Introduction to Statistics, Fall 2002

Course Information

Course: Mathematics 105 A, Introduction to Statistics, Fall 2004, Central College . This class caries the "m" (math) core designation.
Professor: Tom Linton office: 129 VSC, phone: (641) 628-5264 email: lintont@central.edu
Office Hours: Mon 2-2:50 PM, Tues 11-11:50 AM, Wed 8-8:50 AM, Thur 9:15-10 AM, or by appointment. Class Meets: MTWF 10:00-10:50 AM in VSC 164.
Text: The Basic Practice of Statistics 3rd Edition, by Moore.
Technology: A TI-83 or TI-84 (or any of their sub models) calculator is required for this course. Students with similar calculators will have a significant disadvantage to overcome. No prior knowledge of the TI-83 (84) is assumed. Calculators are allowed on exams and should be brought with you to every class. The class web page is located at the URL http://www.central.edu/homepages/lintont/classes/fall04/introstatframeset.html. This course has a site on Central's Blackboard server (http://blackboard.central.edu), and information relevant to this course may come via email. You should regularly check your Central email and the class web pages for information related to this class.
Cumulative Final Exam: Wednesday, December 15, 8 AM.

Class Overview
Statistics is the science of interpreting, understanding, and deducing information from data collections. We will emphasize the meaning of statistical results, rather than the formulas used to calculate them. Our goal will be to cover most of the first 19 chapters of the text, in the order they appear in the book. In more technical terms, we'll cover graphical and numerical summaries of data (both one and two variable data); basic properties and calculations based on the normal and binomial distributions; sampling and design of experiments; sampling distributions; confidence intervals and significance tests. We will spend roughly three days on each chapter of the text, leaving some time at the beginning of the last day to discuss questions on the homework assignments. Most students find the first several chapters of the text much easier than the remaining chapters. Our text is exceptionally well written. You should strive to read the text; it is written with you in mind. Reading mathematics is a skill we will focus on in this course. It is an active process, unlike reading most novels or poems. You should read each chapter of the text before coming to the class meetings on that material. The homework problems which appear in the middle of the chapters (for example, problems 1.1 to 1.10 in chapter 1) should be attempted as you read. These questions will likely show up on quizzes and activities.

Most students that struggle with statistics fall behind at some point; avoid this like the plague. One day at a time, statistics is pretty reasonable! If you blow off a few days, it can become much more challenging. The basic principle of learning anything is persistence. Statistics is no different. Go to class, ask questions, read the text, do the homework, and you will learn statistics.

Goals for the Course
Upon completing Introduction to Statistics, students will:

Have an understanding of the main ideas of statistics and useful skills for working with data.
Know a variety of methods for analyzing, describing, and displaying data.
Understand concepts related to the proper production of data and experimental design, such as randomization and comparative analysis.
Master the language, meaning and calculations of statistical inference.
Be able to meaningfully respond to and interpret the ever increasing statistical results appearing in our modern media.

Americans with Disabilities Act
Central College abides by interpretations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that stipulates no student shall be denied the benefits of an education "solely by reason of a handicap." Disabilities covered by law include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities, hearing, sight, or mobility impairments, and other health related impairments. If you have a documented disability that may have some impact on your work in this class for which you may require accommodations, please see me and Nancy Kroese, Director of Student Support Services and Disabilities Services Coordinator, (x 5247) during the first two weeks of the semester so that such accommodations may be arranged.

Grades

Exams
There will be three 100 point midterm exams. These exams will occur approximately on the dates September 15 (exam 1), October 13 (exam 2), and November 17 (exam 3). We will also have a 150 point cumulative final exam at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, December 15, 2004.

Quizzes and Homework
I will collect homework assignments regularly (one or two for each chapter), and there will be a quiz each Wednesday as well. I will drop your lowest quiz score. Recording "just the answer" will receive little or no credit. You should show and/or explain your work on all assignments for this class. You are encouraged to work together on homework assignments, but this does NOT mean copying the work of others nor answers from a solution set.

Activities
We will complete several activities (mostly in groups), some in-class, others may be out of class. These activities will involve the current topics of the course and normally replace a lecture.

Class Participation and Attendance
There will be 50 points of your final grade based on your class participation (asking questions, taking part in discussions, contributing to your group in activities, etc.) and attendance. I will determine your score for these 50 points. You are responsible for all of the material covered in class each day, even if you are not present.

Course Grades
Grades, based on the letter, or A, A-, B+, B, B-, . . . system, will be based on a weighted curve of the points in the class. The curve used will be the traditional 100-93 A, 92-90 A-, 89-88 B+, etc. (or an easier curve). The breakdown of points in the class is given below. There is no extra credit for this class. You are encouraged to work together on group assignments (including homework), but copying answers of others (including those in the back of the text) will result in no credit. We expect you to uphold Central's Academic Honesty Policy given below.

