Professor: EMAIL:

David Bernstein dhb@princeton.edu

Office: Phone:

E-Quad, E407 x8-1363

Description: You make decisions every day. In addition, other people are constantly making decisions that have an impact on you. In this course we will consider both how these decisions are made and how they should be made. In particular, we will focus on the use of computing and information technology in the decision-making process.

The examples we consider will be taken from everyday life. We will then consider the broader implications of these examples.

This course will be highly interactive. You will be expected to actively participate in every lecture.

Lecture	Topic		Lab (Due)
1	Introduction to the course
		What is this course all about, anyway?
2-3	Getting to the top!		1 (9/28)
		Suppose you run a company and you want to maximize your profits. Or, suppose you're a mountain climber and you want to get to the top. How should you go about it? Is the steepest way up always the best?
4-5	How to pack a suitcase.		2 (10/05)
		You're packing for a trip, you don't want your backpack to be too heavy, there's no point in packing the peanut butter if you can't also pack the jelly... What should you do?
6-7	You can't get there from here!		3 (10/12)
		Everyone knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but that doesn't help when you are driving a car or riding a train. So, what should you do instead?
8-9	Why is there a Burger KingTM next to every McDonaldsTM?		4 (10/19)
		You know you've thought about it. Find out the answer and how it relates to that age-old favorite scissors-paper-rock.
10-11	The Commuters' Dilemma		5 (10/26)
		And you thought that the prisoners had it bad...
12-13	Getting promoted, the stock market, and the drunken stupor.		6 (11/09)
		How to predict movements in the stock market!!! How to win the lottery every week!!!! (Yeah, right...)
14-15	Why does the store have plenty of Air Bobs but no Air JordansTM		7 (11/16)
		You go into a shoe store to buy some basketball shoes (so you run faster, jump higher, and score more!). But the store is out of them. Why?!?!?
16-17	Why you wait in line!		8 (11/23)
		You wait in line to buy concert tickets, to get on airplanes, to order food at Burger KingTM (Is this a burger fetish?), and for just about everything. Is it impossible to prevent lines or do these places just not have enough people waiting on you?
18-19	Are there too few green M&MsTM?		9 (11/30)
		Green M&MsTM are rumored to have a certain interesting property. For many years, I've thought that there are fewer green ones than there "should be". Am I right?
20-21	Why is Yogi so smart?		10 (12/07)
		Everbody knows that Yogi is smarter than the average bear. But why? Is it the size of his head? Is it his diet? Does it have something to do with M&MsTM?
22-23	What have we learned?
		You've done all of the work. You've attended all of the lectures. What did it get you?
24	Can you believe it? A class about nothing.
		Sounds like an episode of "Seinfeld", doesn't it?

Course Materials: All course materials are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.princeton.edu/^~civ105. You will need a Java-capable browser for some of the materials.

Grading: Labs will account for 50% of your final grade and the final examination will account for the other 50%. You will need a Java-capable browser for most of the labs.

There are 10 labs in total. I will drop the lowest lab grade when calculating your final grade. In effect, this means that you do not have to hand in one of the labs. However, you should use this option carefully, since NO LABS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE DUE DATE. My advice is to plan on handing in all of the labs. That way, in case you find yourself in a situation where you cannot complete one of the labs, you will not suffer.

Final Exam: The final examination will be on January 20 (Wednesday) at 7:30PM in room C-207. It is open book and open notes. If you're looking for a way to study, you might want to take a look at some questions that arose during the Winter Recess. Last years final exam is also available in both PostScript (.ps) and Acrobat (.pdf) formats.

Teaching Assistant: The teaching assistant this semester is Kelley Scott. Her email address is kscott@dragon.princeton.edu. Her office hours are Thursday from 4:30 until 6:00 in room ACE-32. She will hold an informal precept (i.e., attendance is not required) on Fridays from 1:30-3:00 in room C-207. (If there are not many students at the precept, that time will be used for office hours.)

Readings: The book for this course is available in both PostScript (.ps) format and in Acrobat (.pdf) format. It is only available to members of the Princeton University community.

The above links now point to the new version of the book (uploaded on January 17, 1999).