EE 3341: Probability and Statistics

Spring 2009

Instructor Aria Nosratinia,
ECSN 4.208, Tel: 972-883-2894
Time Mon-Wed. 10:30-11:45am (section 001)
Place ECSS 2.305
Textbook Yates and Goodman, Probability and Stochastic Processes, 2nd Edition John Wiley.
The textbook is available from the UTD Bookstore, Off Campus Books, as well as Amazon (click on link to go to the book page), Barnes and Noble, and other sources. You can use Addall.com to compare this textbook's prices from various vendors.
Grading Quizes and class participation (10%), Homeworks (10%), Midterm-1 (15%), Midterm-2 (25%), Final Exam (40%)
Exams Midterm 1: Wednesday February 11 --- Midterm 2: TBA --- Final Exam: Friday May 8 at 8:00am
Notable Dates: First lecture Jan. 12-- Drop without "W" until Jan. 28 -- Drop Deadline with WP/WF March 16 -- Spring Break March 16-21-- Last lecture May 4
Prerequisite Algebra, Calculus
Office Hours Mon-Wed. 1-2pm
TA Information: Negar Bazargani (negar.bazargani AT student.utdallas.edu) Office hours Tue-Thu 3-4pm in ECSN 4.206

Probability and statistics are used everywhere around us. You only have to look at the polls in this election year to see an interesting application of probability. Banks use probability to determine how many tellers to have available to maximize efficiency. Wall street traders use sophisticated stochastic optimization tools. Airlines use probability to find out how to arrange their routes to maximize profits.

Wireless communications (cell phones and WiFi) would be impossible without probability tools and techniques. Probability is also used to characterize reading and writing of bits on magnetic media. Without it your laptop computer, portable music player, and game stations such as Xbox, Wii, Playstation, would not work.

So why do we use probability to begin with? Because there are times when it is fundamentally impossible to determine the outcome of an experiment with complete certainty, or make a measurement with great precision. At times it may be possible, but not economical. Either way, we use probability to glean knowledge and make decisions in the presence of uncertainty.

This course gives an introduction to the fundamentals of probability and statistics with an eye to engineering applications.

Contents:

Aria Nosratinia
Last modified: January 2009