CO 471Semidefinite Optimization
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Mathematics
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Optimization over convex sets described as the intersection of the set of symmetric, positive semidefinite matrices with affine spaces. Formulations of problems from combinatorial optimization, graph theory, number theory, probability and statistics, engineering design, and control theory. Theoretical and practical consequences of these formulations. Duality theory and algorithms.
Prerequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
- Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
- Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
- Earned a minimum cumulative overall average of 80.0
Antirequisites
None listed.
Leads to
No course lists it as a requisite.
Reviewed on UW Flow
100% liked it0% easy93% useful
From 6 ratings and 6 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
LOVED this course
Apr 2018 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
(Tuncel 2024) Very hard course but very rewarding. Hardest course I have ever taken. Lectures were so fast paced. 5 assignments each worth 16 percent (12 percent assignment and one question for take home question which is hard af), other than the assignment which was about geometric representation of graphs, the rest were lin alg type questions and not so related to the course material, but still very hard questions, He never asks trivial questions that follows from definitions, other than the first and the last assignment, I usually submitted about 17+ pages of latex for each assignment + take home question. Final worths 20% which was the only part of the course that I did not like, not…
Aug 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Take it with Levent, hardest course I ever take, not kidding.
The assignments(4+1 questions) are extremely hard, but you have 10 days to finish it.
But the final exam is reasonable, all questions are doable, but I mess it up.Apr 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Took it with Levent Tuncel (GOAT) in S23.
Hardest course I've ever taken in Undergrad and it's really cool. Prof. Tuncel is really good and clear at explaining the content and it's application in other field like Combinatorics Optimization and Number Theory. The assignments and final are very challenging but every time you solved the question, you feels like you got a major step in your life.
Very recommended, this course helped me getting a job.Jan 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Hardest course I've ever taken and nothing comes close. It's very rewarding when you finish, and you will learn a metric ton of stuff, but get really to work your ass off unless you're an absolute monster at linear algebra
Apr 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
21 posts and comments in 17 threads mention CO 471, April 2016 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Spring 2024
Rank the courses you've taken from hardest to easiest 20 points, 43 comments
“I'm curious”
u/maaaath: “uhhhh I'm just gonna randomly pick ones I remember or I'll be here for a while PMATH 753 > CO 471 > PMATH 763 > PMATH 451 > CO 442 > CO 255 >>>> CS xyz”
u/SchitLipz: “It's cool I've taken 5 of the 6 courses here and audited the one I haven't taken but my ranking would be different from yours: PMATH 763 > PMATH 753 > CO 442 > CO 471 > CO 255 > PMATH 451”
u/Different_Guess7202: “CO 471 >>>>>>> CS 146 > CO 255 > CO 442 > CS246E > STAT 241 > CS 145 > MATH 148 > CO 463 > MATH 247 > STAT 240 > CS 240E > MATH 245 > MATH 145 > MATH 146 > PMATH 351 > MATH 147 > MATH 249”
Could someone tell me the difference between Computational Mathematics and Combinatorics and Optimization? 6 points, 8 comments
“Hi, everyone. I'm a fall 2024 undergraduate student of the Faculty of Mathematics. I read some information about my faculty's programs to help me decide. …”
u/djao: “… The CO courses that are relevant to machine learning are CO 463, CO 466, and CO 471.”
Winter 2024
Interesting pmath/co courses? 3 points, 2 comments
“What are some particularly interesting pmath/co courses? I don’t have space to take many of them, but wish to maximize my utility. One course I know I want to take is pmath 351. Any other suggestions?”
u/Alone_Letterhead2671: “… CO 463, CO 466, and CO 471 are the optimization courses that requires some analysis and it's pretty useful for Statistics, and Machine learning theory. I've heard some people used Convex optimization (463) in their work too. I currently doing these route. …”
Recommend course joining right now 1 point, 2 comments
“I am open to any bird course OR Math, CS course that doesn't have quiz or anything due this week.”
u/Frequent_Lime8162: “CO 471, birdest course u can take in ur undergrad”
Fall 2023
Exercising Feynman's Technique, challenge me. 5 points, 10 comments
“Comment down any topic/concept from your subject/course/major, I'll make a video explaining it using doodles, drawings, random things I find in my room and using elements of pop culture.”
u/suiyui: “CO 471 Semi definite Optimization Good luck”
Spring 2022
How often do you use content from your advanced CS courses at your SWE job? 4 points, 8 comments
“Just trying to gauge how much it would hurt me to not be able to take most of the upper year CS courses (ex. CS 240, 341, 466) as a math student looking for software jobs. …”
u/LOLWHATOMGBBQ: “Use cs761, co471, stat231 and cs450 regularly at work. Did not take distributed systems but concepts from it are also useful. …”
u/yodnokzo: “At what kind of job did you use CO 471?”
Fall 2021
Upper year math courses with Lin alg 2 points, 6 comments
“Are there any upper year math courses with good amount of lin alg in them. I'm taking CO 367 and it has decent amount of lin alg in it. …”
u/TheSqrtOfNegative1: “CO 471/671 (Semidefinite Optimization) has quite a bit of linear algebra (it's typically offered in summers).”
Spring 2021
Should I drop MATH 247? 1 point, 9 comments
[deleted]: “… If you want to take CO 463/466/471, you'll only ever need PMATH 331, which you can take with 237. PMATH is strangely addicting, but at some point you have to cut yourself off from unnecessary abstraction if you think its taking away too much of your time from other things. …”
Winter 2020
Coding based CO courses 2 points, 6 comments
“Hi all, I am interested in taking some upper year CO courses and want a good mix of theory and programming. Any recommendations on which CO courses are coding heavy? …”
u/Nyxeal: “Depends on who teaches it. CO353 in some offerings have programming assignment. And I think CO463 and CO471? may be.”
Winter 2019
Fun/cool courses to audit for spring 2019? 15 points, 6 comments
“Can be from any faculty/department (including arts), preferably during the evening. I'll be on coop over the spring term. I audited some classes for CO 487 (Cryptography) last term and that was chill.”
u/Nyxeal: “CO342, CO446, CO471”
Winter 2018
CO 454 (Scheduling) - thoughts or reviews? 3 points, 4 comments
“The course is only offered in the spring term and has a low enrollment of 35 in the only section. The concepts seem interesting, but I am worried about the difficulty (being a 400 level CO) and the …”
u/1926toInfinity: “I am also interested, but I already planned to take CO 471 and PMATH 450. Probably I’ll just sit in the class.”
Fall 2017
C&O Course Suggestions? 8 points, 12 comments
“Interested in pursuing a minor in CO which requires three 3rd/4th year CO courses. To CO majors: which courses do you recommend?”
u/GenesisTK: “From the ones that look super cool: CO 446, CO 434, CO 450, CO 471, CO 463, CO 452, CO 466.”
u/maaaath: “CO 255 > CO 471 > CO 450 > CO 463 > CO 452 > CO 481 >>> CO 342 >>> every other 3rd year course and CO 250 CO 342 is decent, everything left of it is good-excellent, and everything right of it is bad. CO 450 and CO 342 are particularly useful for CS majors.”
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