The document outlines various assignments related to discrete probability, particularly in a statistics context, focusing on a chemistry 101 grading distribution. It also includes detailed instructions for writing an essay that links course materials while emphasizing personal reflection and the necessity of using course texts. Additionally, the document addresses themes in literature, such as existentialism and the struggle for meaning, through responses to works by Camus, Sartre, and de Beauvoir.

1. Discrete Probability Distributions Worksheet
MTH 160: Statistics
Version 1
09/13
Read the following scenario and complete each of the four
problem sets below:
Suppose the distribution below represents the probability of a
person to make a certain grade in
Chemistry 101, where x = the letter grade of the student in the
class (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0).
1. Is this an example of a valid probability distribution? Explain
your answer.
<Compose answer here>
2. Determine the probability that a student selected at random
would make a C or higher in
Chemistry 101.

2. <Compose answer here>
3. Determine the mean and standard deviation of the grade
distribution.
<Compose answer here>
4. Make a NEW table that shows only the probability of
students passing or failing (i.e. receiving
an F) Chemistry 101.
<Compose answer here>
5. “A professor has 30 students in his or her Chemistry 101
course and wants to determine the
probability that a certain number of these 30 students will pass
his or her course.”
Does this represent a binomial experiment? Explain your
answer.
<Compose answer here>
X 0 1 2 3 4

3. P(X) 0.08 0.22 0.34 0.21 0.15
Version 1
7/1/13
6. Based on the Pass/Fail table, what is the probability that 24
of the 30 students enrolled in
Chemistry 101 during the spring semester will pass the course?
<Compose answer here>
7. Determine the mean and standard deviation of the data in the
Pass/Fail table.
<Compose answer here>
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is to make connections either
among the ideas, characters, narratives and images you’ve
learned in this course. Notice that I need to see that you’ve
absorbed a good amount of material from this course. If your
essay could have been written, more or less, by someone who
has never taken this course, then you will not do well!
Instructions:

4. 1) Link any two or three readings or other materials from
within this course. Some possibilities include:
a) An in-depth analysis of a literary or filmic narrative
based on
a theory (i.e., Camus, de Beauvoir, Sartre, Kierkegaard).
b) A contrastive comparison between two theorists on a
certain point, for example,
Sartre and Kierkegaard on the notion of faith.
c) A critique of two writers on the same grounds. For
example, you might argue
against the transcendence of the ethical domain in both
Camus and Kierkegaard. Or
you might argue that the conception of freedom in de
Beauvoir and Sartre only really
makes sense in a context of political upheaval.
d) Insert your ideas here! That is what I am most
interested in having you write
about – so long as they are closely focussed on course
material.
I have designed this course with these links in mind, starting
right from our first film. I could imagine every possible
combination of materials we’ve used yielding interesting essay
topics. I’ll let you be creative.
2) Run your topic by me if you’re not sure about it.
3) Organize your essay however you see fit. Just try to keep
each paragraph focussed on a single point if possible, and
organize the paragraphs logically in order to develop your thesis
(i.e, explain it point by point). Just be sure include a clear
thesis statement in the introductory paragraph, and do include a
brief conclusion where you state what you think you have
accomplished in your essay.

5. 4) You may draw on ideas from your written responses. I don’t
advise copying-and-pasting, though, as it will most likely be
awkward. Simply putting a few of your responses back to back
with some rewording will end up being a bad essay. I am
looking for an in-depth sense of similarity, difference,
illustration, etc. If you are concerned that your connection
might be too superficial, again, contact me about it.
5) Use the word ‘I’ whenever you see fit (if you want to).
6) Make sure that you are using quotations from the assigned
text(s) fairly regularly. I want you to be staying close to the
texts. NOTE: avoiding the text and relying on Wikipedia or
Sparknotes or something like that will likely be very evident to
me and won’t go over well!
7) Given point 6), you should still try to make the essay sound
like your own written voice, as opposed to slight rewording of
the texts you’re dealing with. Those usually don’t end up
making much sense, by the way.
8) Include either footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography. Use
MLA or APA—just be consistent please.
Note very well: if you use any sources other than the texts
we’ve been using, be sure to cite them. This includes all
internet sources you use—even if you don’t take quotations
from them. Failure to do so will result in a ZERO for
plagiarism. By the time you find out that this has happened,
final grades will already be in the system.
Please also note: Since this is worth 30%, I will be looking
closely for plagiarism.
DO NOT USE ANY SOURCES WITHOUT CITING THEM,
EVEN IF YOU DON’T QUOTE THEM DIRECTLY!!!
Also note: no secondary sources are needed—or even

6. recommended, to be honest.
If you are unsure about whether you might be plagiarising, I
recommend watching a tutorial video, courtesy of our library:
go to www.georgebrown.ca/LLC, click on ‘Study Tools’, t-then
click on ‘Tutorials’ at the bottom of the menu on the left, then
click on ‘Avoiding Plagiarism and Research Skills’.
HOW YOU’LL BE MARKED
My grading is based on the following factors:
· Clarity of thesis—i.e., clarity of overall purpose of essay
*This should be made clear in the introductory paragraph
· Depth of development of thesis (i.e., how logically and
thoroughly you explain your main point)
*Each paragraph should have one main point and there
should be a logical flow
from one paragraph to the next.
- Sophistication of the thesis—how much your thesis
reflects thoughtfulness and insight
· Accuracy with respect to the ideas or facts presented in the
texts
*Using a couple of direct quotations followed by your own
re-wording shows that
you are following the material closely.
· Evidence of independent thought, whether through criticism,
interpretation or synthesis
of the texts you use
*The more original the better!

