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Syllabus

ECS 132: Probability and Statistical Modeling for Computer Science​

Course Staff​

Instructor: Gabriel Simmons Office Hours: Fridays 3-4pm in Kemper 3052

TA: Keer Ni Office Hours: Thursdays 4:00–5:00 PM (Zoom link on Canvas)

Course Policies​

Attendance​

Regular attendance is expected. Lecture materials will be posted on the course website.

Grading​

  • Assignments (7): 25%
  • Project: 20%
  • Midterm Exam: 25%
  • Final Exam: 30%

Regrade Requests​

Regrade requests for exams must be submitted within 3 days of grades being released. Requests should be submitted through Gradescope with a clear explanation of the concern.

Late Work Policy​

[To be announced]

Academic Integrity​

Students are expected to adhere to the UC Davis Code of Academic Conduct. All work submitted must be your own. Collaboration policies will be specified for each assignment.

Accommodations​

Students who require accommodations should contact the instructor and Student Disability Center as early as possible in the quarter.

Course Materials​

Required​

  • Lecture notes (provided on course website)
  • Access to computing resources for programming assignments
  • Additional textbooks and resources will be posted on the course website

Communication​

Please use email to communicate with course staff unless instructed otherwise.

Course staff may not respond to messages submitted via the Canvas messaging system.

When to use email:

  • Communication about accommodations
  • Questions where the answer will be short (less than a paragraph)

When to use office hours:

  • Open-ended questions
  • Questions that require answers more than a paragraph in length

Some ways you can help the course staff (and increase the chance that we will respond quickly):

  1. Use a descriptive subject line.
  2. Include the course code in the subject line.
  3. If you are asking for something, include an obvious request in the first 1-2 sentences.
  4. If you use ChatGPT or other email generators, use a prompt that encourages very succinct, direct emails. The default behavior of these tools is to generate long, rambling emails. I am much more likely to respond to a short, direct email with a clear ask.
  • Canvas: Primary platform for announcements, assignments, and grades
  • Office Hours: See Course Staff section above

Topics Covered​

  1. Probability fundamentals
  2. Combinatorics and counting
  3. Conditional probability
  4. Discrete distributions
  5. Continuous distributions
  6. Limit theorems
  7. Statistical estimation
  8. Hypothesis testing
  9. Classification
  10. Regression

Note: This syllabus is subject to change. Students will be notified of any significant changes.