Approximate schedule:
| Week | Lecture | Recitation and Problem Solving Practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | Variation distance |
| 1-2 | Linearity of expectation | Sum-Free subsets |
| 2-3 | Alterations | Derandomization using the method of conditional expectations |
| 3-4 | The isolating lemma | Derandomization using the method of limited independence |
| 5 | The second moment method | Applications of the second moment method |
| 6 | Large deviations inequalities | Large deviations in "rare" variables, multiplicative Chernoff bounds |
| 6-7 | Martingales | Additional martingales examples, the Poisson paradigm |
| 8-9 | The Lovász local lemma | A constructive proof of the local lemma |
| 10 | Correlation inequalities | Additional correlation inequalities, lower bound in Janson's inequality |
| 11-12 | Entropy | Shearer's inequality, applications |
| 13 | Introduction to random walks | Complementary material |