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LING 80LPredicting Words with Numbers: From Code-Breaking to Spell-Check, and Large Language Models

5 creditsGE SRUndergraduateStudent Option

Investigates the ways quantitive methods are used, including probability and statistics, to make predictions about language and to model central aspects of language, including form, meaning, and use. Course explores the thousands of years of these approaches, covering topics including code-breaking, modeling word meaning, neural network models, and large language models (LLMs), among many others. Also explores how these approaches can be used to help model how people process language.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: LING 50, LING 53, LING 80K, or LING 80M.

  • Enroll in lecture and associated discussion section.
  • All prerequisite restrictions have been lifted for F25. Any student may enroll in this class.

Find a section and add it to your scheduleLive seat counts, time-conflict checks and the walk from your previous class.

When it runs

Fall 2025Open Fall 2025

SectionTypeWhenWhereInstructorSeats
01Lecture
Mon Wed Fri 9:20am–10:25am
Steven Acad 152P. AnandClosed 12/0

Who teaches it

InstructorRatingDifficultyWould take againReviews
Pranav Anand3.9 / 53.3 / 565%51

From RateMyProfessors, which is student-submitted and not a survey. Small review counts move a long way on one bad quarter.

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