CS109: Probability for Computer Scientists, Spring 2021

Announcements and Updates

  • Sun, Apr 4: Two former CS109 students, Maddie Wang and Lainey Wang, have built a lightweight social platform called Sesame that runs as a Chrome extension. The founders are also doing their part to help students find study buddies in each of the classes they're taking. If you're up for being matched up with some fellow CS109 students using the Sesame platform, then go ahead and fill out this very short questionaire.

  • Sat, Apr 3: Alex Ayers from the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning email me and ask that I share the following:

  • Want to meet with an experienced peer to discuss course concepts, think through a problem set, or prepare for an upcoming exam? CTL offers appointment tutoring for CS 109, in addition to tutoring for a number of other courses. For more information and to schedule an appointment, visit our tutoring appointments and drop-in schedule page. We also have a variety of remote learning resources and academic coaching available to assist with all of your learning needs!


Schedule

Week 1
Topic
Materials
Assignments
Optional Reading
Week 1
Mon, Mar 29
Lecture 1: Introductions, Counting
slides lecture post-lecture
Wed, Mar 31
Lecture 2: Permutations and Combinations
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
lecture concept-check
PSet 1 Out:
probs code template solution
Fri, Apr 2
Lecture 3: Axioms of Probability
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
lecture concept-check
seredipity-demo
Ross: Ch 2.1-2.5, 2.7
Week 2
Mon, Apr 5
Lecture 4: Conditional Probability and Bayes
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
lecture concept-check
bayes-demo
Ross: Ch 3.1-3.3
Tue, Apr 6
Section 1: Analytic Probability
handout solution recording
Wed, Apr 7
Lecture 5: Independence
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
lecture concept-check
Ross: Ch 3.4-3.5
Fri, Apr 9
Lecture 6: Random Variables and Expectation
pre-slides slides pre-lecture lecture concept-check
PSet 1 In, PSet 2 Out: probs code template
Ross: Ch 4.1-4.4
Week 3
Mon, Apr 12
Lecture 7: Variance, Bernoulli, Binomial
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
lecture concept-check
galton-demo
Ross: Ch 4.5-4.6
Tue, Apr 13
Section 2: Random Variables and Expectation
handout solution recording
Wed, Apr 14
Lecture 8: Poisson and Approximations
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
lecture concept-check
Ross: 4.7-4.10
Fri, Apr 16
Lecture 9: Continuous Random Variables
pre-slides slides pre-lecture
concept-check
Ross: Ch 5.1-5.3, 5.5
Week 4
Mon, Apr 19
Lecture 10: The Normal Distribution
pre-slides pre-lecture
concept-check
PSet 2 In, PSet 3 Out
Ross: Ch 5.4
Tue, Apr 20
Section 3: TBD
Wed, Apr 21
Lecture 11: Joint Distributions
Quiz 1 Out
Ross: Ch 6.1
Fri, Apr 23
Lecture 12: Independent Random Variables
Quiz 1 In
Ross: Ch 6.2-6.3
Week 5
Mon, Apr 26
Lecture 13: Joint RV Statistics
Ross: Ch 6.4-6.5
Tue, Apr 27
Section 4: TBD
Ross: Ch 7.1-7.2
Wed, Apr 28
Lecture 14: Conditional Expectation
Ross: Ch 7.1-7.2
Fri, Apr 30
Lecture 15: General Inference
PSet 3 In, PSet 4 Out
No assigned reading.
Week 6
Mon, May 3
Lecture 16: Continuous Joint Distributions
Ross: Ch 6.1
Tue, May 4
Section 5: TBD
Wed, May 5
Lecture 17: Continuous Joint Distributions II
Ross: Ch 7.3-7.4
Fri, May 7
Lecture 18: Central Limit Theorem
Ross: Ch 8.3
Week 7
Mon, May 10
Lecture 19: Sampling/Bootstrapping
PSet 4 In, PSet 5 Out
No assigned reading.
Tue, May 11
Section 6: TBD
No assigned reading.
Wed, May 12
Lecture 20: Parameters and MLE
Quiz 2 Out
Fri, May 14
Lecture 21: Beta
Quiz 2 In
Ross: Ch 5.6.1-5.6.4, 7.5-7.6
Week 8
Mon, May 17
Lecture 22: Maximum a Posteriori
No assigned reading.
Tue, May 18
Section 7: TBD
Wed, May 19
Lecture 23: Naive Bayes
No assigned reading.
Fri, May 21
Lecture 24: Gradient Ascent, Linear Regression
PSet 5 In, PSet 6 Out
No assigned reading.
Week 9
Mon, May 24
Lecture 25: Logistic Regression
No assigned reading.
Tue, May 25
Section 8: TBD
Wed, May 26
Lecture 26: Deep Learning I
No assigned reading.
Fri, May 28
Lecture 27: Deep Learning II
No assigned reading.
Week 10
Mon, May 31
Memorial Day Holiday: No lecture
PSet 6 In
Tue, June 1
Section 9: TBD
Wed, June 2
Lecture 28: Additional Topics
Quiz 3 Out
No assigned reading.
Fri, Jun 4
Lecture 29: The Future of Probability
Quiz 3 In
No assigned reading.

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.