Reading assignments are from Barrington, A Mathematical Foundation for Computer Science, fifth draft. Two packets, one of chapters 6 and 10 and the other of chapters 11 and 12, will be available at cost at Collective Copies in downtown Amherst.
Lecture meetings MWF 11:15-12:05, and discussion class meetings on Fridays at 10:10-11:00 are both in room 1334 of Lederde tower (LGRT). In fact we will have lecture 10:10-11:00 on Fridays and then discussion during the 11:15-12:05 slot. 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.
PART I: Basic Probability and Counting Mon 26 Jan L01 Course Overview Wed 28 Jan L02 Basic Probability Definitions (10.1) Fri 30 Jan L03 The Four Counting Problems (6.1) Fri 30 Jan D01 Programming Assignment #1 Overview (no assignment) Mon 02 Feb L04 Sum and Product Rules (6.1) Wed 04 Feb L05 Double-Counting and Inclusion/Exclusion (6.2) Fri 06 Feb L06 First and Second Counting Problems (6.3,6.4) Fri 06 Feb D02 The Problem of Sorting (6.5) Mon 09 Feb L07 Third Counting Problem (6.6) Wed 11 Feb L08 Counting Poker Hands (6.6) Fri 13 Feb L09 Fourth Counting Problem (6.7) Fri 13 Feb D03 Practicing Counting Problems (not in book) Mon 16 Feb --- NO CLASS (Presidents' Day) Wed 18 Feb L10 Catalan Numbers (6.9,6.10,6.11) Fri 20 Feb X01 FIRST MIDTERM using both periods PART II: Probability and Expected Value Mon 23 Feb L11 Applying Counting to Probability (10.1) Wed 25 Feb L12 Expected Value (10.2) Fri 27 Feb L13 Evaluating Games (10.3) Fri 27 Feb D04 Analysis of Craps (10.4 Mon 02 Mar L14 Variance and Standard Deviation (10.5) Wed 04 Mar L15 Binomial Distributions (10.6) Fri 06 Feb L16 The Coupon Collector's Problem (10.8) Fri 06 Feb D05 Programming Project #2 Help (no assignment) Mon 00 Mar L17 Markov and Chebyshev Bounds (10.9) Wed 11 Mar L18 The Union Bound (10.11) Fri 13 Mar X02 SECOND MIDTERM using both periods SPRING BREAK PART III: Probabilistic Reasoning Mon 23 Mar L19 Conditional Probabilities and Bayes' Theorem (11.1) Wed 25 Mar L20 Odds and Likelihood (11.2) Fri 27 Mar L21 Examples of Bayesian Reasoning (11.3) Fri 27 Mar D06 A Police Lineup (11.4) Mon 30 Mar L22 The Naive Bayes Classifier (11.5) Wed 01 Apr L23 More on the NBC (11.5) Fri 03 Apr L24 Problems with the NBC (11.6) Fri 03 Apr D07 Programming Project #3 Help (no assignment) Mon 06 Apr L25 Graphical Models of Distributions (11.7) Wed 08 Apr L26 Pseudorandom Generators (11.9) Fri 10 Apr L27 More Pseudorandom Generators (11.9) Fri 10 Apr D08 A Probabilistic Murder Mystery (11.8) Mon 13 Apr L28 Monte Carlo Simulation (11.10) Wed 15 Apr L29 More Monte Carlo Simulation (11.10) Fri 17 Apr X03 THIRD MIDTERM using both periods PART IV: Markov Processes Mon 20 Apr --- NO CLASS (Patriots' Day) Tue 21 Apr L30 State Machines and the Markov Rule (12.1) Wed 22 Apr L31 Markov Chains (12.2) Fri 24 Apr L32 Matrices and Graphs (12.2) Fri 24 Apr D09 Markov Text Generation (12.4) Mon 27 Apr L33 Long-Term Behavior of Markov Processes (12.3) Wed 29 Apr L34 Markov Decision Processes (12.5) Fri 01 May L35 Horizons and Discounting (12.6) Fri 01 May D10 Programming Project #4 Help (no assignment) Mon 04 May L36 Value and Policy Iteration (12.7) Wed 06 May L37 Classical Game Theory (12.9) Fri 08 May L38 The Prisoners' Dilemma (12.11) Fri 08 May D11 Course Evaluations Mon 11 May L39 Course Review Final Exam (cumulative) Fri 15 March, 1:30-3:30 p.m., CMPSCI Bldg, room 140
Last modified 23 March 2009