MATH 201 Applied Statistics

Fall 2011

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 102/101    Text: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics 7th edition, by David S. Moore and George P. McCabe.  Earlier editions of the text will also be adequate.  Link to Day by Day notes.

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.  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

90 pts.

October 10

Exam 2

Sampling, Probability, and the CLT

90 pts.

November 11

Exam 3

Statistical Inference

80 pts.

December 16

Group Presentations

20 Points Each

60 pts.

Biweekly

Quizzes

10 Points Each

90 pts.

Weekly

Homework

10 Points Each

90 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.

Text Box: Number of Absences	Number of Dropped Quizzes
0 to 4	2
5 to 8	1
9 or more	None
Final Grades:
Grade	Points (Percent)
A	450 (90 %)
A-	435 (87 %)
B+	415 (83 %)
B	400 (80 %)
B-	385 (77 %)
C+	365 (73 %)
C	350 (70 %)
C-	335 (67 %)
D+	315 (63 %)
D	300 (60 %)
D-	285 (57 %)
F	284 or less

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 7).  2 - Sampling and Probability (November 9).  3 - Statistical Hypothesis Testing (December 14).

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.  Important Grading Feature: If your homework percentage is lower than your exam percentage, I will replace your homework percentage with your exam percentage.  Therefore, your homework grade cannot be lower than your exam grade.

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 2011 semester are 10:20 to 11:00, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 3:00 to 4:00 Thursday, 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 education 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.

Homework 1, due September 19

Chapter 1:        1.24 page 23 (make a pie chart, even without software)
1.34 page 25
1.42 page 27 (also consider using a quantile plot)

Homework 2, due September 26

Chapter 1:       1.68 pages 46-47 (also include a quantile plot)
1.86 page 49
1.142 page 72

Homework 3, due October 3

Chapter 2:       2.24 page 96
2.60 page 107
2.66 pages 119

Homework 4, due October 19

Chapter 3:       3.18 page 184
3.66 page 210 (use the calculator instead of Table B)
3.68 pages 200-201 (use the calculator instead of Table B)

Homework 5, due October 28

Chapter 4:       4.26 page 246
4.36 page 247
4.58 page 258

Homework 6, due November 4

Chapter 4:        4.84 page 276
4.116 pages 291

Chapter 5:       5.18 page 310

Homework 7, due November 28

Chapter 6:       6.34 page 360 (Beware; the calculator will give a poor answer.)
6.52 page 378
6.66 page 380

Homework 8, due December 5

Chapter 6:       6.122 page 400

Chapter 7:       7.24 page 427
7.32 page 429

Homework 9, due December 12

Chapter 7:       7.80 page 457

Chapter 8:       8.26 page 488
8.56 page 503

 


 

The tentative schedule below details the daily topics, text sections, quizzes, homeworks, presentations, and exams. 

Monday

Wednesday

Friday

September 5
No Class

September 7 Day 1
Introduction

September 9 Day 2
Graphical Summaries
Section 1.1

September 12 Day 3
Arizona Temps
Section 1.1

September 14 Day 4
Numerical Summaries
Section 1.2

September 16 Day 5
Quiz 1

Standard Deviation
Section 1.2

September 19 Day 6
Homework 1 Due

Intro to Normal
Section 1.3

September 21 Day 7
Normal Problems
Section 1.3

September 23 Day 8
Quiz 2

 Correlation
Sections 2.1 and 2.2

September 26 Day 9
Homework 2 Due
Outliers I
Section 2.2

September 28 Day 10
Olympic Races
Section 2.3

September 30 Day 11
Quiz 3

Outliers II
Section 2.3

October 3 Day 12
Homework 3 Due

U. S. Population
Sections 2.4 and 2.5

October 5 Day 13
Polls
Section 3.1 to 3.3

October 7 Day 14
Presentation 1

Review

October 10 Day 15
Exam 1

October 12 Day 16
Lurking Variables
Section 3.1

October 14 Day 17
SRS's
Section 3.2

October 17 Day 18
Quiz 4

 Sampling Schemes
Sections 3.3 and 3.4

October 19 Day 19
Homework 4 Due
Randomness
Section 4.1

October 21 Day 20
Coins, Dice, RV's
Section 4.2

October 24 Day 21
Quiz 5

Random Variables
Section 4.3

October 26 Day 22
Means and Variances
Section 4.4

October 28 Day 23
Homework 5 Due

Trees and Bayes'
Section 4.5

October 31 Day 24
Quiz 6

Binomial
Section 5.2

November 2 Day 25
Central Limit Theorem
Section 5.1

November 4 Day26
Homework 6 Due
More CLT
Section 5.1

November 7 Day 27
Review

November 9 Day 28
Presentation 2

November 11 Day 29
Exam 2

November 14 Day 30
m&m's
Section 6.1

November 16 Day 31
CI Practice
Section 6.1

November 18 Day 32
 Contradiction
Section 6.2

November 21 Day 33
 Hypothesis Test Practice
 Quiz 7

Section 6.2

November 23
No Class

November 25
No Class

November 28 Day 34
Homework 7 Due

Testing Simulation
Section 6.2 to 6.3

November 30 Day 35
 Gosset Simulation
Section 7.1

December 2 Day 36
Quiz 8

Matched Pairs
Section 7.1

December 5 Day 37
Homework 8 Due
Two Samples
Section 7.2

December 7 Day 38
Proportions
Section 8.1

December 9 Day 39
Quiz 9

2 Sample Proportions
Section 8.2

December 12 Day 40
Homework 9 Due

Review

December 14 Day 41
 Presentation 3

Review

December 16 Day 42
Exam 3

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Last updated August 1, 2011