MATH 201 Applied Statistics

Fall 2008

Section 001 8:00 to 9:00 M W F

Section 002 9:10 to 10:10 M W F

Instructor: Dr. Chris Edwards Phone: 424-1358 or 948-3969 Office: Swart 123

Classroom: Swart 302 Text: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics 6^th edition, by David S. Moore and George P. McCabe

Required Calculator: TI-83, TI-83 Plus, or TI-84 Plus, by Texas Instruments. Other TI graphics calculators (like the TI-86) do not have the same statistics routines we will be using and will cause you troubles.

Catalog Description: An introduction to applied statistics using a statistical computing package such as MINITAB. Topics include: Descriptive statistics, elementary probability, discrete and continuous distributions, interval and point estimation, hypothesis testing, regression and correlation. Credit cannot be earned for both PBIS 189 and Mathematics 201. Prerequisite: Mathematics 104 or 108 with a grade of C or better.

Course Objectives: (Click here for full document.) The goal of statistics is to gain understanding from data. This course focuses on critical thinking and active learning. Students will be engaged in statistical problem solving and will develop intuition concerning data analysis, including the use of appropriate technology.

Specifically students will develop

• an interest and aptitude in applying statistics to other areas of human inquiry

• an awareness of the nature and value of statistics

• a sound, critical approach to interpreting statistics, including possible misuses

• facility with statistical calculations and evaluations, using appropriate technology

• effective written and oral communication skills

Grading: Final grades are based on 500 points:

	Topic	Points	Tentative Date
Exam 1	Descriptive Statistics	80 pts.	October 3
Exam 2	Sampling, Probability, and the CLT	80 pts.	November 7
Exam 3	Statistical Inference	80 pts.	December 12
Group Presentations	20 Points Each	60 pts.	Biweekly
Quizzes	10 Points Each	100 pts.	Weekly
Homework	10 Points Each	100 pts.	Weekly

Attendance is a very important component of success in my class because many of the skills and lessons we will learn will be a direct result of classroom activities that cannot be reproduced easily. Thus, final grades are based on attendance as well as total points earned. The number of quiz scores that may be dropped is based on absences.

Presentations: There will be three presentations, each worth 20 points. The descriptions of the presentations are in the Day By Day Notes. I will assign you to your groups for these presentations randomly, but I want to avoid you having the same members each time. I expect each person in a group to contribute to the work; you can allocate the work in any way you like. If a group member is not contributing, see me as soon as possible so I can make a decision about what to do. Part of your presentation grade will be based on your own evaluations of how each person contributed to the presentation. The topics are: 1 - Displays and Regression (October 1). 2 - Sampling and Probability (November 5). 3 - Statistical Hypothesis Testing (December 10).

Quizzes: Approximately once a week, we will have a quiz on the current material. These quizzes are a way for me to provide feedback to you on your progress in the course. You will be allowed to drop up to 2 quizzes, based on your course attendance.

Homework: I will collect three homework problems approximately once a week. The due dates are listed on the course outline below. While I will only be grading three problems, I presume that you will be working on many more than just the three I assign. I suggest that you work together in small groups on the homework for this class. What I expect is a well thought-out, complete discussion of the problem. Please don’t just put down a numerical answer; I want to see how you did the problem. (You won’t get full credit for just numerical answers.) The method you use is much more important to me than the final answer. To aid in your study groups, I will be distributing a class roll of both sections I am teaching this semester.

Office Hours: Office hours are times when I will be in my office to help you. There are many other times when I am in my office. If I am in and not busy, I will be happy to help. My office hours for Fall 2008 semester are 10:20 to 11:00, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 3:00 to 4:00 Tuesday, or by appointment.

Philosophy: I strongly believe that you, the student, are the only person who can make yourself learn. Therefore, whenever it is appropriate, I expect you to “discover” the statistics we will be exploring. I do not feel that “lecturing” to you will teach you how to do statistics. I hope to be your “guide” while we learn some statistics, but you will need to do the learning. The textbook we will be using for this class will require you to actually read it to master the material.

My idea of teaching / learning is not “Teaching is telling and learning is listening”. I believe that you must be active in the learning process to learn well. My job as a teacher, therefore, is not to tell you the answers to the problems we will encounter; rather it is to point you in a direction that will allow you to see the solutions yourselves. To accomplish that goal, I will work to find different interactive activities for us to work on. Your job is to use me, to use your text, to use your friends, and any other resources. Keep in mind that the goal is to learn statistics, not to pass the exams. (Incidentally, if you have truly learned the material, the exam results will take care of themselves.)

