STAT251 (Spring, 2022)

(Spring, 2022)

Statistics 251: Introduction to Mathematical Probability

Lectures: MW 3:00PM-4:20PM, Hinds 101.

Textbook: A First Course in Probability by Sheldon Ross (6th, 7th, 8th, 9th or 10th edition)

Syllabus: syllabus.

Instructor: Zhongjian Wang (zhongjian at uchicago dot edu, urgent contact zhongjianwang25 at gmail dot com). Synchronized teaching with Yi Sun (yisun at statistics dot uchicago dot edu)

Office hours: Friday 11:00AM-12:30AM @ Jones Laboratory 308 in person. You are not required to attend any office hours, as information that affects generally will discuss during the following lecture. Extra hours may be available given urgent necessity. I might be in my office (309) when there is no one present at 308. To access Jones, you may walk inside Kent Chem Lab on ground floor westwards until a corridor to Jones.

Contacting us

TAs

OH refers to office hour hold over Zoom.

Questions

We aim to reply to all questions within 24 hours.

  • For any questions about the material or HW or exams (aside from regrade requests), please contact us through thediscussion boards on Ed Discussion.

    • You can write a public post if appropriate (e.g., questions about material, clarification on HW, questions to help understand a midterm problem after the exam has been graded, etc). Note that you can choose to post anonymously but your name will still be visible to the instructor/TAs.

    • Alternatively, you can write a private post, visible only to the instructor/TAs (e.g., if you need help on a HW problem but posting your question would reveal too much of your work).

  • For any questions about your graded HW or exams, please submit a regrade request on Gradescope.

  • For other questions such as enrollment, prerequisites, accommodations, makeup times for exams, etc, please contact the instructor by email.

Overview and prerequisites

This course covers fundamentals and axioms; combinatorial probability; conditional probability and independence; binomial, Poisson, and normal distributions; the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem; and random variables and generating functions.

In order to enroll, you should satisfy one of the following:

  • Math 16300, Math 16310, Math 20500, Math 20510, or Math 20900, with no grade requirement;

  • Math 19520 or Math 20000 with either a minimum grade of B-, statistics major, or current enrollment in prerequisite course.

Course Policies

Homework

There will be weekly written homeworks due Monday at 1:30pm.

  • Homework should be submitted on Gradescope

  • The lowest homework score will be dropped to accommodate illness and other unforeseen circumstances. Late homework will not be accepted.

  • HW 8 will count for double weight, and only the first or second half of HW 8 may be dropped.

  • For each problem, Gradescope will prompt you to tag the pages containing your answer to that problem. Be sure to tag all the pages that contain any part of your answer—for example if for problem 1, your written explanation is on page 1 and on half of page 2, you will need to tag both of these pages for problem 1.

  • It is fine to have multiple problems on the same page (be sure to tag that page for all problems it contains).

  • To submit via Gradescope, you will need to upload a single PDF file. If photographing/scanning handwritten work via smartphone, we recommend the free CamScanner or Dropbox apps to produce a single PDF file containing all pages.

Exams

There will be a midterm exam and a cumulative final exam according to the following schedule.

  • Midterm: Monday, April 25 during class

  • Final Examination: Scheduled by the registrar

The use of notes, textbooks, or electronic devices will not be allowed during exams. No make-up exams will be offered without a letter from the dean or a doctor’s note. No make-ups are possible for the final exam.

Grading

The final course grade will be determined according to the following formula:

  • (20% Homework) + max{(40% Final)+(40% Midterm) , (50% Final)+(30% Midterm)}.

Academic Integrity

You are strongly encouraged to work together on problem sets, but you must list all of your collaborators on the top of your homework. Using the ideas of another student without proper acknowledgement constitutes plagiarism, according to the University’s academic integrity policy.

All exams must be completed on your own - collaboration is prohibited. In general, you must carefully read and follow all of the exam rules. Any student found to have cheated in any way on any exam will receive a failing grade in the course and will be reported to the Dean.

Materials

Homeworks and Lecture notes will be posted on Canvas.

Accommodations

The University of Chicago is committed to ensuring equitable access to our academic programs and services. Students with disabilities who have been approved for the use of academic accommodations by Student Disability Services (SDS) and need a reasonable accommodation(s) to participate fully in this course should follow the procedures established by SDS for using accommodations. Timely notifications are required in order to ensure that your accommodations can be implemented. Please meet with me to discuss your access needs in this class after you have completed the SDS procedures for requesting accommodations: