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Learner Reviews & Feedback for An Intuitive Introduction to Probability by University of Zurich

4.8
stars
1,671 ratings

About the Course

This course will provide you with a basic, intuitive and practical introduction into Probability Theory. You will be able to learn how to apply Probability Theory in different scenarios and you will earn a "toolbox" of methods to deal with uncertainty in your daily life. The course is split in 5 modules. In each module you will first have an easy introduction into the topic, which will serve as a basis to further develop your knowledge about the topic and acquire the "tools" to deal with uncertainty. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to complete 5 exercise sessions to reflect about the content learned in each module and start applying your earned knowledge right away. The topics covered are: "Probability", "Conditional Probability", "Applications", "Random Variables", and "Normal Distribution". You will see how the modules are taught in a lively way, focusing on having an entertaining and useful learning experience! We are looking forward to see you online!...

Top reviews

SP

Mar 22, 2023

It's a great course, loved the way Prof. Karl Schmedders explains things. However one area of improvement of this course is - the methods adopted in the exercises needed to be covered in the lectures.

SI

Apr 26, 2022

Wow. What an amazing journey. Engaging, exciting, and as far from broring as it is possible while providing actual knowledge. Perfect balance. The only downside of this course is that is it too short.

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26 - 50 of 652 Reviews for An Intuitive Introduction to Probability

By Pankaj S G

Dec 3, 2017

I could not answer few questions in high school final exams due my fear for probability. Professor Karl has really removed my fear and I want to invest more time now in learning more aspects about this. More importantly I could understand all the examples he has explained. Now I know the concepts Conditional probability, random variable and normal distribution. For me, no more, random variable is not just calling a 'rand()' function, normal distribution is no more a bell curve which just looks good and I have more regards for Excel as a tool to compute probabilities. Thanks.

By Nino B

Feb 13, 2022

The course was very infomative and easy to understand. Despite that concepts were very basic the explanation was clear and enjoyable. All the examples mentioned made this even more clear. Expaining some material with an example and not directly with a formula was something new to me and it worked very well. The quizes during lectures is a very good idea too. They check if you really are listening to Karl. The quiz questions are competent to the material. Exercises at the end of weeks were fun to do. The TA explained every part of the problems in an understandable manner.

By Rahul K

Oct 24, 2018

A really no-nonsense course that helped me reacquaint myself with the basics of probability. I found the Professor to be extremely knowledgeable, convivial and enthusiastic. Truly, the professor knew his probability. He was able to explain concepts with a childish ease and amazing flow. The course is also very well structured, transitioning from discrete random variables to continuous random variables seamlessly. Personally, I would love to attend more MOOCs conducted by this Professor. A very good course for beginners as well - not a lot of prior knowledge is required.

By Yris C

Mar 8, 2018

Awesome!

I'm not english-native, but still could totally understand it. Only touches the necessary detail. It is truly simplified and it did help me develop my intuitive probability skills with the "exact" amount of scientific "background" needed for me to apply it to my field. Now I feel I am capable of evaluating and prove my inferences, so I'm closer to a scientific probability than to a "paranormal" one. XD

I'm so proud of all this work you've done, grateful for your help and admired by how you managed to accomplish the maestry to teach it like this. Thanks a lot.

By Ponniah K

May 21, 2021

Professor Karl Schmedders explained the various concepts of Probability in a simple manner by combining theory with application in real world scenarios, interesting puzzles and excel templates to practise after the course. This course will help anyone new to Probability overcome their inertia or fear, easily understand the basic concepts and enable them to dive into advanced topics.

The energy, enthusiasm and humour displayed by the Professor have left pleasant memories. Thank you Professor and look forward to attending many more course from you.

By Riju P

Jan 9, 2024

Overall the professor has done a great job in the initial 3 weeks. He made it so easy and interesting that the concepts of probability which are always confusing were clarified. While I did not get very same level of engagement in the last two weeks and perhaps. This is also because the expectation set during the initial was was very high. Again overall a super course and a big thank you to the professor and the whole team. A request will be to prepare an intermediate probability and statistics course as the next course. Looking forward to it.

By Deleted A

Feb 15, 2017

Professor Schmedders succeeds in giving a very intuitive exposition of the basics of probability, eschewing most formulas while still covering many of the key concepts needed for studying probability and statistics. He has great enthusiasm for the material and injects just the right amount of humor into the course, so the lectures are never boring.

The course would serve as a good "taster" of what probability is all about for those unfamiliar with the subject, or as a warmup or refresher in preparation for more technical courses.

By Lokesh K

Feb 2, 2019

The most essential course on the fundamentals of probability theory with an amazing professor whose enthusiasm for teaching the concepts is irresistible and captivating. I literally loved this course so much so that my high-school dream of some-day fully grasping the real intuitive concepts of probability come true. Thank you very much Sir for teaching me this course. I have become a fan of you. Request you to offer some courses on the financial side aspects of the uncertainty and how best it should be managed.

By Gonzalo F V

Jul 11, 2020

Karl is amazing, and all the lectures are in a very intuitive order and very good explained. The course heavily relies on Excel, and even though I'm not an Excel fan, but instead I rather use Python for analysis, it was useful since the exercises are very good for better understanding the concepts with real world examples. I just skipped the specific parts of the videos talking about Excel formulas. Overall I would highly recommend this course for anyone needing a refresh of the basic concepts in probability.

By Ahmed T

Jul 22, 2022

The course is excellent for beginners to build an intuion as the course promises. You cannot expect it to contain some advanced topics. It is a good stepping stone for me to continue studying probability and statics with a better understanding of the topic.

The only drawback of the course is the lack of exercises as after each video the exercise contains only two problems/questions.

Other than that, it is great. I also liked the problems and applications that were introduced.

