Math 627, Fall 2015

Probability

This course focuses on: 1. Probability Distributions of Random Variables of Discrete and Continuous Type 2. Bivariate Distributions 3. Probability Distributions of Functions of One and Two Random Variables 4. Limit Theorems of Probability

• There is a strict policy of NO LATE HW (or any other assignment) and NO MAKE-UP EXAMS.
• Assignments should be submitted in original hard-copy form, or else as carefully scanned PDFs; photographs of HW will not be accepted.

Announcements

• New Announcement Final Exam
  The Final Exam is scheduled for Thursday, December 17 in class (Snow 454) from 1:30-4:00 p.m.  
• EXAM III
  The Exam III is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17 in class
  Reminder: NO MAKE UP EXAMS  
• The Exam II is a take home exam due Tuesday, November 3  
• The Exam I is scheduled for Thursday, October 1 in class at 2:30 pm ( 45 min - 100 pts)
  REMINDER: THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS.
  NO CALCULATORS OF ANY TYPE ARE ALLOWED ON THE EXAM
  PLEASE BRING AN ID AND A PENCIL TO THE EXAM
  The Exam I will focus on testing the following concepts:
  • 1. Conditional Probability and Independent Events ; Section 1.3 & 1.4
    • Illustrative Examples: 1.3-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; 1.4-1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  • 2. Discrete Probability Distributions; Section 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 2.4
    • Illustrative Examples: 2.1-3, 4, 5, 6, 2.2-1, 2, 3, 4, 2.3-1, 2, 5, 7, 2.4-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 89, 10
  • 3. Continuous Probability Distributions; Section 3.1 & 3.3
    • Illustrative Examples: 3.1-1, 2, 3, 3.2-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
  • 4. Joint Probability Distributions; Section 4.1 & 4.2
    • Illustrative Examples: 4.1-1, 2, 3, 4, 4.2- 1, 3

• 9/4/2015:
  From Professor Pasik-Duncan,

  MATH 627 has been moved to 330 Strong. There are 4 people who are on the waiting list. But the waiting list doesn’t work any more and it is past the deadline to add a course through Enroll & Pay, so those students have to use a schedule change form to enroll. They have until Sept 14 to enroll with the Schedule Change Form.The form requires an “instructor signature”. I will sign it. Only students who have been attending class will get my permission.

Homework Grading Policies and Expectations

1. Weekly assignments of will be collected at the beginning of class each Thursday. No late HW will be accepted.
2. The student's name and "Math 627, HW #..." need to be clearly stated on the front page of each submission.

3. Each problem is worth up to 2 points, with:

   • 0 points for no solution or totally wrong approach
   • 1 point for correct reasoning but the lack of details in justification or/and wrong calculation
   • 2 points for correct reasoning with detailed justification

   Remarks: The focus of this course is on good understanding of mathematical statistics concepts; therefore arithmetic mistakes in this course are negligible, but I require that they be clearly marked. Grading has to be done in such a way that a student will know clearly what was the reason for losing points. Different approaches to finding solutions are encouraged and promoted; therefore looking at posted online solutions while grading students' work is not recommended. I recommend looking at a student's full assignment and providing any general comments or recommendations such as "your presentation requires improvement or significant improvement" at the end of the assignment.

4. I expect to receive a weekly report/feedback from the grader. In this report I expect to see:
   • the record of points, mean, median, the lowest and the largest value and the standard deviation
   • the list of problems that left students with their concerns; in other words, which problems I should revisit to address students' lack of understanding
5. Graded assignments will be returned to students in class on the following Thursday.
6. At the end of the semester I will expect to receive a cumulative distribution of points and percentages with the same distribution characteristics as for each individual assignment.
7. Students are responsible for collecting their graded HW assignments and for keeping them in their course portfolio as important evidence of their contributions.

Homework Assignments

Lectures