STA 240 Probability for Statistical Inference
Duke University Fall 2025
Below is a prospective outline for the course. Due dates are firm, but topics may change with advanced notice.
| WEEK | DATE | PREPARE | TOPIC | MATERIALS | DUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon, Aug 25 |
DS: 1.1 - 1.2 |
π§βπ« Welcome! | slides | |
| Wed, Aug 27 |
DS: 1.3 - 1.4 |
π§βπ« Set Theory | notes | ||
| Thu, Aug 28 | π» Lab 0 (calculus review) | ||||
| 2 | Mon, Sep 1 | β Labor Day - No Lecture | |||
| Wed, Sep 3 |
DS: 1.5 |
π§βπ« Probability Spaces |
slides notes |
Intro Survey @ 3 PM | |
| Thu, Sep 4 | π» Lab 1 (hello R) | Lab 1 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| Fri, Sep 5 | PSET 0 @ 5PM | ||||
| 3 | Mon, Sep 8 |
DS: 1.6 - 1.8 |
π§βπ« Counting | notes | |
| Wed, Sep 10 |
DS: 1.6 - 1.8 |
π§βπ« Counting | notes | ||
| Thu, Sep 11 | π» Lab 2 (counting) | Lab 2 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| Fri, Sep 12 | PSET 1 @ 5PM | ||||
| 4 | Mon, Sep 15 |
DS: 2 |
π§βπ« Conditional Probability |
notes Play around! |
|
| Wed, Sep 17 |
DS: 2 |
π§βπ« Conditional Probability |
Read! Play around! |
||
| Thu, Sep 18 | π» Lab 3 (disease testing) | Read! | Lab 3 @ 11:59 PM | ||
| Fri, Sep 19 | PSET 0 corrections PSET 2 @ 5PM |
||||
| 5 | Mon, Sep 22 |
DS: 3.1, 3.3, 4.1 |
π§βπ« Random variable intro | notes | |
| Wed, Sep 24 |
DS: 5.1 - 5.4 |
π§βπ« Discrete families | notes | ||
| Thu, Sep 25 | π» Lab 4 (ChatGPT) | Lab 4 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| Fri, Sep 26 | PSET 3 @ 5PM | ||||
| 6 | Mon, Sep 29 |
DS: 4.2 |
π§βπ« Expected value | notes | |
| Wed, Oct 1 |
DS: 4.3 |
π§βπ« Variance | notes | ||
| Thu, Oct 2 | π» Lab 5 (random dating) | Lab 5 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| Sun, Oct 5 | PSET 4 @ 5PM | ||||
| 7 | Mon, Oct 6 |
DS: 3.3 |
π§βπ« CDF | notes | |
| Wed, Oct 8 |
DS: 3.2 |
π§βπ« Absolutely continuous | notes | ||
| Thu, Oct 9 | study guide | π Midterm 1 | |||
| 8 | Mon, Oct 13 | β Fall Break - No Lecture | |||
| Wed, Oct 15 |
DS: 5.6 - 5.7 |
π§βπ« Normal, gamma |
normal primer gamma primer |
||
| Thu, Oct 16 | π» Lab 6 (normal and gamma) | Lab 6 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| 9 | Mon, Oct 20 |
DS: 4.4 - 4.5 |
π§βπ« Moments, quantiles | notes | |
| Wed, Oct 22 |
DS: 4.4 - 4.5 |
π§βπ« MGF | |||
| Thu, Oct 23 |
DS: 3.8 |
π» Lab 7 (transformations) | Lab 7 @ 11:59 PM | ||
| 10 | Mon, Oct 27 |
DS: 3.4 - 3.7 |
π§βπ« Jointly discrete | notes | PSET 5 @ 3PM |
| Wed, Oct 29 |
DS: 3.4 - 3.7 |
π§βπ« Jointly continuous | notes | ||
| Thu, Oct 30 |
DS: 12 |
π» Lab 8 (simulation) | Lab 8 @ 11:59 PM | ||
| 11 | Mon, Nov 3 |
DS: 6 |
π§βπ« Tower property, Studentβs t | ||
| Wed, Nov 5 |
DS: 6 |
π§βπ« Sums and averages | notes | ||
| Thu, Nov 6 | π» Lab 9 (insurance) | Lab 9 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| Sun, Nov 9 | PSET 6 @ 5PM | ||||
| 12 | Mon, Nov 10 |
DS: 6 |
π§βπ« Limit theorems | notes | |
| Wed, Nov 12 |
DS: 7.1 |
π§βπ« What is statistics? | |||
| Thu, Nov 13 | study guide | π Midterm 2 | |||
| 13 | Mon, Nov 17 |
DS: 7.5 - 7.6 |
π§βπ« Maximum likelihood | ||
| Wed, Nov 19 |
DS: 7.5 - 7.6 |
π§βπ« Maximum likelihood | |||
| Thu, Nov 20 | π» Lab 10 (mle) | Lab 10 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| 14 | Mon, Nov 24 |
DS: 8.1 - 8.5 |
π§βπ« Whence AP Statistics? | ||
| Wed, Nov 26 | β Thanksgiving - No Lecture | ||||
| Thu, Nov 27 | β Thanksgiving - No Lab | ||||
| 15 | Mon, Dec 1 |
DS: 7.2 - 7.4 |
π§βπ« Bayesian statistics | ||
| Wed, Dec 3 |
DS: 7.2 - 7.4 |
π§βπ« Bayesian statistics | |||
| Thu, Dec 4 | π» Lab 11 (bayes) | Lab 11 @ 11:59 PM | |||
| Fri, Dec 5 | PSET 7 @ 5PM | ||||
| 16 | Fri, Dec 12 | π Final (9AM - 12PM) |