W 11/1/00

Short class period to revisit proposals; use rest of time to work on projects.

Th 11/2/00

Teacher evaluation, followed by discussion of the teacher evaluation survey instrument itself.

F 11/3/00

No school.

M 11/6/00

HW due today: Read §5.1 (through p.265) and write solutions to #5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.14, 5.20.

T 11/7/00

HW due today: Read through §5.2 (through p.284). Also, augment your writeup of #5.20 so that you describe your methodology in adequate "AP-style" detail.

W 11/8/00

HW due today: #5.26, 5.38, 5.40.

Th 11/9/00

Mini-Quiz on §5.2.

F 11/10/00

Discussion of the presidential election and yesterday’s mini-quiz.

M 11/13/00

HW due today: Problem #8 from Thursday’s Mini-Quiz. You may collaborate with friends if you learn with them, but do not copy.

T 11/14/00

HW due today: Read to end of Chapter 5 (i.e., to the middle of p.300).

W 11/15/00

HW due today: Using the "cookbook" approach on p.288, design and execute a simulation to see how random your TI-83 pseudorandom number generator (PNG) appears to be. Your writeup should be complete and may be collected. Everyone’s writeup should be unique, since there are infinitely many ways that you could try checking for randomness. (In fact, there is no conclusive way to prove randomness. Later in the course we will use c² tests as a more sophisticated way of testing for non-randomness, but there is no ideal test for randomness.)

Th 11/16/00

HW due today: #5.60.

F 11/17/00

HW due today: Read §6.1. Be prepared to define the term probability and the other new concepts introduced in the reading.

M 11/20/00

HW due today: On the October 1998 test, solve problems 2-9 all and 13-17 all (that’s a total of 13 questions). Remember that these were all designed to be worked during a 55-minute in-class test. When you get to problem #17, do the first version (parts (a) and (b)), not the "alternate" version.

Also, please ponder the following problem that we were in the middle of discussing (both D and F) when time ran out. You roll 2 fair dice in such a way that they fall on the floor, out of sight. You have a trusted friend who will look at the dice and will answer your questions truthfully. You ask your trusted friend if at least one of the dice is a 6. Clearly, the answer to this question is not always yes. But if the answer is yes, i.e., if we consider only those occasions on which your trusted friend says that at least one of the dice is a 6, what is the probability that we have "boxcars" (both dice having a 6)?

T 11/21/00

HW due today: Read §6.2 and be prepared for a mini-quiz.

(Thanksgiving Break)
 

M 11/27/00

HW due today: Read §6.3 and hand in the mini-quiz if you have not already done so.

T 11/28/00

No additional HW due today, but be sure to read §6.3 if you have not already done so. In class: Bush-Gore Florida election simulation project based loosely on an opinion article (William R. Brody, "Stop complacently assuming the accuracy of vote counts," The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 23, 2000, page A49).

W 11/29/00

HW due today: Hand in Tuesday’s in-class project if you have not already done so. Also, write up your answer to the Monty Hall Problem and both versions of the Chest of Drawers Problems. Show your work and give serious thought to all these problems. Wrong answers will be accepted only if accompanied by a believable proof or, if you prefer, a careful illustration of a simulation procedure. If you wish to work with friends, that is OK if you write "I collaborated with _________" at the top of your papers. In class: a mini-project on conditional probability.

Th 11/30/00

HW due today: mini-project on conditional probability. Start working on next Tuesday’s large HW set.