Below you can find some caveats regarding this course. The unfriendly
tone of this webpage is not meant to dissuade you from taking this
course. In fact, this course tends to have a very frank and friendly
environment. Also, many of you are likely to find this course the
intellectual highlight of your academic careers thus far.
The harsh tone is intended to drive home the idea that
this really
is a demanding course, and requires a good background, as well as
strong interest in learning probability. In direct terms, there is no
"getting by" in this course.
For many of you, Math 5010 is your first 5000-level math course.
You would do well to know
that Math 5010 is not a natural continuation of our
3000-level probability/statistics courses. Good performance in Math
5010 requires, at the very least, a
solid background in elementary
college-level mathematics; i.e., a year of calculus. Math 5010 does
not have a calculus primer section. If you have not had a chance to
think about your old calculus material, then it is up to you to catch up
to a level appropriate to Math 5010.
Approximately two-thirds of the problems in Math 5010 are in the
"problem solving" category. Nearly one-third fits in the
"concepts and theory" category. This means that unless you
can solve a reasonable portion of problems in both categories, you
will not receive an "A" in this course. ["Concepts and Theory"
does not mean memorizing terms or such things. It means being able
to think about, and work with, theoretical problems.]
155 South 1400 East, Room 102, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, Tel:+1 801 581 3896, Fax:+1 801 581 4148