	Homework 1, due September 15		Chapter 1: 1.18 page 23 1.28 pages 25-26 1.40 page 28
	Homework 2, due September 22		Chapter 1: 1.56 page 48 1.80 page 51 1.136 page 75
	Homework 3, due September 29		Chapter 2: 2.20 page 98 2.26 page 100 2.64 pages 122-123
	Homework 4, due October 15		Chapter 3: 3.18 page 192 3.66 page 210 (use the calculator) 3.68 pages 210-211 (use the calculator)
	Homework 5, due October 24		Chapter 4: 4.22 page 255 4.34 page 257 4.60 page 269
	Homework 6, due October 31		Chapter 4: 4.80 page 287 4.122 pages 305-306 Chapter 5: 5.28 page 334
	Homework 7, due November 14		Chapter 5: 5.48 page 347 5.52 page 348 Chapter 6: 6.26 page 371
	Homework 8, due November 21		Chapter 6: 6.32 page 371 6.54 page 391 6.66 pages 392-393
	Homework 9, due December 3		Chapter 6: 6.122 page 413 Chapter 7: 7.32 page 444 7.76 page 470
	Homework 10, due December 10		Chapter 8: 8.14 page 503 8.26 page 504 8.44 page 517
Monday		Wednesday		Friday
September 1 No Class		September 3 Day 1 Introduction		September 5 Day 2 Graphical Summaries Section 1.1
September 8 Day 3 Arizona Temps Section 1.1		September 10 Day 4 Numerical Summaries Section 1.2		September 12 Day 5 Quiz 1 Standard Deviation Section 1.2
September 15 Day 6 Homework 1 Due Intro to Normal Section 1.3		September 17 Day 7 Normal Problems Section 1.3		September 19 Day 8 Quiz 2 Correlation Sections 2.1 and 2.2
September 22 Day 9 Homework 2 Due Outliers I Section 2.2		September 24 Day 10 Olympic Races Section 2.3		September 26 Day 11 Quiz 3 Outliers II Section 2.3
September 29 Day 12 Homework 3 Due U. S. Population Sections 2.4 and 2.5		October 1 Day 13 Presentation 1 Review		October 3 Day 14 Exam 1
October 6 Day 15 Polls Section 3.1 to 3.3		October 8 Day 16 Lurking Variables Section 3.1		October 10 Day 17 SRS’s Section 3.2
October 13 Day 18 Quiz 4 Sampling Schemes Sections 3.3 and 3.4		October 15 Day 19 Homework 4 Due Randomness Section 4.1		October 17 Day 20 Coins, Dice, RV’s Section 4.2
October 20 Day 21 Quiz 5 Random Variables Section 4.3		October 22 Day 22 Means and Variances Section 4.4		October 24 Day 23 Homework 5 Due Trees and Bayes’ Section 4.5
October 27 Day 24 Quiz 6 Binomial Section 5.1		October 29 Day 25 Central Limit Theorem Section 5.2		October 31 Day26 Homework 6 Due More CLT Section 5.2
November 3 Day 27 Quiz 7 Review		November 5 Day 28 Presentation 2		November 7 Day 29 Exam 2
November 10 Day 30 m&m’s Section 6.1		November 12 Day 31 CI Practice Section 6.1		November 14 Day 32 Homework 7 Due Contradiction Section 6.2
November 17 Day 33 Hypothesis Test Practice Quiz 8 Section 6.2		November 19 Day 34 Testing Simulation Section 6.2 to 6.3		November 21 Day 35 Homework 8 Due Gosset Simulation Section 7.1
November 24 Day 36 Quiz 9 Matched Pairs Section 7.1		November 26 No Class		November 28 No Class
December 1 Day 37 Two Samples Section 7.2		December 3 Day 38 Homework 9 Due Proportions Section 8.1		December 5 Day 39 Quiz 10 2 Sample Proportions Section 8.2
December 8 Day 40 Review		December 10 Day 41 Homework 10 Due Presentation 3 Review		December 12 Day 42 Exam 3

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Last updated August 26, 2008