Instructor

Prof. Debasish Chatterjee

Semester

Autumn 2023-24

Course Difficulty

Difficult: This course is not for the faint of heart. It is an introductory probability course. The instructor starts right from the basics but the learning curve is fairly steep. In other words, don’t let the introductory nature of the course fool you, this is a fairly difficult course, not least because of the mathematical rigour involved. My motivation to take this course was to develop a good background in probability and to gain confidence in being able to handle math. The latter was definitely achieved, the former I’m not so sure about. I would recommend people take this in their final year if they aren’t enrolled in the placement process. Third-year students could also take it but please ensure you reduce academic workload elsewhere.

Time commitment needed

Heavy. The major time commitment would come from keeping up with course materials. This I would say would take up 5-6 hours (in addition to the 3 hours of classes) every week. Once that’s done, no aspect of this course requires too much time commitment apart from the assignments. Those might take a couple of days to finish if one dedicates 3-4 hours per day.

Grading Statistics

Strict. The professor holds students to very high standards and that is reflected in his grading process. In the 2023-24 offering, only 1 student received an AA and 1 received an AB (it is worth noting this was out of a class of 14 students)

Attendance Policy

No attendance compulsory. However, people who do not attend this course will probably not be able to pass (this is not an exaggeration) unless they’ve already got a very good background in probability and statistics. In other words, do NOT skip classes no matter what.

Teaching Style

The professor conducts classes in person (taking diligent notes is an important aspect of this course) and occasionally gives out handouts pertaining to a certain section of the course. The prof. is the sole reason this course is worth taking. He’s an extremely knowledgeable guy and knows how to teach. Since the class strength is low, he tends to speak directly to students sometimes, which could be intimidating. He entertains all doubts and prefers it when students ask questions, even when they’re stupid questions. Most importantly, he routinely says comic things in class; in fact, I cannot recall a single class in which something funny wasn’t said). Further, the discussions in class are not restricted to the subject matter. There have been plenty of instances when the professor is ready to break away and discuss something interesting a student has asked or wants to know about. As I’ve mentioned before though, he is somewhat idealistic and holds students to the same standard as he does himself. Without question, he is strict.

Feedback on Assignments/ Tutorials/ Projects

Assignments are somewhat difficult, due to the number of problems involved (6-10, each one lengthy). The initial questions are easy, but those towards the end are tough. It would require roughly 2 days to solve provided you keep up with the material regularly. In any case, 3-4 days is more than enough. People generally tend to wait till the last minute before beginning assignments, though, which is seriously not recommended. The prof. will absolutely not approve any extensions in the deadline (the time given is actually more than enough if you begin early).

Feedback on Exams (Written Evaluation)

Keeping up with and revising the material regularly will literally result in just 1 hr of prep before exams, simply breezing over the technical terms. If you’ve accidentally taken the course and are struggling with it, here’s one piece of advice to keep in mind: The exams will never be as tough as the stuff he teaches in class. In fact, he mentions what he’s going to ask in the exams during his classes and more often than not, he sticks to it. And other questions simply involve applying the basic concepts and remembering the terms. Also, the endsems will quite likely contain a bunch of questions pertaining to Markov Chains.

Future Tracks

Any course which requires mathematical rigor will open up for you after this. Further, there are a bunch of courses related to the domain of probability offered by SC, IE and EE departments which can be taken. Further, for those of you who are interested in research and tend to come across math-heavy papers, interpreting math becomes much more intuitive once you finish this course.

Course Importance

This course is the sole reason I have gotten fairly good at dealing with and understanding math concepts. You will develop mathematical rigor like you wouldn’t believe.

Contact Details

Gaurav Misra - 9137994644