COURSE CODE & COURSE TITLE: Introductory Statistics STAT101

Instructor Name: Denis Leung

Email:

Tel: 68280396

Office: SOE 5047

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Statistics is a science that is synonymous with the analysis and interpretation of data. Statistics was first used for analyzing biological data but over the past few decades, has evolved to become an indispensable tool in almost every field and discipline.

Thiscourse is a basic course in Statisticsfor students who had little or no prior exposure to the subject. It is intended for students who wish to use statistics as a data analytic tool. Students who wish to pursue a quantitative major at SMU such as Economics, Business Statistics, Actuarial Science, Finance, etc should consider its companion course STAT151. This course takes a contemporary approach in introducing some of the most fundamental concepts and tools in statistics. Students will have first hand experience to apply the concepts learned in this course through projects.

Statistics is a mathematical science, and so a taste and aptitude for mathematical thinking is an important ingredient. However, it is neither necessary nor sufficient to have a strong mathematical background for students to enjoy and benefit from this course. Therefore, we encourage all students with some basic understanding of calculus and algebra to apply.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students who complete this course would:

1.Have a sound understanding in probability and statistical inference methods.

2.Have a basic understanding of statistical and probability concepts and how these concepts can be used in practice.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Final exam (closed book): 40%

Continual assessments:50% consisting of

Projects (2):30%

Quizzes (2):20%

Class Participation: 10%

Total:100%

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the academic work of other students) are serious offences.

All work (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense.

When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed at

ACCESSIBILITY
SMU strives to make learning experiences accessible for all. If students anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers due to disability, please let the instructor know immediately. Students are also welcome to contact the university's disability services team if they have questions or concerns about academic provisions: .

Please be aware that the accessible tables in the seminar room should remain available for students who require them.

CLASS TIMINGS

Class sessions are of 3-hour duration per week. Each session will involve a lecture and a discussion of assignments and readings.

RECOMMENDED TEXT AND READINGS

There is no textbook required for this course. Course materials will be in the form of slides (in class), notes and exercises posted on a course webpage.

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW

This course calendar is tentative and subject to change as the course progresses. Please check the course webpage periodically for the up-to-date version. Please read the notes before each class. The assigned exercises are for your own practice and will not be graded.

Week / Topic / Suggested Homework**
1 / Overview and Introduction
Random variables, probability distribution function, families of discrete distributions,
families of continuous distributions / Exercise 1-3
2 / Joint, marginal and conditional distributions / Exercise 4
3 / Expectation and variance / Exercise 5
4 / Some special distributions / Exercise 6
5 / Sampling and sampling distribution / Exercise 7
6 / Estimation - maximum likelihood
Methods of evaluating estimators / Exercise 8
7 / Interval estimation / Exercise 9
8 / Recess (no class)
9 / Hypothesis Testing / Exercise 10
10 / Regression and correlation / Exercise 11
11 / Project 1 presentation & quiz 1 / Written report due Nov 1, 5pm
12 / Consultation for Project 2 - no new class materials
13 / Project 2 presentation & quiz 2 / Written report due Nov 15, 5pm
14 / Reading week (no class)
15 / Final examination

Final Examination

The Final Exam will be comprehensive, i.e., you will be responsible for ALL the materials covered in the course, which include materialsin all the class slides, class notes, projects and the assignments. The Final Exam will be closed book but you are allowed to bring in a two-sided A-4 size "cheat sheet".

THE EXAM WILL BE HELD ON THE DATE SPECIFIED. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE.

Projects

There will be a total of TWO projects for the semester. Students will work in groups on these projects. For each project, there will be an oral presentation and a written report component. The written report must be submitted to the TA (in electronic form) by Monday, 5pm of the week the project is due. On the day of the presentation, each group will give a 10-15 minute oral presentation. Details are given in the document Project Guidelines.

If you missed the project presentation(s), your grade may be snow-balled into that of the final exam if the reason for your absence falls into one of those under "Excused Absence" (see below), otherwise, you will receive a grade of 0.

Quizzes

There will be TWO quizzes. The quizzes assess students’ understanding of the concepts they used in the projects. The quizzes will be held on days of the project presentations.

Excused Absence

An excused absence from the quiz is an absence covered by

A Medical Certificate (MC).
A Letter from the Dean of your School (explaining why the Dean has approved your absence from my class due to an important athletic event, conference, case competition, etc.). It is your responsibility to obtain this letter from your Dean before the missed class(es).
A Letter from your NS Commander (explaining why the Commander cannot reschedule your reservist training if you have a conflict with attending my class on important dates). It is your responsibility to obtain this letter from your Commander before the missed class(es).

Except for (1) above, a letter from the appropriate authority must reach me at least one week prior to the presentation day. For (1), the MC must be submitted to me as soon as possible.

Unexcused Absence

All other absences will be deemed unexcused (past examples have included taking a driver’s license exam, missing the bus, vacations, classes from other institutions that are not part of the SMU curriculum, all co-curricular activities other than the ones stated in (2) above. If the absence is unexcused, a grade of 0 will be recorded