7. · Proper mechanics, including grammar, punctuation, citations,
spelling.
*Note that there is a Writing Centre where they can help
you with this if you like.
proper writing mechanics makes your writing
understandable.
Late penalty:
Late assignments will be penalized 10% per day. That’s
because I won’t be able to finish all my
marking if too many are late.
If students are unable to submit an assignment by the due date,
students must contact the
professor as soon as possible. If the professor agrees that the
situation constitutes an exceptional circumstance, an extension
may be negotiated.
HASSAN ALI ALJANABI
100962310
Response # 1 – The Myth of Sisyphus
This week’s reading was a very interesting read because I
could see myself relate to the story in many ways. It was a fun
read and I was looking forward to turning each page when I was
reading this. The Myth of Sisyphus is about looking for the
meaning in life. Sisyphus is condemned to roll a rock to the top
of the mountain and to see it fall back down each time. This
punishment was given to him by god, and he wanted him to see
his hard labor go to waste every time.

8. This myth was trying to find meaning in life and the reason
I had enjoyed reading this was because at this age I, myself was
going through something similar where I was trying to find the
meaning to life and sometimes would see hard labor go down
the drain, only to do work and labor all over again day after
day.
Camus here before explaining about the myth of Sisyphus,
gives four examples of absurd life. I feel reading this, the point
of this writing was that the aim of life is not the end goal but
the struggle and the experience one gains from life.
Camus believes that life is freely living and passionately
living to make our experience in life rich. One should also rebel
and not accept our struggles. So therefore to not give up in life
but to experience it and live life to its fullest.
Camus calls the myth of Sisyphus absurd because there is a
struggle of what one wants and what is given to him/her. I
personally agree with this and feel that in life many times what
one works for is not what one gets necessarily and we are in a
constant struggle with life.
Life sometimes does feel meaningless to me, and as I said
I could relate to this reading because as Sisyphus, the goal end
never comes, it feels sometimes, speaking from personal
experience, that life does not had me perfect results and
continuing to struggles many times takes the meaning away
from me and sometimes the lack of belief also does that.
In the beginning there was a discussion on suicide and how
suicide is telling life that you have given up. I truly enjoyed
reading that because it starts with the end of everything and as
the reading goes deeper, the author starts to explain how life is
given meaning as one struggles for it.
Response # 5 – Sartre
When I had started reading Sartre, I became very quickly
involved when I read in the first paragraph, “Consciousness is a
being, the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness

9. of its being”. This was a very difficult concept for me to
understand and it seemed that I would read it and perfectly
understand what Sartre means and then after reading a few
pages, I would get lost again and forget what it meant.
It was indeed a very interesting reading, Sartre sees the
world and our being and consciousness in a very different way
and it really makes a person think about their own conscious
being and how it is actually nothing. I feel that even in the
absence of anything, it is still something because even in the
nothingness is something.
I was having difficulty understanding this at first and then
I read the lie and truth example, and it all made sense. A person
cannot lie of something that he is not conscious of, so if I am
lying without knowing something that is not a lie, it is just the
missing of truth and reality, but if I know I am lying, and I am
consciously hiding the truth, then it is a lie. Even then, the liar
is in complete possession of the truth, so the liar intends to
deceive and does knows to keep the truth for himself.
So the liar lies for the outside world but does not deceive
the consciousness. Sartre’s theory reminded me of the id, ego
and superego of psychology terms, that I had learned a few
years ago. I am not sure if they are comparable but it seems
that consciousness as defined by Sartre seems like a mix of
superego and id, and how they are subconciousness and ego is
conscious mind but when they are communicating within
themselves sometimes the superego is so much hidden that the
conscious mind sees nothing and it is so deep that one needs to
get onto another level to understand if one is actually lying or is
conscious that he is lying.
Overall an interesting reading, although I had to read this a
few times to understand, I am sure if I read a few more times, I
would find things which I never saw in the first few times I
saw.
Response # 3 – The Ethics of Ambiguity – Simone De Beauvoir

