Free Harvard Course: Sets, Counting, and Probability

It’s hard to learn something online without finding it first on Open Culture (one of my favorite websites)…They just posted a collection of free Harvard extension school courses.  Below is one of the courses I’m following.

Introduction (to Sets Counting & Probability -Via Harvard)

This course develops the mathematics needed to formulate and analyze probability models for idealized situations drawn from everyday life. Topics include elementary set theory, techniques for systematic counting, axioms for probability, conditional probability, discrete random variables, infinite geometric series, and random walks. Applications to card games like bridge and poker, to gambling, to sports, to election results, and to inference in fields like history and genealogy, national security, and theology. The emphasis is on careful application of basic principles rather than on memorizing and using formulas.

Lecture 1

Probability, Intuition, and Axioms

• Video/Audio
  • Probability by Symmetry; Probability by Experiment; Payoffs and Probability; Fair Price and Probability; Notation to Combine Sets; Venn Diagrams; Events and Sample Spaces; Event Spaces; Addition of Probabilities; Probability Functions; Inclusion-Exclusion Rule; Many Ways to Skin a Cat
    • Quicktime
    • Flash video
    • MP3 (audio only)
• Class Materials
  • Outline
  • Problem Set

Click Here For A: Free Harvard Course: Sets, Counting, and Probability

Click Here For Opencultures: List of Free Harvard Extension Courses