Everything we do, everything that happens around us, obeys the laws of probability. We can no more escape them than we can escape gravity... "Probability," a philosopher (Bishop Butler) once said, "is the very guide of life." We are all gamblers who go through life making countless bets on the outcome of countless actions.

Every field of science is concerned with estimating probability. A physicist calculates the probable path of a particle. A geneticist calculates the chances that a couple will have blue-eyed children. Insurance companies, businessmen, stockbrokers, sociologists, politicians, military experts - all have to be skilled in calculating the probability of the events with which they are concerned.

[Gardner, 1986]

Synopsis

Probability theory is the branch of mathematics that tells us how to estimate degrees of probability. If an event is certain to happen, it is given a probability of 1. If it is certain not to happen, it has a probability of 0.

This course introduces the principles of probability and random processes to undergraduate students in electronics and communication. The topics to be covered include random experiments, events, probability, discrete and continuous random variables, probability density function, cumulative distribution function, functions of random variables, expectations, law of large numbers, central limit theorem, introduction to random processes, Gaussian random process, autocorrelation and power spectral density.

Announcements

  • Information regarding the final exam
    • Date: 9 Dec 2015
    • Time: 09:00 - 12:00
    • ROOM: BKD 3507
    • Basic calculators, e.g. FX-991MS, are permitted.
    • Closed book. Closed notes.
    • Two A4 sheets allowed.
      • The first sheet is your midterm study sheet.
        • May add more formulas on the remaining side or in the remaining space(s).
      • The second sheet must contain the Phi/Q tables
        • Distributed in class on Nov 25.
        • May reprint if necessary but do not reduce the size.
        • May add more formulas in the remaining side or space(s).
      • Must be hand-written in your own handwriting (except for the Phi/Q tables).
      • No small pieces of paper notes glued/attached on top of it.
      • Indicate your name and ID on the upper right corner of each sheet (in portrait orientation).
      • Do not modify (,e.g., add/underline/highlight) content on the sheet inside the exam room.
      • Submit your A4 sheets with your exam.
      • 1 pt
    • 8 questions (24+18+10+20+1+20+6+1)
    • 8 pages + 1 cover page
    • Cover all the materials that we discussed in class and practice in the HWs.
      • Material Distribution (score-wise; rounded to the nearest multiples of 5%): Ch 8 (10%), Ch 9 (20%), Ch 10 (50%), Ch 11 (20%).
        • Ch 13 is simply an application of earlier chapters.
        • Ch 12 is not on the exam.
    • For your studying pleasure....
  • No class on Nov 12 (Thursday)
    • Make-up class: 9-10:20AM on Nov 11 (Wednesday)
    • The Thursday class on Nov 19 is replaced by ECS332 lecture.
      • Make-up class: 9-10:20AM on Nov 18 (Wednesday)
    • See the announcement
  • Midterm results [Posted @ 6PM on Oct 15]
  • Information regarding the midterm exam
    • Date: 30 Sep 2015
    • Time: 09:00 - 12:00
    • ROOM: BKD 2602, 2605
    • Basic SIIT-approved calculators, e.g,. FX-991MS, are permitted.
    • 9 pages + 1 cover page
    • 12 questions (12+14+10+10+12+8+4+13+6+2+6+2) + 1 pt (A4 submission) + 1 pt extra credit
    • Closed book. Closed notes.
    • One A4 page allowed.
      • Must be hand-written in your own handwriting.
      • No small pieces of paper notes glued/attached on top of it.
      • Indicate your name and ID on the upper right corner of the sheet (in portrait orientation).
      • Do not modify (,e.g., add/underline/highlight) content on the sheet inside the exam room.
      • Submit your A4 sheet with your exam. (You can get it back from me after the midterm is graded.)
      • 1 pt
    • Cover all the materials that we discussed in class and practiced in the HWs.
      • Material Distribution (score-wise): 12% (Sec 1-2) + 8% (Sec 3) + 6% (Sec 4) + 14.5% (Sec 5) + 22.5% (Sec 6.1) + 11% (Sec 6.2) + 12% (Sec 6.3) + 2% (Sec 7) + 11% (Sec 8)
    • For your studying pleasure....
      • All pre-midterm annotated notes combined in one pdf file.
        • The orginal notes (no annotation) but with workable links (including the table of contents and references)
      • All pre-midterm HWs and their solutions
        • Graded HWs can be picked up from the green box outside the EC secretary office (room 3514).
      • All pre-midterm quiz solutions
      • All pre-midterm slides
      • Sample Exams:
      • For those who have already obtained the textbook [Y&G], this table gives the corresponding positions (if any) in the textbook that correspond to the material dfiscussed in class.
  • Room change:
    • Wednesday: BKD 3511 (We swap with ECS213 and ECS216)
  • A basic RSS feed is created to track and inform updates.
  • This site can be accessed via ecs315.prapun.com.
  • Welcome to ECS315! Feel free to look around this site.

General Information

Handouts and Course Material

Problem Set

  1. HW 1 (Due: Aug 26, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
    • Correction: For the last part of Q2, the right boundary of the second interval should be +infinity. The HW1 file above is now updated. [Credit: Natchapon]
    • Solution [Posted @ 5PM on Aug 30]
  2. HW2 (Due: Sep 2, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
  3. HW3 (Due: Sep 9, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
    • Correction: For part (a) of the hint in Q8, the answer is "not" 1/6. [Credit: Nicha]
    • Solution [Link fixed @ 2PM on Sep 19]
  4. HW4 (Due: Sep 16, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
  5. HW5 (Due: Sep 23, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
  6. HW6 (Not Due)
  7. Self-evaluation (Due: October 21 (online))
  8. HW7 (Due: Oct 28, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
  9. HW8 (Due: Nov 4, 9:19 AM (in tutorial session))
    • Solution [Posted @ 9PM on Nov 4; Fixed @ 10PM on Dec 5]
    • Correction: For Q2a, the formula for the variance of the binomial RV should have a factor of n. [Credit: Possawee]
  10. HW9 (Due: Nov 11, 9:19 AM (right before the tutorial session))
  11. HW10 (Due: Nov 18, 8:59 AM)
  12. HW11 (Due: Nov 25, 9:19 AM)
  13. HW12 (Due: Dec 2, 9:19 AM)
  14. HW13 (Not Due)
  15. Self-evaluation (2) (Due: December (online))

Calendar



Reading Assignment

More References

Misc. Links