.e., theories.)

By Jonathon P

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Oct 8, 2018

I am a professional software engineer and I've made it through week 3 of this course so far. The lectures are well done, easy to follow, and it feels like a 1-on-1 tutoring session with one of the world's top professors.

I already feel like I have grown as an engineer after implementing merge sort to find array inversions (among other exercises and assignments). I can't wait to see what's next!

By Ashish S

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Aug 1, 2018

Excellent course on Algorithms. I have done few UCSD algorithm courses before (I equally liked them as well), this course is more focused on Mathematical part. Programming assignments are probably simpler as compared to UCSD course but quiz are hard and requires considerable knowledge of probability and combinatorics. Better to do this course after some basic course on discrete mathematics.

By Matt C

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Nov 9, 2017

Absolutely not what I expected. The instructor is excellent, you can tell his passion about what he is teaching and he presents it great. That being said, this course is way more difficult than what I expected, so be prepared to put in some time and effort to get the most out of it. The material definitely stuck, I'll never look at algorithms the same way again, that's for sure1

By Sam S

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Mar 27, 2020

A very thorough and rigorous beginning to algorithms. Professor Roughgarden does an excellent job walking through everything in a clear and succinct fashion. There isn't too much programming needed, but it can be tricky if you aren't familiar with how to operate on various data types. A good understanding of high school math (algebra in particular) will help you in this course.

By GongPing

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Jun 11, 2017

These lectures are incredibly mind-blowing, full of insights for algorithm designs and valuable suggestions. This course is really a great enjoyment to follow, because the lectures & quiz & programming assignments are so well arranged! Wish I had took this lectures earlier. Thank you very much Prof Tim Roughgardern for providing the world with such an excellence on-line course!

By kumar d

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Apr 21, 2018

This is the best thing to happen for learning algorithms (close second would be the book by steven skiena). This course took me 13 years back to my college 2nd year when I fell in love with algorithms. This is like living your first love all over again. Thank you professor Roughgarden, and I hope you create another course with advanced algorithms with latest developments.

By Stefan T I

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Dec 25, 2016

This course offers one of the best introductions to reasoning about algorithms in a mathematical way. However, it is not just theory, it also gives you practical advise and forces you to polish up your programming skills as well by implementing some of the most useful and popular algorithms for sorting and similar applications in whatever language you wish.

By Md A R

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Apr 8, 2018

The course is awesome. But the video quality could be improved specially those with echos. It would help concentrating. I have completed algorithm as a undergraduate course and this course is to revisit those area where I had some minor weakness. And this course really helped me building an strong understanding on those points. Overall experience is good.

By Stefanos L

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Oct 31, 2017

Very well structured. The lecturer/resources/customizable speed etc are excelllent. I only found the programming assignments too difficult (especially the 4th one) and I had to revert (more than I wanted) to internet sources to do them (or it, especially the 4th one). In contrast, the quizzes were too easy. Perhaps personal taste. Excellent work overall.

By Haitham S

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Jun 17, 2020

The course is very well designed. It is programming language agnostic and this allows you to focus on the actual content and learn the way to approach algorithms. Also, the approach the professor takes makes the material more approachable for people coming from different backgrounds! Thanks to Coursera, Stanford University and Professor Tim Roughgarden!

By Pruthvi K

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May 7, 2022

The best course I have seen for Data structure and algorithms. The course focuses on the algorithm, math and is language agnostic. Hands down the best series fro DSA if you want to learn all the basic algorithms and understand the technique well. The way the professore paces this course is amazing as well, not wasting time on unecessary topics.

By Abhisek G

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Apr 20, 2022

It is an amazing course to get started with algorithm and it's analysis. We get to learn mathematical and logical models behind algorithms and implement it in real world use using any programming language of our choice. We however do need to have certain amount of programming expertise to be able to learn from this course to the fullest degree.

By Eric R

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Mar 3, 2021

This is the 3rd algorithms course I've taken and easily my favorite so far. Professor Roughgarden does an excellent job explaining the concepts behind the algorithm without getting lost in the technical details. I'd suggest taking the supplemental lectures if you want a deeper understanding of the material, but they aren't necessary.

By Vishwas D

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Oct 8, 2020

First, I would like to thanks a team of Stanford for allowing and approving my financial aid for this course. While waiting for the approval I visited the videos and I completed this course in a day. I sincerely thank the team Stanford for arranging such a wisdomic platform for learning the best tools from the Stanford experts.

By Feiyu L

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Apr 23, 2018

Now I truly understand how to think of algorithm in terms with Recursion applying Divide and Conquer, and how to use Master method to prove an algorithm's complexity. Even though it is more rigorous then what is required for a software interview or engineering project, having the exposure of theory is better than not having it.

By Aditya k

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Jun 19, 2018

This is an amazing course focusing on some of the important fundamentals required to design the right algorithm to a problem statement. Prof. Tim Roughgarden does a fantastic job in explaining the concepts and catching the attention of the students, while not making the course boring. Thanks Courseera for hosting this course.

By Sivaramakrishnan S

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Mar 25, 2020

I came here from the stanford Lagunita course with the same material. It's an understatement to say that I had quite a FUN time. Wonderfully laid out course structure and sometimes a bit lightweight (rightly so) course material. Highly recommend for people with non-CS background. Great (evergreen) intro course to Algorithms!

By Rui C

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Oct 22, 2017

Really good course on divide and conquer algorithm design approaches. It's a good introduction to the subject of algorithms. The book written from the course and on sale on amazon is a really good support to the videos. It is a clean up transcript with further additions to the material covered and it's well worth the buying.

By Sangeet M D

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May 31, 2017

I always had my doubt on whether to choose which course on Algorithm in coursera, The Princeton one or the Stanford one. Though I can weight one above the other, but the flow is which the Stanford one proceed is the best for any lower Intermediate level student to wants to learn the upper fundamentals of Algorithm Analysis.

By Dustin Z

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Sep 23, 2019

A very good course. More challenging than the machine learning courses I have taken because there is more math and the programming assignments are less directed, but that was a plus as I grew more in my critical thinking and programming skills because I needed to solve the problems on my own. Very happy with this course.

By Hagen T

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Feb 22, 2018

This is an excellent course on algorithms, that has given me a deeper understanding of the subject.

I am a theoretical physicist using this course as preparation for coding interviews, and the speed, amount of rigor and optional material (the optional theory problems in particular) feel perfect for my learning effort.