Unit 3: Math for AI (Statistics & Probability)

3.1 Importance of Math for AI

Title: Math for AI Approach: Interactive Session + Activity

Learning objectives:
▪ Discuss the applications of Mathematics in AI.
▪ To know the different mathematical concepts important for understanding AI?
▪ How are statistics and probability used in different AI applications?
Summary: In this chapter, Students are introduced to the mathematics required for designing an AI
project. They will know about the essential mathematical concepts required to understand an AI
project from the basics. They will be introduced to mathematical concepts of linear algebra, calculus,
statistics, and probability through easy activities and examples. Learners will also be able to identify the
use of statistics and probability in everyday life.
Learning Outcomes:
▪ Students will be able to understand the importance of mathematics in the field of AI.
▪ Students will be able to identify the essential mathematical concepts required for the
understanding of A
▪ Students will be able to define statistics and probability and describe their applications in AI
Pre-requisites:
▪ Basic mathematical knowledge and analytical ability
▪ Basic familiarity with AI
Key- Concepts:
▪ Important mathematical concepts in AI
▪ Introduction to statistics and probability

Activity 1:
Purpose: observing and analyzing the numbers & Find the pattern.
▪ Find the missing number in the following series:
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, ?
4, 10, 16, 22, 28, ?
34, 31, 28, 25, 22, ?
▪ If Year 1 Profit was INR 1000; Year 2 Profit was INR 1500; Year 3 Profit was INR 2000; Year 4
Profit was INR 2500, can you predict the profit for Year 5?

Ask the learners

● “How did you solve these puzzles?”
● “Was there any pattern that you recognized which could help you solve the puzzles?”

107
How are Math and AI related?
Math is the study of patterns
▪ To solve the puzzles, you identify an order/arrangement in the list of numbers or the images.
▪ This arrangement is called a pattern.
▪ These patterns exist all around us.
▪ We have patterns in numbers, images, and language.

Ask learners if they can identify any patterns around themselves.

AI is a way to recognize patterns

● AI can learn to recognize patterns, like human beings.
● AI can see patterns in different types of data - numbers, images, and speech and text.
● These patterns help AI to solve puzzles – like identifying dogs and muffins, or predicting
hurricanes!

108
 Say “Just like we can recognize patterns in numbers, words, pictures, etc., AI can also recognize
similar patterns.”
Hence,
▪ Math is the study of patterns
▪ AI is a way to recognize patterns in order to take decisions
▪ AI needs Math to study and recognize patterns in order to take decisions
Can you identify any pattern in the image given below?

Activity 3:
Purpose: To find connections between sets of images and using that to solve problems, think smartly,
and grasp tricky ideas.

Complete the sequence in the left column by identifying the

correct missing piece in the right column out of A or B.

Understanding math will help us to better understand AI and its way of working, but what kind of math
is needed for AI?
Let us take a look!
109
Essential Mathematics for AI

Let’s think and answer the following questions:

▪ 11, 22, 33, 44, 55 – Can you find out the middle value from the given numbers?

▪ In the given figure, which of the two lines is more slanted? Line 1 or Line 2?

▪ A has 2 plants, B has 3 plants, C has 1 plant, D has 7 plants. How many plants are there in total?

▪ If the coin shown in the figure below is used for a toss, what can be the possible result?

Just like us, AI can also solve 4 type of problems using Math.

110
AI uses Math for:
▪ Statistics (Exploring data): Example – What is the middle value of the data? Which is the most
common value in the data?
▪ Calculus (training and improving AI model): Example – which line is more slanted? Which figure
covers more area?
▪ Linear Algebra (finding out unknown or missing values): Example – How many plants are there
in total? How many cars are there in a city?
▪ Probability (predicting different events): Example – what will be the possible results of a coin
toss? Will it rain tomorrow?
3.2 Statistics

Ask learners to answer some or all of these questions as an assignment. Meanwhile, take dummy
numbers and walk the learners through the questions.
● Can you find out the total weight of your family members?
● Can you find out the total number of students in your school?
● Can you find out the maximum temperature in your city during the last month?
Definition of Statistics:” Statistics is used for collecting, exploring, and analyzing the data. It also helps
in drawing conclusions from data.”
▪ Data is collected from various sources.

▪ Data is explored and cleaned to be used.

▪ Analysis of data is done to understand it better.

▪ Conclusions and decisions can be made from the data.

Applications of Statistics:
▪ Predict the performance of sports teams

▪ It can be used to find out specific things such as:

o the reading level of students
o the opinions of voters
o the average weight of a city’s resident

Activity 4:
Purpose: Uses of Statistics in real life.
Write any two applications of Statistics in real life.

Some more applications of Statistics

Disaster Management
▪ Authorities use statistics to alert the citizens residing in places that might be affected by a natural
disaster in near future.

111
 ▪ The disaster management teams use statistics to know about the population, and about the
services and infrastructure present in the affected area.

Ask students to think about more ways in which statistics can be used for disaster management .
Sports
▪ The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the developing global situation in light of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
▪ Statistics revealed that COVID cases sharply increased in Japan during the planned period of
Olympics.

Ask learners to think of more ways in which statistics can be used in sports.

