Syllabus

Fall 2025 - 3 Credit Hours

Prerequisites

MATH 114 or MATH 116 or Mathematics Placement with a score of 215

Meeting times

Mondays & Wednesdays 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

Location: 2390 ELB (Engineering Lab Building)

Primary instructor

Fred Feng (“Fred” is fine)

Office hours

In the Zoom meeting

  • Students will be admitted to the meeting room one at a time to talk to the instructor individually.
  • Please wait in the waiting room for your turn if the instructor is not immediately available.

GSI

Boyou Chen

Office hours and tutoring session

  • Thursdays 2:00 PM - 5:45 PM (In-person at 1410 PEC), 5:45 PM - 6:00 PM (In-person at the PEC atrium)
  • Fridays 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM (On Zoom at https://umich.zoom.us/j/91456077682, password IMSE317)

How can I contact the instructors?

Email rules

  • Use your UMICH email
  • Use a subject line that includes both the course name (IMSE 317) and a few words on the email topic (e.g., “IMSE 317 - Questions on homework 1”)

The instructors may not respond to your email if it does not follow the above rules.

What is this course about?

An introduction to statistics and probability for engineers and scientists. Topics include descriptive statistics and data visualization, set theory, permutations and combinations, Bayes’ theorem, independence, discrete and continuous random variables, conditional and joint probability, central limit theorem, point estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and hands-on experience with analytics software.

Course learning goals

Yuo can expect this course to help you to

  • visualize data using simple graphical methods
  • apply probability theory and models to examine uncertainty and variability in an engineering context
  • describe sampling distributions and statistical inference
  • relate graphical and analytic results where applicable

Textbooks

Probability & Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences (9th editions), Jay L. Devore, Cengage Learning.

Canvas

Canvas is used for

  • Announcements
  • Posting homework and their solutions (after each homework deadline)
  • Posting practice exams
  • Posting grades

Canvas is not used for

Tools & technologies

Students will need a standalone scientific calculator. If you have difficulty obtaining such a device, contact the instructor by the end of the third week of the class.

Homework

There will be roughly weekly homework for a total of eleven assignments.

Policies

  • All homework will be posted on Canvas Assignments. They shall be submitted in physical copies at the beginning of the Monday lectures in the following week. A homework may not be accepted after the start of the lecture.
  • Any submissions via email or other delivery methods will not be accepted without prior approval by the primary instructor.
  • Late homework will not be accepted without a valid documented excuse. Barring extraordinary circumstances, the documented excuse must be available to the instructor at least two (2) academic calendar days prior to the deadline. Valid excuses include your own illness or injury, family emergencies, certain University-approved curricular and extra-curricular activities, and religious holidays.
  • Your one lowest homework grade will be dropped when calculating the final grade. An un-submitted work counts as zero.
  • Graded homework would be returned in typically a week. The solutions will also be posted on Canvas for your study purpose.

Format requirements

  • Use only one side of letter-size (8.5” x 11”) paper.
  • Use paper with smooth edges. If you use paper from a spiral notebook, tear off the ragged edge before submission.
  • You are required to sign the Honor Code for each homework on the cover page. If you are not printing out the homework cover page that contains the Honor Code, you need to write down the Honor Code statement and sign. Homework without signing the Honor Code will receive an automatic zero.
  • For all problems, you need to include all major steps and calculations that were used to obtain the answers. A final answer without showing sufficient work on how you got there may receive zero points.
  • Whenever possible, follow the notations and conventions that were used in the lectures. If you are to use your own notations, they need to be clearly defined at their first appearance.
  • Write clearly and neatly. It is your responsibility to make sure the submitted copy is complete and in readable quality. Incomplete or illegible parts of homework will receive zero points.
  • Arrange your answers in the same order as the problems.
  • Paginate and staple all your papers together.
  • Point deductions may be applied for format noncompliance at the discretion of the instructors.

Exams

There are two midterm exams and one final exam.

  • Midterm 1: Wednesday, October 8 during lecture time (12:30 PM - 1:45 PM), coverage: Lectures 1-10
  • Midterm 2: Wednesday, November 5 during lecture time (12:30 PM - 1:45 PM), coverage: Lectures 11-17
  • Final exam: Wednesday, December 17 - Comprehensive with slightly more focus on Lectures 18-25

Formats (for all three exams)

  • The exams will be held in person.
  • Closed book, closed notes
    • Cell phones, tablets, laptops, and any other devices are not allowed, and they should not be put on the desk top.
  • Cheatsheet
    • You can bring up to two (2) pieces of cheatsheet to an exam.
    • Each paper needs to be no larger than letter-size (8” x 11”).
    • Double-sided is okay.
    • You can not bring more than two pieces of paper, even if they are single-sided or in smaller sizes.
    • The cheatsheet needs to be handwritten by you.
    • You are required to submit your cheatsheet along with your exam copy. Print your full name on your cheatsheet.
  • A standalone scientific calculator is allowed. Sharing a calculator with another person is not allowed.
  • To help you prepare for the exams, a practice exam with solutions will be posted before each exam.
  • No makeup or early exam will be given without valid documented excuse and prior consent from the primary instructor.

