This is the course webpage for MATH 170E at the University of California Los Angeles for Spring 2026, an introductory course in probability theory following approximately Chapters 1-5 of the book Probability and Statistical Inference (10e) by Hogg, Tanis and Zimmerman. The textbook is available for free on the internet if you know where to look. The syllabus is available here.
Lecture takes place 1:00-1:50 PM in Public Affairs 1234 or 2:00-2:50 PM in Public Affairs 1246, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Office hours will be 11-12 on Monday, or by appointment, in my office, Room 6617-F in the Mathematical Sciences Building.
The homeworks are available below:
Homework 1 Due: Monday, April 6, 23:59 Pacific Time
Homework 2 Due: Monday, April 20, 23:59 Pacific Time
This course is given as a blend of traditional lecture and active learning style:
Traditional lecture: The definitions, statements of results, and outlines of examples are given in the slides (linked below after each class), while the proofs of results, and details of examples are done at the chalk board.
Active learning: After each group of new concepts is introduced, a set of discussion questions are posted. Students are given 5-10 minutes to work on the problems and discuss with eachother, and then I'll discuss the solutions at the chalk board; this portion of the class follows the usual 'think-pair-share' paradigm of active learning.
Warning: The slides below represent only a small subset of the information dispersed in class. I recommend attending every lecture and engaging during the active learning periods to maximize your learning.
Slides:
Week 1 Class 1 Class 2 Class 3
Week 2 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6
Week 3 Class 7 Class 8 Class 9
Week 4 Class 10 Class 11 MIDTERM 1
Week 5 Class 13 Class 14 Class 15
Week 6 Class 16 Class 17 Class 18
Week 7 Class 19 Class 20 Class 21
Week 8 Class 22 Class 23 MIDTERM 2
Week 9 Holiday Class 26 Class 27
Week 10 Class 28 Class 29 Review
Week 11 FINAL EXAMS: for the 1 PM class, Monday June 8, 2025 from 8am-11am
for the 2 PM class, Thursday, June 11, 2025 from 11:30am-2:30pm