CS109: Probability for Computer Scientists, Spring 2024

Announcements and Updates

  • Wed, April 3rd: Jessi Pipert, Associate Director of the Stanford Arts Institute, emailed me a few hours and asked if I might advertise a new minor in interdisciplinary arts that's open to all undergraduates, no matter their primary degree program. (I'm a huge fan of the arts and love the idea! In another life, I'd have majored in music and become a conductor 😇.)

    Check out this one page summary of the program to learn more.

  • Friday, March 29: Welcome to CS109! Please note that this website is under construction, and you'll see it change quite bit between now and the first day of class. Looking forward to meeting all of you!

This Week

Topic
Materials
Assignments
Optional Readings
Week 3
April 15
Lecture 7: Variance, Bernoulli, Binomial
Ross: Ch 4.5-4.6
Piech: Variance, Bernoulli, Binomial
April 17
Lecture 8: Poisson and Approximations
Ross: 4.7-4.10
Piech: Poisson
April 18
Section 2: Random Variables and Expectation
April 19
Lecture 9: Continuous Random Variables
Ross: Ch 5.1-5.3, 5.5
Piech: Continuous RVs

Schedule

Week 1
April 01
Lecture 1: Introductions
Piech: Counting
April 03
Lecture 2: Permutations and Combinations
PSet 1 Out
April 05
Lecture 3: Axioms of Probability
Ross: Ch 2.1-2.5, 2.7
Piech: Probability, Equally Likely Outcomes
Week 2
April 08
Lecture 4: Conditional Probability and Bayes Rule
April 10
Lecture 5: Independence
Ross: Ch 3.4-3.5
Piech: Independence
April 11
Section 1: Combinatorics and Probability
April 12
Lecture 6: Random Variables and Expectation
PSet 1 In, PSet 2 Out
Ross: Ch 4.1-4.4
Piech: Random Variables, Probability Mass Functions
Week 3
April 15
Lecture 7: Variance, Bernoulli, Binomial
Ross: Ch 4.5-4.6
Piech: Variance, Bernoulli, Binomial
April 17
Lecture 8: Poisson and Approximations
Ross: 4.7-4.10
Piech: Poisson
April 18
Section 2: Random Variables and Expectation
April 19
Lecture 9: Continuous Random Variables
Ross: Ch 5.1-5.3, 5.5
Piech: Continuous RVs
Week 4
April 22
Lecture 10: The Normal Distribution
PSet 2 In
April 24
Lecture 11: Joint Distributions
PSet 3 Out
April 25
Section 3: Discrete and Continuous Random Variables
April 26
Lecture 12: Independent Random Variables
Ross: Ch 6.2-6.3,
Piech: Adding Random Variables

Note that all lectures and assignment deadlines are subject to change.

Our CS109 website imitates that used by University of Washington's CSE373, Spring 2019.