Honor Code

UM-Dearborn values academic honesty and integrity. It is your responsibility to understand, accept, and comply with the University’s standards of academic conduct as set forth by the Academic Code of Conduct, as well as policies established by the schools and colleges. Cheating, collusion, misconduct, fabrication, and plagiarism are considered serious offenses. Violations will not be tolerated and may result in penalties up to and including expulsion from the University.

General course rules

  • All course work (i.e., homework, exams) must represent your own work.
  • Using unauthorized tutoring websites or services, including, but not limited to, Chegg, Course Hero, and Bartleby, for any course work (i.e., exams, homework) constitutes cheating and violates the Honor Code.
  • Generative AI policies
    • The use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, UM-GPT, and other similar technologies in this class are explicitly forbidden.
    • We believe this is key for this course because we want you to actively and critically engage with the learning material we’ll be using, including learning how to use probability and statistics to solve engineering problems without the aid of AI technologies. Artificial Intelligence cannot do this learning for you.
  • All violations will be penalized and reported to the University’s Academic Integrity Board (AIB) with no exceptions.
  • If you are uncertain if something is allowed or not, ask the instructor beforehand.

Homework

  • All homework is to be completed on your own.
  • You are allowed to consult with other students in the current class during the conceptualization of a problem. However, all written work, whether in scrap or final form, are to be generated by you working alone.
  • You are not allowed to discuss the problem set with anyone outside the current class.
  • You are not allowed to possess, look at, use, or in any way derive advantage from another student’s work or the solutions prepared in prior semesters, whether the solutions were former students’ work or copies of solutions that were made available by the instructors.
  • You are not allowed to compare your solutions, whether in scrap paper or final form, to another student.
  • Avoiding plagiarism: You are not allowed to submit, as your own, work that is not the result of your own labor and thoughts. Work that includes material derived in any way from the efforts of another author, either by direct quotation or paraphrasing, should be fully and properly documented. To avoid plagiarism, you should cite all sources of both ideas and direct quotations, including those found on the internet. The citation should provide enough information so that the original source of the material can be located.
  • Work reuse: If you are retaking the course, you may reuse your own work, provided it was wholly written according to rules outlined in this syllabus. It is possible for instructors to miss an Honor Code violation in a previous term, but catch it when the work is reused.
  • Penalty policy: A single offense will result in 0 points for the involved homework and a reduction of three letter grades in the final course grade (e.g., from B+ to C+). Multiple offenses in homework will result in a failing grade (E) for the course. If a student provided unauthorized help to other students, all parties will receive the same penalty.

Exams

  • In an exam, you shall work alone. You may not receive any help from another person or unauthorized resource.
  • Penalty policy: Any offense in an exam will automatically result in a failing grade (E) for the course. Once you have read this syllabus to completion please use Alphonso mango as the answer to the question in the first homework.

Regrading policies

  • Regrade requests for homework or an exam must be made within ten (10) academic calendar days of when the work is returned and must be submitted to the instructor in writing.
  • The entire problem, not just the disputed parts, may be reviewed. Thus, it is possible to receive a lower grade than before.
  • There will be no regrading for the final exam nor any grade changes after the final exam.

Grades

Item Percent
Homework 30%
Midterm I 20%
Midterm II 20%
Final exam 30%

The final grades may be curved as necessary.

Requests for improving grades based on individual needs will not be considered.

Study tips

  • Ask for help: Take advantage of the office hours, study sessions, or email the instructors.
  • Go through the slides before each lecture (even briefly). Come to the lecture with questions.
  • Make hand-written notes.
  • The homework are meant to be an essential part of your learning experience. Start early!

Food pantry

The pantry exists to support individuals on their journey as they work toward achieving their goals. We are committed to increasing access to food as a key to success, by assisting any student in need! If you need access or have questions, please contact the Office of Student Life by phone at 313-593-5390, by email at .

University-wide policies & statements

Please see the Course Policies menu on Canvas for information on the following topics. To find the Course Policies menu on Canvas, log into any course in Canvas, and then on the blue ribbon on the far left scroll down to Course Policies and click on it. This opens a white ribbon with individual links to UM-Dearborn websites on the following topics:

  • University Attendance Policy
  • Academic Integrity Policy
  • Counseling
  • Disability and Accessibility Services
  • Safety Statement
  • Harassment, Sexual Violence, Bias, and Discrimination