Math 464 (sect 001) - Theory of Probability - Prof. Kennedy - Fall '14

Course home page: www.math.arizona.edu/~tgk/464_f14/index.html

Instructor: Tom Kennedy (Professor, Mathematics)
email: tgk@math.arizona.edu (Please include 464 in the subject line)
Office: Math 718, Phone: 626-0197
Office hours: There will be office hours held by both the professor and by an undergraduate teaching assistant. They will be announced in class and posted on the web.
Course place and time: TR 2-3:15, ENGR 308

Textbook: The text for the course is Probability - An Introduction by Geoffrey Grimmett and Dominic Welsh. I will also post my lecture notes on the web. Some other probability books
Material covered: Roughly chapters 1-8 of Grimmett and Welsh. A more detailed syllabus will be on the web.

Prerequisites: The official prerequisite, Math 322 or 323, is meant to insure that you have the "mathematical maturity" needed for the course. If you have not had one of these course you must talk with me.

Homework: Homework is the most important part of the course. The only way to learn mathematics is by doing it. Homework assignments will be posted on the web as a pdf file. You should feel free to work together on the homework. I encourage this, provided you are truly working on it together. Just watching someone else do it and then copying the answers will almost surely lead to a disaster when you take the exams. Google can probably find the answer to just about every homework problem I can make up, but I strongly discourage looking up solutions on the web.
Homework grading: Homework will be assigned almost every week. It will typically be assigned on Thursday and due the following Thursday at the start of class. No late homework will be accepted. Your lowest two homework scores will be dropped. If you do not turn in a homework for any reason including illness, it counts as one of your two dropped homeworks.

Exams: There will be two in-class exams and a comprehensive final. The final is Wednesday Dec 17 from 3:30 to 5:30 in the same room as the classes. Under no circumstances will the final be given earlier to any student. The in-class exams are tentatively scheduled for Oct 9 and Nov 20.

Grading: The weighting for course grades will be An overall course average of 90% or better will be an A, 80% or better will be at least a B, 70% or better will be at least a C, and 60% or better will be at least a D.

Missed Exams: If you miss one of the two in-class exams for a legitimate reason, your grade will be computed by weighting the homework 25 %, the other in-class exam 25 % and the final 50 %. A make-up exam will not be given for one missed exam. In the highly improbable event that you miss both in class exams for legitimate reasons, I will give a make up for the second exam at my convenience. For a missed exam I will ask for documentation of the legitimate reason, e.g., a note from student health if you are sick.

Dropping the course: Monday, Sept 8 is the last day to drop without a W.
Sunday, Nov 2 is the last day to withdraw through UAcess.
After Nov 2 you need the Dean's signature to withdraw and this requires extraordinary circumstances.

Incompletes: The University General Catalog says that incompletes may be awarded only at the end of the semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. It should not be awarded if the student must repeat the course. I will vigorously enforce this policy. In this course, the only scenario I can envision that would lead to a grade of incomplete is that you cannot take the final exam due to illness.
Attendance: You are responsible for all announcements made in class including announcements of exam dates, homework due dates, as well as all material covered in class.
Code of Academic Integrity : Students are responsible to inform themselves of University policies regarding the Code of Academic Integrity and Student Code of Conduct
Accomodations based on disability: Students planning to use accommodations based on disability for this course should privately identify themselves to the instructor by the end of the first week of class. These students must also provide the instructor with a letter of identification from the Disability Resource Center. This letter should include information about any accommodations you will need for the class, including accommodations for test taking.