Homework



Be sure to staple your work (the grader Ling-Chen is not responsible for lost sheets). If you have any questions about the grade you received for your HW, please contact Ling-Chen directly, either via office hours or e-mail.
HWs are due in class on date listed below. If you turn in your HW late, please email Ling-Chen for instructions on how to do it. It is up to the Ling-Chen to decide whether any late HWs are accepted. (For example, Ling-Chen may have already graded the HWs and needs to work on his own coursework and thus be unable to grade your HW.) If Ling-Chen is willing to grade your late HWs, any late HW has a 25% penalty if he receives it late 24 hours or less and 50% penalty if he receives it between 24 hours and one week late. No HWs that are late more than one week will be accepted.
Make sure to make copies of the HW so that you can use them to study for the midterm in case they are not returned early enough.


  • HW 5 Due Thurs April 5. MCMC and voting. For the last problem, consult the Squaretopia sheet.
    Optional (no credit): if you are interested in the intersection of math and law, check out this brief written to the US Supreme Court about MCMC and gerrymandering. It is co-signed by one of the umass math professors. (Math starts around p.20.) The brief argues such MCMC analyses in general yield a test for detecting gerrymandering that meet a lot of the criteria demanded by many of the Justices

  • HW 4 Due Thurs March 7. Markov chains 3. Do exercises 1.31, 1.37, 1.40, 1.48, 1.52, 1.59. For 1.31, 1.37 and 1.40 state which of the assumptions (I,A,R,S...see Section 1.6 if you missed Feb 26 class) hold and which theorem(s) you are using. Recall these are all from 3rd edition. The Midterm on March 7 will go up to and including HW 4 material. You can submit your HW write-up to my mailbox (16th floor mailroom of LGRT) as late as Friday March 8 at 1:00pm, but you should work the problems before the midterm to make sure you know the material.

  • HW 3 Due Thurs Feb 28. Markov chains 2. Do exercises 1.8, 1.9, 1.11, 1.12 b&c, 1.13, 1.18, 1.26 of section 1.13 of 3rd edition. You can use a computer (like Matlab) to compute matrix manipulations if you want. (Do not use the different problems from 2nd edition.) Draft of proposal on final project due Feb 28. Does not need to be printed, can be an email.

  • HW 2 Due Thursday Feb 14. Markov chains 1. Do exercises 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 in section 1.13 of 3rd edition. (Do not use the different problems from 2nd edition.)
    Note book report due Feb 12.

  • HW 1. Due Thursday Feb 7. Discrete Probability.

  • HW 0 Due Tuesday Jan 29. (This will have much less weight than other HWs, if any at all.)
    1. List any applied math/stats classes you have taken here which are 300 level or above, such as Math 331, 534, 537, 545, 551, 552 or Stats 515, 516, 525. You may list other relevant UMass classes (such as probability with calculus offered in CS department or the game theory course offered as Econ 309) but be sure to indicate how much math was covered in them.
    2. List what programming experience you have if any. (C++, Matlab, etc.) In each state whether you are beginner, intermediate or advanced.
    3.Broadly, in what sort of area would you like to do your final group project? Chemistry, Finance, Voting Theory, Economics, etc...?
    4.List anyone in this class whom you would like to work (or not work!) together with for your final group project.