STAT/MATH 418 PROBABILITY SPRING 2008 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays 104 Thomas Professor: G. J. Babu, 319 Thomas Building   Phone:  863-2837   Email:  babu@stat.psu.edu   Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 am - 12 noon T. A.: Duy Quang Vu, 316 Thomas Building   Phone:  863-3238   Email:  dqv100@psu.edu   Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Home Work: Visit the course web page http://www.stat.psu.edu/~babu/418/ regularly for Home Work assignments. They should be submitted in class on the due dates. Late submissions will not be accepted. Examinations: Three in-class midterms (February 7, March 6 and April 10) and a final exam. Only two out of the three midterms will count towards final grade.  They will be closed-book exams. You may bring a 8.5x11in sheet of notes and a calculator. Make-ups will not be given. Evaluation: One low score midterm exam will be discounted. Each of the two counted will carry 25% weight, final exam 25%, and Home work 25% of the grade. Textbook:   A First Course in Probability  (Seventh Edition) by Sheldon Ross. Course description: This course is an introduction to mathematical theory of probability. Combinatorial analysis (Chapter 1) as a preparation for the main material will be covered in the beginning of the course. The topics include axiomatic theory of probability, conditional probability, Bayes theorem, Independence, random variables, expectation, continuous and discrete distributions, joint distribution functions, conditional distributions, conditional expectations, covariance, correlation, probability inequalities and limit theorems (Chapters 2-7 and some sections form Chapter 8). All Penn State and Eberly College of Science policies regarding academic integrity apply to this course. See http://www.science.psu.edu/academic/Integrity concerning academic integrity for details.