Reading assignments are from Barrington, A Mathematical Foundation for Computer Science, fifth draft. A single packet, consisting of chapters 6, 10, 11, and 12 with parts of chapter 13, will be available at cost at Collective Copies in downtown Amherst.
Lecture meetings MWF 10:10-11:00, and discussion class meetings on Wednesdays 11:15-12:05, are both in room A201 of Lederde lowrise (LGRC). Discussion periods will have either in-class writing assignments or help with the programming assignments.
This is a course under construction! The syllabus may change as the term progresses. In particular, the discussion period activities are not yet finally decided.
PART I: Basic Probability and Counting Wed 09 Sep L01 Course Overview Wed 09 Sep --- No discussion today Fri 11 Sep L02 Basic Probability Definitions (10.1) Mon 14 Sep L03 The Four Counting Problems (6.1) Wed 16 Sep L04 Sum and Product Rules (6.1) Wed 16 Sep D01 Programming Assignment #1 Overview (no assignment) Fri 18 Sep L05 Double-Counting and Inclusion/Exclusion (6.2) Mon 21 Sep L06 (add/drop date) First and Second Counting Problems (6.3,6.4) Wed 23 Sep L07 Third Counting Problem (6.6) Wed 23 Sep D02 The Problem of Sorting (6.5) Fri 25 Sep L08 Counting Poker Hands (6.6) Mon 28 Sep L09 Fourth Counting Problem (6.7) Wed 30 Sep X01 FIRST MIDTERM using both periods PART II: Probability and Expected Value Fri 02 Oct L10 Applying Counting to Probability (10.1) Mon 05 Oct L11 Expected Value (10.2) Wed 07 Oct L12 Evaluating Games (10.3) Wed 07 Oct D03 Analysis of Craps (10.4) Fri 09 Oct L13 Variance and Standard Deviation (10.5) Mon 12 Oct --- NO CLASS (Columbus Day) Tue 13 Oct L14 (MON Schedule) Variance, Binomial Distribution (10.5, 10.6) Wed 14 Oct L15 Binomial Distributions (10.6) Wed 14 Oct D04 Programming Assignment #2 Discussion (no assignment) Fri 16 Oct L16 The Coupon Collector's Problem (10.8) Mon 19 Oct L17 Bounds on Probability (10.9, 10.11) Wed 21 Oct X02 (W-drop date) SECOND MIDTERM using both periods PART III: Probabilistic Reasoning Fri 23 Oct L18 Conditional Probabilities and Bayes' Theorem (11.1) Mon 26 Oct L19 Odds and Likelihood (11.2) Wed 28 Oct L20 Examples of Bayesian Reasoning (11.3) Wed 28 Oct D05 Programming Project #3 Help (no assignment) Fri 30 Oct L21 The Naive Bayes Classifier (11.5) Mon 02 Nov L22 Problems with the NBC (11.6) Wed 04 Nov L23 Graphical Models of Distributions (11.7) Wed 04 Nov D06 A Probabilistic Murder Mystery (11.8) Fri 06 Nov L24 Pseudorandom Generators (11.9) Mon 09 Nov L25 More Monte Carlo Simulation (11.10) Wed 11 Nov --- NO CLASS (Veterans' Day) Wed 18 Nov X03 THIRD MIDTERM using both periods PART IV: Markov Processes and Information Theory Fri 13 Nov L26 State Machines and the Markov Rule (12.1) Mon 16 Nov L27 Markov Chains (12.2) Wed 18 Nov --- (third midterm exam, see above) Fri 20 Nov L28 Matrices and Graphs (12.2) Mon 23 Nov L29 Long-Term Behavior of Markov Processes (12.3) Wed 25 Nov L30 Markov Decision Processes (12.5) Wed 25 Nov D07 Programming Project #4 help (no assignment) Fri 27 Nov --- NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break) Mon 30 Nov L31 Horizons and Discounting (12.6) Wed 02 Dec L32 Classical Game Theory (12.9) Wed 02 Dec D08 Modeling Baseball Balls and Strikes (12.8) Fri 04 Dec L33 The Prisoners' Dilemma (12.11) Mon 07 Dec L34 What Is a Bit? (13.1) Wed 09 Dec L35 Data Compression (13.2) Wed 09 Dec D09 Course Evaluations Fri 11 Dec L36 Variable-Length Codes (13.4) Final Exam (cumulative) During exam period, date, time and location TBA
Last modified 9 October 2009