Statistics for Everyday Life3470 250 (803)T&Th 6:05-7:45 PM

Fall 2008

Instructor:Michael Stansky

Office: CAS 112Phone: 330-388-3563

e-mail: eb:

Office Hours: Tentatively TTh 5-6 PM, after class and by appointment.

Text:Introductory Statistics 6th Edition by Prem S. Mann (Wiley 2007)

Course Description: A conceptual approach to the basic ideas of statistics and statistical thinking. Topics include: descriptive statistics, probability and uncertainty, statistical inference and prediction, and computer applications.

Grading: Your final grade will be based on your total points out of 770 possible points in the course.
The following anticipated grading scale will be used.

A: 90%, B: 80%, C: 65%, D: 55%.

A plus or minus grade may be given if your total falls just below one of the above cut-offs.

Course points will be distributed as follows:

Exam 5, drop 1 (100 each)--- 400 points

Assignments, Class Work & Quizzes --- 140 points

Lab Work--- 100 points

Final Exam--- 130 points

EXAMS: There will be 5 exams in this course. One exam will be dropped. Due to this, no make-ups will be given. If you miss an exam, it will be considered your drop. Exams are computer based and will be administered in Schrank Hall North:Room 152 during the test window for each exam as listed below. You may make a reservation to take each test online at The testing center schedule is also on that site. It you preregister for a specific time, you must arrive a few minutes early or your spot will be used for someone else. Walk-ins are also welcome but you will not be guaranteed a computer to use.

Tentative exam dates:

Exam 1 3rd week Ch: 1, 2, 3 (test window 9/11 – 9/16) Exam 4 12th week Ch: 9, 10 (test window 11/13 – 11/18)

Exam 2 6th week Ch: 4, 5, 6 (test window 10/2 – 10/7) Exam 5 15th week Ch: 11, 13 (test window TBA)

Exam 3 9th week Ch: 7, 8 (test window 10/23 – 10/28) Final 16th week comprehensive, terms only- no formulas (time TBA)

Assignments, Classwork & Quizes: There will be 4 quizzes worth 20 points each. One quiz will be dropped Quizzes will be given approximately a week before each test. There will be 8 homework assignments, each worth 5 points. The remaining 40 points will be unannounced, in-class assignments (these cannot be made up).

Lab Sessions: The purpose of the computer lab is to give students hands on experience in using and analyzing statistics with real data. You will be working with a statistical package called Minitab. No experience is needed. Lab is held in CAS 108 and is mandatory.

Calculator/Cell Phones: Each student will need a calculator. Cellphones will not be allowed during tests.

Exam Make-Up Policy: Students will be permitted to make up exams provided they have a legitimate excuse that the instructor has OK'd prior to the missed exam. Make-ups that the instructor has not approved prior to the exam will be left to the discretion of the instructor. All make-up exams without prior approval will be given during the finals week.

Tutoring: Graduate students and instructors in the Dept. of Statistics offer help for students. (Check the posted schedule for availability)

Attendance Policy: Attendance is expected at all class meetings. Much of the material will be hands-on experiences through the class “activities” and is not suitable for make-up or doing on one’s own. If a student is absent, he or she is responsible for the missed activities, obtaining notes, and completing assignments or reports on time. At the discretion of the instructor, students can be docked a letter grade if they are absent more than 30% of the time attendance is taken.

Add:
No signatures needed to add a class:
•In Person / August 25 - 29
•On-Line / August 25 - 31
•Labor Day - UNIVERSITY CLOSED / September 1
Instructor, Adviser, and Dean signatures needed to add a class / September 2 - 8
Last day to add a class / September 8
Drop:
Last day to drop without "WD" appearing on student's academic record. / September 8
Withdraw:
Adviser's signature required / September 9 - October 17
Adviser's and instructor's signatures required / October 20 - November 14
Last day to withdraw from classes / November 14

Statistics for Everyday Life : Course Overview

Wk Text chp Topics

11,2Statistics, Pop, Sample Measure of Reliability

Types of data, Rel freq Distn, histogram . . .

23Measures of Central Tendency, Variability, position, shapes of distns, empirical rule

3 3, 4Boxplot, Probability

44finish Probability

55Descret rv, Binomial

65,6Binomial, Continuous rv, Normal

7 Appendix A,7Sampling Techniques, Sampling Distn, CLTm

87CLThm, p-hat and x-bar

98Confidence Intervals

108t distribution, proportion intervals

119Hypothesis testing, z-test

129t-test, test for proportion

1310Two Sample Hypothesis Testing, Conf Int

1411Chi-Square Goodness of Fit Test

1513Regression and Correlation stuff

Statistics affect your everyday life. Understanding how to get statistics, their proper use and limitations will help you understand the world around you and make you more aware of validity or lack thereof from statistical claims that you encounter.