MAT 135A: Probability (Fall 2025) (CRN 49322 (B01) and 49323 (B02))
     MWF 9:00-9:50AM, 168 Hoagland

http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~gravner/MAT135A/

INSTRUCTOR:
TA:

PREREQUISITES: An excellent knowledge of calculus and the ability to understand a mathematical proof (i.e., courses 21ABC and (108 or 67)). You are responsible for satisfying the prerequisites!

TEXTBOOK: You have two options. My lecture notes are available free of charge at the materials page. Chapters 1-8 will be covered. You may also choose to purchase the book A First Course in Probability, 10th Edition, by Sheldon Ross (Pearson, 2020). The sections in the book that we will cover are, roughly, 1.1--1.6, 2.1--2.5, 3.1--3.5, 4.1--4.8, 5.1--5.5, 5.7, 6.1--6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.4, 8.1--8.3. Earlier (or, presumably later) editions of the book are also fine.

GRADE: Course grade will be based on the following:

I will follow this grading curve:


ADDITIONAL POLICIES:

I will make everything as predictable as I can, which I think is necessary more than ever. In particular, course policies will not change (either for the class in general or for particular students) due to world events, unless otherwise ordered by the university administration.

Thursday meeting (B1 meets Tue., 5:10-6pm, 125 Olson; B2 meets Tue., 6:10-7pm, 125 Olson) is a discussion session, lead by the TA, and devoted to quizzes, homework, and further elaboration on lecture material. Attendance of discussion sessions is mandatory.

Please bear in mind that talking, texting, etc. disrupt the lectures. Use of computers, cellphones, recorders, or any other electronic devices during lectures is prohibited, except for the purpose of taking notes.

If you have any problem at all that requires special accommodation, please let me know well in advance!

Sample exams (with solutions) from the last time I taught the course are available at the materials page. However, material presented in the lectures will be the basis for the exams.

Use of books, notes, calculators, or anything else but pencil and paper, will not be allowed on any exam.

Homework and quiz policy: Homework will be assigned but not collected; you are strongly encouraged to do it. The "Quizzes" score will be based on 5 short quizzes, which will each be worth 10 points. The quizzes will feature no partial credit problems, which will be almost identical to selected (easier) homework problems. The quizzes will given during the discussion sessions, at the dates:

Oct. 7, Oct. 14, Oct. 21, Oct. 28, Nov. 4.
There will be no make-up quizzes. See the materials page for homework information.

Also, there will be no make-up exams. A missed exam counts as 0 points. If you miss the final you will automatically receive an F. The grade I (Incomplete) will not be given in any circumstances. If you miss much of the coursework because of illness or other emergency, please petition for the Retroactive Drop.

Solutions for the midterms will be posted at the materials page.

SOME USEFUL LINKS:

  • Computer computations and simulations are a very useful tool in probability. I will use MATLAB for this purpose, but you may instead use its free alternative Octave, which suffices for our purposes (and scripts are mostly mutually compatible).
  • Book by C. M. Grinstead and J. L. Snell, Introduction to Probability.
  • Random Services developed by Kyle Siegrist from University of Alabama at Huntsville.
  • Introduction to probability, statistics, and random processes developed by Hossein Pishro-Nik from University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
  • A book on basic probability and statistics, which can be viewed online or downloaded (developed at Rice University).
  • Introduction to probability, an online tutorial with many demos, part of statistics tutorial Hyperstat from Rice University.