Divide and Conquer, Sorting and Searching, and Randomized Algorithms
Stanford Online · View on Coursera ↗
Taught by Tim Roughgarden
Computer ScienceMath and Logic
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).
The dissent
The most-upvoted critical review (139 votes, 1.0★).
“After spending a lot of time on this specialisation, you will receive a certificate upon completion which says "SOME ONLINE COURSES MAY DRAW ON MATERIAL FROM COURSES TAUGHT ON-CAMPUS BUT THEY ARE NOT EQUIVALENT TO ON-CAMPUS COURSES. THIS STATEMENT DOES NOT AFFIRM THAT THIS PARTICIPANT WAS ENROLLED AS A STUDENT AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN ANY WAY. IT DOES NOT CONFER A STANFORD UNIVERSITY GRADE, COURSE CREDIT OR DEGREE, AND IT DOES NOT VERIFY THE IDENTITY OF THE PARTICIPANT." Essentially, your completion certificate is a worthless paper regardless of your efforts. I think if the instructor wants to issue an online certificate, just say "Online course" and that is enough. I really felt being let down after all my efforts to listen and finish all homeworks.”
Coursera's 4.8 comes from 5,342 ratings. Of those, 1.8% are 1–2★.
Starisk reads the reviews learners voted most helpful, and weights each by the square root of its votes: a review with 80 upvotes counts about five times one with 2. Unvoted reviews are not skipped out of laziness — by this model they carry no evidence that other students endorsed them.
That measures what the most-endorsed reviews say, not “true quality.” The rating distribution above is the whole population, so you can see the sample next to it.
Reviews read on 22 Oct 2026.Read them on Coursera ↗