Instructor: Dr. Chris Edwards
Phone: 424-1358 Office: Swart 123 Classroom: Swart 127
Texts:Data Exploration and Analysis: Course Materials for Math 217, by Szydlik, Oktac, and Collier.
Excerpts from Excursions in Modern Mathematics, by Tannenbaum and Arnold
Grading: Final grades are based on these 700 points:
| Topic | Points | Date | |
| Exam 1 | Data Description and Sampling | 100 | March 5 |
| Exam 2 | Counting and Probability | 100 | April 12 |
| Exam 3 | Inference | 100 | May 14 |
| Homework | 100 | Approx. Weekly | |
| Presentations | 100 | Approx. Monthly |
Make-up exams will be given only in special circumstances. Please see me at least two class days before an Exam to discuss a make-up Exam.
Homework: There will be ten (10) homework assignments each worth ten (10) points. Late homework will count half-credit.
Cooperation on homework is encouraged; copying is not. You are urged to work together on homework to solve problems; however, each of you must submit your own write-up.
Office Hours: Office hours are for Spring 1999 semester are 10:20 to 11:15 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 1:50 to 2:50, Tuesday and Thursday, or by appointment. There are other times when I am in my office. If I am in and not busy, I will be happy to help.
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 mathematics we will be exploring. I do not feel that "lecturing" to you will teach you how to do probability and statistics. I hope to be your "guide" while we learn some statistics, but you will need to do the learning. I expect each of you to come to class prepared to discuss the day's material. That means you will have to pre-read each section of the text very carefully before class.
My idea of teaching / learning is "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 which 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, your text, your friends, and any other sources as resources. Remember, the goal is to learn mathematics, not to pass the exam. (Incidentally, if you have truly learned the material, the test results will take care of themselves.)
Tentative Homework Assignments:
HW 1
Ages p. 8
Salaries p. 12
HW 2
Influential p. 17
20 flips p.18
HW 3
T & A, p. 21 1-8
HW 4
More p.36
HW 5
T & A, p. 48 1-10
HW 6
T & A, p. 50 24-28
HW 7
Mouse p. 46
Drug Testing p. 48
HW 8
Standard Normal p.53
HW 9
CLT p. 59
HW 10
T & A, p. 74 21-25
| Day | Event | Text Coverage |
| 2-2 | Introduction | |
| 2-1 | Measuring the Middle | |
| 2-3 | Measuring the Spread | |
| 2-5 | Data Displays | |
| 2-8 | The Matching Game | |
| 2-10 | Family Incomes | |
| 2-12 | HW 1 due | Airfare Deals |
| 2-15 | Presentations | |
| 2-17 | 100 m Dash | |
| 2-19 | HW 2 due | Regression |
| 2-22 | Rectangles | |
| 2-24 | Parking On Campus | |
| 2-26 | HW 3 due | Time Estimation |
| 3-1 | Jogging T&A p24 | |
| 3-3 | Lying With Statistics | |
| 3-5 | EXAM 1 | |
| 3-8 | Ice Cream Cones | |
| 3-10 | Photographs | |
| 3-12 | HW 4 due | Committees |
| 3-22 | Presentations | |
| 3-24 | Dice Sums | |
| 3-26 | HW 5 due | Rat Mazes |
| 3-29 | Points | |
| 3-31 | Lottery | |
| 4-2 | HW 6 due | Cards T&A p51 |
| 4-5 | Roulette | |
| 4-7 | Game Show | |
| 4-9 | HW 7 due | |
| 4-12 | EXAM 2 | |
| 4-14 | Random Variables | |
| 4-16 | Normal Distribution | |
| 4-19 | Fruit Bat | |
| 4-21 | Law of Large Numbers | |
| 4-23 | HW 8 due | |
| 4-26 | Bad Bulb Binomial | |
| 4-28 | Presentations | |
| 4-30 | HW 9 due | Toward the CLT |
| 5-3 | More CLT | |
| 5-5 | Should We Worry? | |
| 5-7 | HW 10 due | |
| 5-10 | Presentations | |
| 5-12 | ||
| 5-14 | EXAM 3 |
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Managed by: Chris Edwards
edwards@uwosh.edu
Last updated: February 2, 1999