University of Rhode Island Department of
Mathematics
MWF
12 - 12:50 a.m.
Instructor:
Dr. M. Kulenovic, Lippitt Hall 202D, 874-4436, mkulenovic@ uri.edu |
Text:
Lester
Helms, Introduction to ProbabilityTheory with
Contemporary Applications, Dover(2010)
or W H Freeman & Co (July 1996) |
Prerequisites:
MTH 243 or equivalent |
Calculators:
A graphing calculator is required |
Office Hours:
MWF 11-12 Room:Lippitt 204
|
Text |
Lester Helms, Introduction
to ProbabilityTheory with Contemporary Applications Additional Texts:(Excellent sources of solved problems) Grinstead and Snell, Introduction to Probability (available for free download from: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articles/probability_book/book.html
Robert Ash Basic Probability Theory, Dover (available for free download from: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~r-ash/BPT.html
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Topics |
Combinatorial
Methods, Probability, Random Variables, Generating Functions, Probability
Distributions and Probability Densities, Mathematical Expectation, Special
Probability Distributions, Functions of Random Variables, Law of Large
Numbers and Central Limit Theorem. |
Evaluation |
Weekly
homework (15%), quizzes (15%), midterm exam (20 %), second exam (20 %); a comprehensive
final exam (30 %) |
About
the Course |
MTH
451 is an introduction to the mathematical theory of probability using
calculus. Probability theory has a tremendous range of applications in all
the sciences, including the social sciences, business and economics, and
provides the mathematical foundation for statistics. It uses a wide variety
of mathematical techniques and concepts, especially elementary set theory, combinatorics, and calculus. A main goal of this course
is that you will be able to read more advanced material on probability and
its applications and go on to courses in mathematical statistics and
stochastic processes. The class is designed for an audience with quite
diverse interests such as an engineering, science, economics or business
major. The probability will be a basic part of your mathematical toolkit; if
you are a secondary math education major, you will most likely need to take
the Praxis content exam, which contains material on discrete mathematics and
probability for which this course is great preparation; if you are interested
in taking the actuarial exams, this course is absolutely fundamental.
Probability theory is a fundamental discipline in mathematics itself as well
as the foundation for all of statistics. In addition, the study of
Probability Theory can be entertaining, enlightening and sometimes
surprising. |
Mathematica Notebooks (developed by Professor Lew Pakula):
http://www.math.uri.edu/~pakula/MTH451f10/
Sakai There will be practice problems and solved problems in Sakai site of the course.
How to get help
I may help you
with questions, just stop by my office.
Special Accommodations
Students who
need special accommodations and who have documentation from Disability Services
(874-2098) should make arrangements with Dr. Kulenovic
as soon as possible.
The Authors of the Grinstead and Snell textbook
have prepared a set of programs to go with the book. There are Mathematica, Maple versions of these programs. You can download
the programs from this location. There are also experimental
versions of the programs as Java applets
MTH
451Intoduction to Probability and Statistics Fall 2015
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