By Donna K

Mar 19, 2020

Wonderful course! I've never been as fascinated with the subject of Probability as I am now. This has been a great starting point. I was quite sad to find out that Karl Schmedders has no other MOOC on Coursera. I would have taken them all. I'm now off to start other (slightly more advanced) Probability courses. Thank you, Karl and Jose! You are fantastic teachers. Learning from you was so much fun. There was never a dull moment. I cannot recommend this course highly enough.

By Hassan M

May 16, 2022

Look no further! This course is a must-take --> It is compact and practical, with extremely useful concepts that you'll be grateful to learn. I became aware of very useful concepts that I've taken and used at work to help detect fraud! Moreover, Professor Karl Schmedders is one of the best teachers, if not the best, that I have personally encountered across the many courses I took online, and the 4 universities I've actually attended throughout my studies. Beyond 5-star!

By RP

Feb 5, 2022

One of the best probability course I have take!

This is a gentle introductory course only so don't expect to come out of it as a probabiliity or stats whiz. But it is an excellent starting point! The instructor is enthusiastic about the subject and teaching it to the students. He claims to make you like probability (or atleast be more open to it) and in that goal he succeeded! The language and examples make probability feel intuitive rather than a text-book concept.

By Gaurav K S

Apr 17, 2017

Excellent approach to explaining the theory. The emphasis on getting the fundamentals right was a welcome change from other similar courses which get into problem solving mode too soon without clarifying the basics. That being said the usage of multiple real world problems like Monty Hall, Prosecutor's Dilemma and the brilliant explanation for solutions helped me derive great clarity on key concepts. The best Coursera course I have encountered in a while.

By Olivio A C J

Jul 3, 2020

The course delivers what it promises, and quite well. It is not, as its name infers, a mathematical course. Professor Schmedders' explanations are very good and makes the classes very interesting to watch. It is an introductory course and is a good first step to go deeper in the theme in other courses. It was worth doing. Thanks a lot, professor Schmedders. I hope you can prepare other courses for us in the future. I loved your first course.

By Jae N

Apr 29, 2022

Probability is a very dense and dry subject. However, the instructor, Karl Schmedders, made the subject interesting. In addition, he explained topics such as conditional probability and "Monty Hall" paradox very clearly so that I now understand those topics very well.

It seems that some of the material that was planned to be shared with on-line students were not shared, such as some Excel spreadsheets. However, this is a minor quibble.

By Carlos L

Jun 11, 2020

The couse is well constructed, Karl and his TA explains in a very simple way and make use of how probability matters in famous real cases, from finance to law.

As its name indicates it's an introduction course, so do not expect advanced math concepts or probability. To gain a basic of overview of the subject is more than enough. Depending on your level it could be very basics or maybe you want to dig deeper in still basics math concepts.

By Lim J H

Jun 30, 2020

Thank you, Prof Schmedders and his team for preparing this course. Although the material is elementary, it is easy to get things very wrong in probability if we do not have good intuitive for it. This course has managed to conveyed the crucial fundamental required to grasp the concept of probability. Highly recommended to anyone who has difficulty understanding probability or just want to have some fun refreshing your knowledge of it!

By MANIKANDAN R

Oct 30, 2018

I am Mathematics Professor in an Engineering College in India. Karl and Jose are excellent. Karl show me a new way of teaching, and it is fun to learn. Since its a basic course I know the concepts, but still it is interest to learn. This course give me some refreshment in probability concepts. The title of the course and the content is superbly matching. Hats off to Karl, Jose. Salutes to Coursera for give me an opportunity like this.

By Terry M

Feb 6, 2020

The professor was spectacular. I am a 69 year old retired lawyer/law professor who always loved math and the logic associated with math. The professor was skilled at teaching the building blocks slowly, clearly and with humor. I note that the printed 'titles' for the last one or two lectures contained several errors (it seems the transcriber may have been on 'automatic' and not thought about the content.)

Bravo. Great fun.

By SARA G C

Apr 5, 2022

El código de comunicación facilita la comprensión de las conceptos abstractos empleados en probabilidad, su explicación es clara, asertiva, facil de entender, muy bien ejemplificada, lo que me permitio mejorar el entendimiento sobre el tema y ver en aplicaciones inmediatas en la toma de decisiones, felicito al Dr. Karl Schmedders por su didáctica y al Dr. José Parra por su instrucción, definitivamente recomiendo este curso.

By Saim R

May 17, 2023

I am truly delighted to earn the certificate. I would surely recommend it to those who are interested in learning the theory of probability and its applications. Thank you very much, Prof Karl, Jose, and the associated team for all the lectures recorded and exercises provided. No doubt it is a great effort. Looking forward to having an advanced level in this course with Prof. Karl. Really a great experience.

By Chelsea S

Feb 8, 2023

Karl was amazing and I liked how he explained things. As a math major that doesn't like real world mathematics he made the concepts seem easier than just memorize equations. He was very likeable and was easy to understand. The TA was not as likeable nor was he as easy to understand with his accent. I would sign up for a class from Karl again if it comes up. Thank you for making this ffree And interesting.

By Mariam K

Jan 11, 2022

This course was great! It covered some basics and not in an overwhelming way, it was very interesting.

I have learnt the probability and statistics in school and then uni but was never interested and neven understood everything, i was just using pieces of knowledge, but this course helped me very much! Now I can move on to other courses without worrying that I will not understand the subject thoroughly!

By Darshit S

Apr 16, 2023

I really enjoyed the course by Prof. Karl Schmedders. His way of teaching was amazing and It really changed the way I used to look at probability. I learned a lot from him and it was a great experience re-learning probability from someone very knowledgable like him. I am also very grateful for the opportunity to have discovered this course by Prof. Karl Schmedders and I highly recommend him as a teacher.