Math 217, Probability and Statistics
Fall 2007, Clark University
Dept. Math. & Comp. Sci.
D Joyce
Syllabus
- Introduction to Discrete Probability
Intuitive concepts: probability of an event as a measure between 0 and 1; random
variable; probability distribution; frequency interpretation of probability;
random numbers; coins, dice, and other games; simulations; odds; historical development
of probability; random walks.
Formal concepts: sample space, outcomes, and events; random variable; discrete distribution functions
and axioms of probability; unions, intersections, and complements; properties of
probabilities, principle of inclusion and exclusion; tree diagrams; uniform distributions
over finite sets, symmetry; infinite sample spaces with discrete probabilities.
- Introduction to Continuous Probability
The intuitive problems with probabilities over space (line, plane,
Rn in general). Monte Carlo simulations, Buffon's needle.
Formal concepts: density function for a continuous random variable; integration;
cumulative distribution functions; derivatives; exponential density function;
- Combinatorics
Counting problems. Permuations; tree diagrams; combinations, binomial coefficients,
binomial theorem, and Pascal's triangle; Bernoulli trials, Bernoulli probabilities, binomial
distributions; hypothesis testing; general principle of inclusion and exclusion.
- Conditional Probability
Intutive concept of conditional probability; formal definition of conditional probability;
Bayes' formula for inverting conditional probabilities; independent events; joint distribution
functions; independent random variables; independent trials.
Conditional density functions for continuous distributions; the beta distribution
- Distributions and Densities
Uniform continuous distributions; geometric distribution; Poisson distribution; exponential and
gamma distributions; introduction to queueing theory; normal (Gaussian) distribution; Chi-squared
distribution
- Expected Value and Variance
Expected value for discrete random variables, expectation; linearity of expectation;
expectation of independent random variables; conditional expectation; variance and standard
deviation; variance of various distributions. Expectation and variance for continuous random
variables.
- Sums of Random Variables
Analysis of sums of independent random variables with identical distributions, that is, independent
trials.
- Law of Large Numbers
Chebychev inequality, law of averages, law of large numbers.
- The Central Limit Theorem
The central limit theorem for Bernoulli trials, binomial distributions again, the normal
distribution, the general central limit theorem.
Back to the course page