CS109: Probability for Computer Scientists, Spring 2025

Announcements and Updates

  • Monday, March 31: Jessie Schwab from the Center for Teaching and Learning emailed and ask that I post the following:

    Want help navigating the ups and downs of academic life at Stanford? Feeling overwhelmed by your STEM coursework, anxious about exams, or simply curious if the way you’re studying is actually working for you? Come meet with an academic coach! We can help you come up with a personalized action plan to address things like procrastination, motivation, focus, time management, exam preparation and anxiety, reading & note-taking, learning as a neurodivergent student, and much more!

    Sign up at https://academicskills.stanford.edu/ugcoach!

This Week

Topic
Materials
Assignments
Optional Readings
Week 1
March 31
Lecture 1: Welcome, Administration, Introductory Combinatorics
slides video
Piech: Counting
April 02
Lecture 2: Permutations and Combinations
slides video playground
PSet 1 Out
Piech: Combinatorics
April 04
Lecture 3: Introduction to Probability
Ross: Ch 2.1-2.5, 2.7
Piech: Probability, Equally Likely Outcomes

Schedule

Week 1
March 31
Lecture 1: Welcome, Administration, Introductory Combinatorics
slides video
Piech: Counting
April 02
Lecture 2: Permutations and Combinations
slides video playground
PSet 1 Out
Piech: Combinatorics
April 04
Lecture 3: Introduction to Probability
Ross: Ch 2.1-2.5, 2.7
Piech: Probability, Equally Likely Outcomes
Week 2
April 07
Lecture 4: Conditional Probability and Bayes Rule
Ross: Ch 3-1-3.3
Piech: Conditional Probability, Law of Total Probability, Bayes Theorem
April 09
Lecture 5: Independence
PSet 1 In, PSet 2 Out
Ross: Ch 3.4-3.5
Piech: Independence
April 10
Section 1: Combinatorics and Probability
April 11
Lecture 6: Random Variables, Binomial
Ross: Ch 4.1-4.4
Piech: Random Variables, Probability Mass Functions, Binomial Distributions
Week 3
April 14
Lecture 7: Expectation and Variance
Piech: More Distributions, Expectation, Variance
April 16
Lecture 8: Poisson
PSet 2 In, PSet 3 Out
Piech: Poisson
April 17
Section 2: Random Variables and Moments
April 18
Lecture 9: Continuous Random Variables
Piech: Continuous RVs
Week 4
April 21
Lecture 10: Gaussians, Binomial Approximations
Piech: Gaussian Distributions, Binomial Approximations
April 23
Lecture 11: Probabilistic Models
Pset 3 In, PSet 4 Out
Piech: Joint Probability, Inference, Carbon Dating
April 24
Section 3: Discrete and Continuous Random Variables
April 25
Lecture 12: Inference
Piech: Pyramid Hidden Chambers, Stanford Acuity Test, Baby Due Dates, Predicting Age
Week 5
April 28
Lecture 13: General Inference
Piech: General Inference, Correlation
April 30
Lecture 14: Multinomials
PSet 4 In
Piech: Multinomial, Federalist Papers
May 01
Section 4: Normal Distributions, Inference
May 02
Lecture 15: Beta
Piech: Beta Distributions
Week 6
May 05
Lecture 16: Adding Variables, Convolutions
Piech: Adding Random Variables
May 07
Lecture 17: Sampling
Midterm, PSet 5 Out
Piech: Sampling
May 08
No sections this week
May 09
Lecture 18: Bootstrapping
Piech: Bootstrapping
Week 7
May 12
Lecture 19: Algorithmic Analysis
Piech: Algorithmic Analysis
May 14
Lecture 20: Informati0n Theory
PSet 5 In, PSet 6 Out
Piech: Information Theory
May 15
Section 5: Sampling and Bootstrapping
May 16
Lecture 21: Maximum Likelihood Estimation
Piech: Maximum Likelihood Estimation
Week 8
May 19
Lecture 22: Logistic Regression
Piech: Logistic Regression
May 21
Lecture 23: Comparing Classifiers
Piece: No assigned reading.,
May 22
Section 6: MLE and Logistic Regression
PSet 6 In, PSet 7 Out
May 23
Lecture 24: Beyong Classification
Ross: No assigned reading.,
Piech: No assigned reading.
Week 9
May 26
Observing Memorial Day. No lecture.
May 28
Lecture 25: Deep Learning
PSet 7 In, Pset 8 Out
Piech: No assigned reading.,
May 29
Section 8: Linear and Logistic Regression
May 30
Lecture 26: Diffusion
Piech: Diffusion
Week 10
June 02
Lecture 27: Additional Topics
Piech: No assigned reading.
June 04
No lecture.
Pset 8 In
June 05
No section.
June 06
No lecture

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.