Reading the book: The book is written as a series of questions and answers. When you "read" the book, you should cover the answers and try to write down the answer yourself before you read it. You will get a lot more practice solving problems if you try to derive all the answers yourself (even if you need to sneak a peek at the solution).
The main prerequisite is 15-251 or 21-228, where we expect that you learned how to sum basic arithmetic and geometric series and got some practice with basic combinatorics/counting as well as receiving some exposure to algorithms. The 15-251 or 21-228 prerequisite will also teach you how to formalize questions in mathematical terms and how to do proofs, as well as giving you experience tackling problems where the solutions are not straightforward.
Note: If you are a USAMO qualifier, or have very high AIME and Putnam scores, you can request permission to take 15-251 as a co-requisite rather than a pre-requisite. We cannot promise that this request will be granted. Please send us the years in which you took these math exams and the scores that you obtained.
You *must* know 3D Calculus, in particular: evaluation of integrals, changing the order of integration, being able to picture a double integral, Taylor series, integration by parts, L'Hospital's Rule, and limits. Because of this, we require 3D Calucus as a pre-requisite or co-requisite.
Homework 1 is a Prerequisite Review.
You should go through Chapter 1 of the textbook in detail. You will use every part of this chapter and it will appear on exams. Homework 1 is due on the first Friday after the start of class.
There will be an optional REVIEW SESSION on Chapter 1, on Wednesday, Aug 28th, starting at 5:30 p.m. in GHC 4301.
PREREQUISITES
15-259 assumes NO PRIOR PROBABILITY/STATS classes, and will satisfy
the Computer Science Probability/Statistics requirement. The course
DOES assume that you have taken calculus (and still remember how to
integrate, differentiate, and do Taylor-series expansions). The
course also assumes that you can do double integrals, including
changing the order of integrals, and also know some basic matrix
algebra (eigenvectors, solving equations, etc.).