10. Section one of this starts with a quote which is a good
quote and makes me think of how we have taken our freedom
and what we have made of it. The quote says, “Life in itself is
neither good nor evil. It is the place of good and evil,
according to what you make it” (Montaigne).
This reading was very deep and De Beauvoir was
introducing many concepts and also refereeing to many other
philosophers such as Kant, Dostoevsky, Marx, Descartes, and
Hegel among many others. It was a good read and I believe that
reading this one more time would make me see even more
themes as I did before, because as many times as I read each
page, there were new things that would pop out to me and I
would relate it to my current life.
For example, this quote got me thinking about my life and
its purpose and what I have made of it. “Every man is originally
free, in the sense that he spontaneously casts himself into the
world…human spontaneity always projects itself toward
something”. (9).
I look at this section of the article and it makes me think
about my own life and how much freedom in life do I have and
how am I using it. I feel that freedom is given to people, and
people are free, if we take this premise, I would think that a
person’s choice of being lazy, hardworking, choosing a
particular path or crossing path with the right people would be
very important for a person to come someone that is free and
happy and is content with the freedom that the person has.
So there are different types of people who have different
character types, and these character types, I believe, made a
person who he or she is and what they want to achieve in life.
How will they use their freedom and how can they live a life,
which is in term existentialist life where they have the freedom
to turn their life around.
A few questions I was thinking after reading this were if a
person’s socio economic status would affect a person’s freedom
even as a child. I was trying to find this answer in the pages I
read but I found myself asking if external circumstances,

11. especially of a child who is born in lower socioeconomic status
than a child who is born in a higher socioeconomic status.
Response # 4 – The Ethics of Ambiguity – Simone De Beauvoir
The second section of Simone De Beauvoir’s ethics of
ambiguity I feel gets a little more complex than the first half. I
had to read part of this section a few times and some of my
favorite quotes that made me laugh or that stood out and got to
me were, “The notion of ambiguity must not be confused with
that of absurdity” and the second that jumped at me was, “Since
the liberation aimed at is not a thing situated in an unfamiliar
time, but a movement which realizes itself by tending to
conquer, it can not attain itself if it denies itself at the start;
action can not seek to fulfill itself by means which would
destroy its very meaning”.
These two quotes jumped at me because I was trying to
understand the meaning behind them. The first quote I believe
is really funny because the meaning of ambiguity and the
meaning of absurdity is very different but I can see how some
people would think that life being ambiguous and something
that is absurd and unreasonable can confuse the two because as
explained later that something absurd cannot be given meaning
but something ambiguous has meaning but the meaning is not
fixed and it is open to interpretation.
She goes onto say that a man’s condition is ambiguous, it
involves failures, and outrageous things to save his/her
existence. What I took from this is that every person has their
own circumstances and it is very difficult from someone else to
interpret what is the right path for one person might not be the
right path for another.
The example of painting and art was also interesting,
Simone de Beauvoir states that a painting which is complete and
all the problems in it is resolved is not conceivable, because
each painting is a movement towards its own reality. In the end

12. she stated that it is failure that takes us towards the success and
it seems that without failure and the process there is no success.
This was very interesting, again while reading, I kept
connecting these ideas to my own life and thinking that
sometimes the path for me is quiet different than path for
someone else, but in the end it is the ambiguity of it that makes
everything different. A thought I was thinking about is who
justifies what is absurd and what is ambiguous for anyone.
Response # 2 – Louis Malle: The Fire Within
This was a French drama film, from 1963, and was directed
by Louis Malle. This movie was about a man who had
depression and he was a recovering alcoholic. He wanted to
commit suicide but decided to see his friend one last time and to
see if he can give him a reason to live or help him somehow to
see the world in a different perspective.
The title of this movie was very interesting stating that the
protagonist’s depression was inside of him and there was
something inside him that made him be this way. He had a date
written when he would take his life, that was very unsettling
when I was watching the movie to have a date in mind when one
wants to end their life, he was determine to end his life.
There was a scene in the movie where he is sitting in a
café looking at people and drinking. The scene that he was
looking at was happy, the music was depicting what was going
through in his mind at that time and that he was disturbed by
looking at everything around him and he was drinking, and later
left.
I found this scene very depressing because it was a long
scene where no one was talking and the music was also very
sad, which showed the protagonists inner thoughts.

13. In the film, there are people that care for him like Lydia
but as he was depressed he could not find the reason to live the
life that he was living. I thought this was a depressing movie
and it actually made me sad after, and I was upset myself after
watching the movie.
The depression within the protagonist was the most powerful
thing in the movie and that seemed to rule everything that he
was doing in the movie. I have days when I am depressed
myself, but to be so depressed that one thinks for reasons for
living in very sad.
One thing that I kept asking myself while watching the
movie was if there were a different ending to this movie, how
would it have played out. When someone is depressed, and
wants to commit suicide, what are the ways that one can change
that persons mind?
Hi everyone,
For the Essay, you may combine any two (or three) readings
and/or films from the course, with the following exception: you
may NOT write only on the two movies. In other words, you
need at least one written text from this course.
Second issue: I originally stated in the instructions for the
responses that no more than two could be handed in after week
10. That was for a very good reason, namely, so I won't be ...
uh... messed up during April with too much marking.
Unfortunately for myself, I momentarily forgot about that in a
moment of fatigue and told some students they have up to 5
possible responses left (including the two movies, if they hadn't
already done them). So, to be more fair and consistent to you, I
will indeed allow you to hand in up to five still - one more on
Camus' The Fall, two on Kierkegaard, and one on each of the
movies if you haven't already done them.
I hope this is cleared up now. Let me know if it's not.
Good luck finishing the term.