553.730 Fall 2017 Homework #1 (***for grade***) * due thursday september 07, at the beginning of class (3pm). (1) Choose one Problem from B&D Chapter 1 (pp 66-95) and present the solution in LaTex/pdf. (2) Identify in writing two (or more) questions or points of confusion that you have which arise directly from passages from B&D Chapter 1 pp 1-66. (Your questions should cite B&D page and paragraph.) You are required to read Chapter 1. You are not required (or even expected) to understand everything therein. But you should be able to clearly identify some things that you don't understand. (If you feel you understand everything in Chapter 1, say so (in writing); I will then give you the opportunity to convince me that it is so.) This exercise will be graded. Your questions need not be deep or complicated -- indeed, they may be quite simple; as long as they are not vacuous, credit will be given. "... the conference-system classroom should include about a dozen students -- all of whom read assigned materials and come prepared to discuss them -- and a faculty member. The principal task of the faculty member is to encourage students to speak up and test their ideas in freewheeling discussion and debate." -- WH Honan In addition to non-vacuousness, clarity of presentation will be graded. Your questions must stand alone, with all required development contained in your written homework submission. "... in order to learn mathematics students must learn to express their mathematical thoughts clearly in writing ..." -- JJ Price Wrong: "I don't understand identifiability." Right: "I don't understand identifiability, bottom of page 6. How can a model be unidentifiable? A model is a family of probability distributions (bottom of page 5). And "family" means "set", mathematically? (As opposed to "multiset"?) So how can two different elements of a model be equal?" Wrong: "I don't understand the rank of an exponential family." Right: "I don't understand the rank of an exponential family, middle of page 60. In particular, the third paragraph of that un-numbered subsection is the single sentence "Note that [...] because [...]." How does the "because" clause demonstrate the "note that" clause?" I will attempt to respond to all submitted questions -- some I will answer, and for some I will try to explain why they are non-trivial and their answers might require weeks or years to (try to) answer. "Violations of academic ethics include, but are not limited to: cheating; plagiarism; ...; submitting as one's own the same or substantially similar work of another; ..." Each student must submit his or her own work; details of any collaboration must be clearly stated in your homework submission. ---cep