Course 4 · Module 1
Probability
This module covers the branch of mathematics that measures chance. You'll see how a 17th-century question about splitting the stakes of an unfinished game started a new field, learn to count outcomes and compute expected values, and see why chance becomes predictable when an experiment is repeated many times. The same ideas price insurance, explain inheritance, and power the random sampling inside today's computers and AI systems.
Module objectives
- Calculate simple probabilities and expected values, and explain what the law of large numbers guarantees.
- Explain how probability is used in insurance, genetics, and computing, and describe one open question about chance.
Lessons
- Lesson 1 Probability: The problem of points: how Pascal and Fermat put a number on chance You'll solve the 17th-century puzzle that launched probability theory: how to divide the stakes of a game that stops before anyone has won. You'll learn to count outcomes, compute… 61111h 3m
- Lesson 2 Probability: Insurance, genetics, and random algorithms, and the open questions of chance You'll see probability at work in insurance, in the inheritance of traits, and in computers that use randomness to solve problems and to write text. You'll also see why… 611111h 33m