Disease prediction
▪ US government uses statistics to understand which disease is affecting the population the most.

112
 ▪ This helps them in curing these diseases more effectively.

▪ Example - government can analyze the areas where COVID cases are increasing, or where the
vaccination drive needs to be improved.

Weather forecast
▪ Computers use statistics to forecast weather.

▪ They compare the weather conditions with the information about past seasons and conditions.

113
Few more facts
• Kids watch around 1.5-3 hours of TV per day while being in childcare.
• 72% of teens often (or sometimes) check for messages or notifications as soon as they wake up,
while roughly four-in-ten feel anxious when they do not have their cellphone with them.
• 77% of children don’t get enough physical exercise.
• Almost a quarter (23%) of children aged five to 16 believe that playing a computer game with
friends is a form of exercise.
• 69% of all children experience one or more sleep-related problems at least a few nights a week.
• Only 54% of US children aged 3 to 5 years attend full-day preschool programs.
• At least 264 million children worldwide (about 12%) don’t go to school.
Activity 5: Car Spotting and Tabulating
Purpose: To implement the concept of data collection, analysis and interpretation.
Activity Introduction:
In this activity, youth will engage in data collection and tabulation.
Data collection plays a key role in Artificial Intelligence as it forms the basis of statistics and
interpretation by AI.
This activity will also require youth to answer a set of questions based on the recorded data.

Activity Guidelines
Data Collection
● Visit the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A5L3x3TVuc&ab_channel=CarvingCanyons
● Fill the table while watching the video using tally.

Reference Tally

114
Data Analysis
● How many cars are spotted in total?

● Which colour has been spotted the maximum amount of time?

Data Interpretation

● What is the most common colour choice for the residents of this area?

● Answer hint: The colour observed the maximum number of times.

3.3 Probability

Purpose: To understand the possibility of occurrence of an event.

Introduction to probability
Probability is a way to tell us how likely something is to happen. For example – When a coin is tossed,
there are two possible results or outcomes:
heads (H) or tails (T)
The probability equation defines the likelihood of the happening of an event. It is the ratio of favorable
outcomes to the total favorable outcomes. The probability formula can be expressed as,

Probability of an Event =
Number of Favorable Outcomes / Total Number of Possible Outcomes
We say that the probability of the coin landing H is ½ and the probability of the coin landing T is ½
When we talk about probability, we use a few terms that help us understand the chances for something
to happen.
115
Probability can be expressed in the following ways:
▪ Certain events: An event will happen without a doubt

▪ Likely events: The probability of one event is higher than the probability of another event

▪ Unlikely events: One event is less likely to happen than another event

▪ Impossible events: There's no chance of an event happening

▪ Equal Probability events: Chances of each event happening is same

The probability of an event occurring is somewhere between impossible and certain.

• If an event is certain or sure to happen, it will have a probability of 1.
For example, the probability that it will rain in the state of Florida at least once in a specific year is 1.
• If an event will never happen or is impossible, it will have a probability of 0.
For example, the probability that you can pick a red ball from a bag containing only blue balls is 0.

Imagine you have a bag full of stars where 7 stars are and 3 stars are
Try to fill in the blanks with – likely, unlikely, certainly, impossible, equal probability

1. If you pick a star from the bag without looking, it is that you will pick .

2. If you pick a star from the bag without looking, it is that you will pick a .

3. If you pick a star from the bag without looking, it is that you will pick a .

4. If you remove 4 from the bag, and pick a star without looking, there is an

that you will pick either or .

116
 5. If you pick an object from the bag without looking, you will pick a star.
Let’s try to understand the concept of Probability using a relatable example.
Consider a relatable scenario!
You want to go to your best friend's birthday party next Saturday. Your parents decide to make a deal
with you.
Scenario 1

Scenario 2

117
Scenario 3

Scenario 4

Hope the terms impossible, unlikely, even, likely and certain are clearer now!
Moving on, take a look at some applications of Probability in Real Life!

118
Probability - Applications
Sports
▪ Probability can be used in estimating batting average in Cricket.

▪ Batting average in Cricket represents how many runs a batsman

would score before getting out.

▪ For instance, if a batsman had scored 45 runs out of 100 from

only boundaries in the last match. Then, there is a chance that
he will score 45% of his runs in the next match from boundaries.

Weather Forecasting
▪ One of the most common real-life examples of using
probability is weather forecasting.

▪ It is used by weather forecasters to assess how likely it i s

that there will be rain, snow, clouds, etc., on a given da y
in a certain area.

▪ Forecasters may say things like “there is a 70% chance of

rain today between 4 PM and 6 PM” to indicate a
medium to high likelihood of rain during certain hours.

Traffic Estimation
▪ Regular people often use probability when they decide to drive to
someplace.

▪ Based on the time of day, location in the city, weather conditions,

etc. people tend to make probability predictions about how bad
traffic will be during a certain time.

▪ For example, if you think there’s a 90% probability that traffic will
be heavy from 6 PM to 7:30 PM in your vicinity then you may
decide to wait during that time.

Let’s discuss
1. Does math play a crucial role in AI life cycle?

2. What is statistics?

119