Math 477 (Probability), Section 1, Fall 2026 (Rutgers University)

Last Update: Sept. 4, 2026

Textbook

Instructor

Times and Place

• TF3 (Tuesdays and Fridays, 12:10-01:30pm) Lucy Stone Hall-B117 (Livingstone Campus)

Dr. Z.'s Office Hours

Hill 704. Tuesdays: 2:45-3:30 pm; Fridays: 2:45-4:00 pm.

CLASS POLICY (and grading method)

Answers to Homework Problems

Lecture Schedule

• Mandatory Preliminary Reading: Professor James Norris's Probability Distributions [posted here by kind permison of the author].

• Tues. 9/1: Lecture 1    1.1-1.5 Combinatorial Analysis
  homework 1 (due 9/18)

  Added Sept. 1, 2026: Here is attendance quiz 1 and here are the solutions to the attendance quiz

• Fri. 9/4: Lecture 2    2.1-2.4; What is Probability? Counting vs. Probability
  homework 2 (due 9/18)

  Added Sept. 4, 2026: Here is attendance quiz 2 and here are the solutions to the attendance quiz

• Tue. 9/8: NO CLASS TODAY (RUTGERS HAS MONDAY SCHEDULE TODAY)

• Fri. 9/11 Lecture 3    2.5: Sample spaces having equally likely outcomes.
  homework 3 (due 9/18)

• Tue. 9/15: Lecture 4    3.1-3.3: Conditional Probability and Independence; Bayes's Formula
  homework 4 (due 9/25)

• Fri. 9/18: Lecture 5    3.4 : Independent events. Quiz 1 (On Lectures 1-3)
  homework 5 (due 9/25)

• Tue. 9/22: Lecture 6    4.1-4.3: Random Variables
  homework 6 (due 10/2)

• Fri. 9/25: Lecture 7   4.4-4.5: Expectation and Variance. Quiz 2 (On Lectures 4-5)
  homework 7 (due 10/2)

• Tue. 9/29: Lecture 8    4.6: The Bernoulli and Binomial Random Variables
  homework 8 (due 10/9)

• Fri. 10/2: Lecture 9    4.7: The Poisson Random Variable . Quiz 3 (On Lectures 6-7)
  homework 9 (due 10/9)

• Tue. 10/6: Lecture 10    4.8: Other Discrete Probability Distributions; Linearity of Expectation
  homework 10 (due 10/16)

• Fri. 10/9: Lecture 11    5.1-5.2: Continuous Random Variables; Their Expectation and Variance. Quiz 4 (On Lectures 8-9)
  homework 11 (due 10/16)

• Tue.. 10/16: REVIEW.

• Fri. 10/16: EXAM 1 (On lectures 1-11)

• Tue. 10/20: Lecture 12    5.3-5.4: The Uniform Distribution and the Normal Distribution.
  homework 12 (due 10/30)    Z table

• Fri. 10/23: Lecture 13    5.5: The Exponential Distribution . Quiz 5 (On Lectures 10-11)
  homework 13 (due 10/30)

• Tue. 10/27: Lecture 14    6.1: Joint Distribution Functions
  homework 14 (due 11/6)

• Fri. 10/30: Lecture 15    6.2-6.3: Independent Random Variables and their Sums. Quiz 6 (On Lectures 12-13)
  homework 15 (due 11/6)

• Tue. 11/3: Lecture 16    6.4-6.5: Conditional Distributions
  homework 16 (due 11/13)

• Fri. 11/6: Lecture 17    7.1-7.2: Expectation of Sums of Random Variables. Quiz 7 (On Lectures 14-15)
  homework 17 (due 11/13)

• Tue. 11/10: Lecture 18    Probability Generating Functions; The Gambler's Ruin Problem.
  homework 18 (due 11/25)

• Fri. 11/13: Lecture 19    7.4: Covariance, Variance of Sums, and Correlations . Quiz 8 (On Lectures 16-17)
  homework 19 (due 11/25)

• Tue. 11/17: Lecture 20    7.5: Conditional Expectation.
  homework 20 (due 12/8)

• Fri. 11/20: REVIEW . No quiz today.

• Wed. 11/25: EXAM 2 (On lectures 1-19, with some emphasis on lectures 12-19) .

• Tue. 12/1: Lecture 21    7.7: Moment Generating Functions. Quiz 9 (On Lectures 18-19)
  homework 21 (due 12/8)

• Fri. 12/4: Lecture 22   8.2: Chebyshev's Inequality and the Weak Law of Large Numbers.
  homework 22 (due 12/15)

• Tue. 12/8: Lecture 23    8.3 and 8.4, The Central Limit Theorem and The Strong Law of Large Numbers. Quiz 10 (On Lectures 20-21)
  homework 23 (due 12/15)

• Fri. 12/11: 2:00pm-5:00pm (Optional, but strongly recommended) Marathon review, via WebEx

Final:

• Tue., Dec. 15, 2026, 4:00-7:00pm , in CLASSROOM (LSH-B117)