Professor: Dr. Rebecca Goldin Email: rgoldin@gmu.edu EMAIL IS THE BEST WAY TO REACH ME! Office: ST 1, Room 207 Fax: 703-993-1491 Office Hours: Tues, 2:45-3:30, Thu, 11:00-11:45, and by appointment. Website: http://math.gmu.edu/~rgoldin/351 Course Meeting: Tues, Thu 12:00pm-1:15pm, East 121. We will follow the university schedule, except there will be no class on Sept 18
due to Rosh Hashana. If you have any conflicts to normal classt ime due
to religious reasons, please let me know as soon as possible.
Textbook: A First Course in Probability, Eighth Edition, by Sheldon Ross, published by Prentice Hall.
We will cover most of Chapters 1-8 in the text. You are strongly
encouraged to read the text before coming to class. Our textbook is a
classic. A group of students and faculty at MIT have compiled a set of
solutions to the problems in the seventh edition at
http://waxworksmath.com/Authors/N_Z/Ross/AFirstCourseInProb/ross.html
Problem Sets: Weekly problem
sets will be posted online and will be similar to problems from the
text. You will always have at least one week to complete any problem
set. You are welcome and encouraged to talk to other students about
problem sets. However, you must write up your problem set individually.
Please do not email me completed problem sets. You must turn them in to
me via a physical copy. Late problem sets are accepted if you get prior
permission from me. Permission is given at most for one week of delay,
and at most once during the semester.
Additional Help: You should
definitely talk to other students in the class, and work with others on
the problem sets. Also, please ask questions in class! Most likely your
question is one that someone else has. You help the other students, and
the professor, too, by asking questions! You are very encouraged to
send me email with any questions, and of course you can always come to
office hours.
Exams: There are two
in-class midterm/hourly exams for this course. The dates are not set in
stone and could change! There is one final exam, currently scheduled
for Thurs. 12/13, 10:30 am – 1:15 pm.
These dates are subject to change. Please check back regularly and/or come to class to see any changes made to these dates. Exam 1: October 4, and Exam 2: November 20.
There are no make up exams except in extraordinary circumstances. You
should alert me to this circumstance as far in advance as possible; it
is at my discretion to determine whether your circumstance is
extraordinary.
Grading: Grades will be determined generally as follows:
• 2/9 the grade is graded problem sets.
• 2/9 of the grade is the first hourly exam
• 2/9 of the grade is the second hourly exam
• 1/3 of the grade is the final exam
Attendence: Attendence is not
required. However, I do not do favors for students who do not come to
class. If you do not come to class, please do not come to office hours,
do not send me an email with questions about the material or ask what
we covered.
Honor Code: It is expected that
each student in this class will conduct himself or herself within the
guidelines of the Honor Code. Among other things, this means that
sharing information of any kind about exams or the final (either before
or during the exam) will result at a minimum in a grade of zero for all
parties involved. Violations will also be reported to the
university Honor committee where further consequences such as probation
or expulsion from the university may be incurred. See
http://academicintegrity.gmu.edu/honorcode for a copy of the Honor code.
Disability Services:
Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a
documented disability. It is your responsibility to contact
Disability Services at least two weeks in advance of a test if you
require accommodations:
Office of Disability Services
Student Union Building I (SUB I), room 4205
Phone: 703-993-2474