Each of Exams 1, 2, 3	3x100
Final Exam	150
Homework	250
Quizzes	130
Activities	100
Class Participation	50
Total Points	980

Late assignments and academic dishonesty
Mock Trail participants, choir tour participants, athletes, and others who must miss a class for participating in a college sanctioned event are expected to notify me in advance and complete work including tests in advance of the absence. It is the student's responsibility to communicate with me in advance regarding their absences and determine a schedule for make up work.
Late homework, activities, etc. will be penalized by 10% each lecture they are late, until that assignment is graded and returned. Once an assignment has been graded and returned to students who completed it on time, it will NO LONGER be accepted for partial credit. I am fairly flexible about giving exams at alternate times, BUT you should definitely warn me before the exam is missed, and plan on taking it early rather than late. Quizzes missed due to unexcused absences can NOT be made up.
Plagiarism and cheating of any form are serious offenses and may result in an F for the assignment, the course, or expulsion from the college. The details of Central's Academic Integrity policy are found in the Student Handbook, on the web. A copy will be sent to you via e-mail during the first week of the semester. It is your responsibility to read and understand the contents of that policy before you submit work to be graded. Questions regarding the policies and enforcement of the policies may be addressed to me during class or during office hours.

Class Materials

TI-83 Materials

The TI-83 or 84 calculator (or any variation of these two calculators) is required for this course. It performs many useful statistical calculations with the press of a button. No prior knowledge of the TI-83 (84) is assumed but the TI-83 will be utilized extensively in this course. The links below point to files designed to help explain some features of this pocket computer. The first two links are introductory in nature and designed to help familiarize new users with some basic features of the TI-83. The remaining links will only make sense as we progress through the semester.
Introduction : A general introduction to the TI-83 calculator.

Graphing : Several basic operations related to graphing functions are covered in this document.

Normal Calculations : Probabilities associated with normal distributions are covered.

Linear Regression : Correlation, scatterplots and least squares linear regression are looked at briefly on the TI-83.

Confidence intervals and significance or hypothesis tests with the TI-83.

Activities

Activity 1, day 1 information-data sheet.
Activity 2, mean, median, and outliers using rowers weights.
Activity 3, means and standard deviations from samples and sampling distributions. Class data from activity 3.
Activity 4, significance tests in detail.
Activity 5, z or t? and matched-pairs vs 2-sample vs one sample prcedures.

Exams

Exam 1, practice questions for exam 1 (chapters 1 to 4).
Exam 2 practice problems (chapters 5 to 12).
Exam 3 practice problems (chapter 13 to 17).
Final exam problems (all chapters, but not a complete review).

Schedule

Relevant information will be added to this schedule as we progress through the semester. An up to date version is available on line at http://www.central.edu/homepages/lintont/classes/fall04/introstat/introstat.htm#schedule and on Blackboard.


Week	Dates	Chapters	Assignment & Due Date
1	Aug 24-27	1	Class data sheet Due Mon 8-30 chp.1 #1,4,5,6,9,10,11,14,16,17,23,24,27,30
2	Aug 30-Sept 3	2,3	chp 2#1,2,3,7,9,10,11,12,16,19,26 due Fri 9-3 quiz 1 on chp 1 and 2 mean, median, and outliers activity
3	Sept 7 -10	3,4	chp 3#1,4 TO 11,13,14,16,18,19,20,21,24,27 due Fri 9-10 quiz 2 on chp 3
4	Sept 13-17	4,5	Chp 4 # 1,3,4,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,17,22,26,27,30 due Wed 9-15 Exam 1 on chp 1 to 4, practice questions.
5	Sept 20-24	5,7	Due Wed 9-22 Chp 5 #2,3,4,6,7,9,10,12,14,15,16, 17,19,21,23,28,32,37,38,41
6	Sept 27-Oct 1	7,8	Due Wed 9-29 Ch 7 # 1,3,4,7,10,11,16,18,23,34,38 Due Fri 10-1 Chp 8 #2,5,8,11,12,15,19,21,23,25,34,37,38
7	Oct 4-10	9,10	Due Tuesday 10-5, Chp 9 #2,7,10,13,15,19,22,26,28,30,32,35,43 Due Mon 10-11, Chp 10 # 1,2,4,6,7,9,10,11,14,17,19,20,21,24,27,32,34 Activity 3, samples and sampling distributions, class data
8	Oct 11-13	11	Due Mon 10-18, Chp 11 # 1,2,3,4,6,20,21
9	Oct 18-22	12	Chapter 12 # 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,12,14,18,21,25,37 due Fri 10-22 exam 2 chp 5-12, omit chp 6
10	Oct 25-29	13	Chp 13 #1,2,5,6,8,9,10,14,17,18,21,25,26,27 due Fri 10-29
11	Nov 1-5	14	Chp 14 #1,3,5,8,11,13,14,18,22,25,26,30,32,33, 35,36,39,45,46,47 due Fri 11-5 Activity 4, significance tests in detail
12	Nov 8-12	15, 16	Chp 15 # 1,2,4,5,6,9,10,11,12,13,14,18,19,22,29,30,33,34 due Wed 11-10 Chp 16 # 1,4,5,7,8,11,13,14,16,20,23,24,31 due Tues 11-16 quiz 6
13	Nov 15-19	16, 17	Chp 17 # 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,11,23,25,28,30,36,41 due Mon 11-22
14	Nov 22-24	18	Tues 11-23 quiz 7 activity 5, z or t and matched pairs vs 2 sample decisions Chp 18 #1,4,6,8,11,14,16,19,20,22,24,30,31,32 due Tues 11-30 exam 3 practice
15	Nov 29 to Dec 3	18, 19	Chp 19 #2,3,5,6,9,10,11,14,22
16	Dec 6 to 10	19	Review
17	Wed Dec 15	8 AM	Cumulative 150 Point Final Exam