STATISTICS 10 (ELEMENTARY STATISTICS)

Section 3/Spring, 1999

Class Meeting Times and Places:

Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:00-10:50am, Math Sciences 5200

Sections:

Text: Freedman, D., Pisani, R., & Purves, R, Statistics, 3rd edition. New York: W.H. Norton & Company, 1998. There is also a supplemental "Reader" for the course in the Student Store that includes copies of my overheads used in lecture, practice questions for exams, and other handouts.

Overview: This course is an introduction to the study of uncertainty and scientific decision-making. Contrary to popular belief, statistics is not all math. Here, you will be introduced to methods of making informed decisions about what we observe in the world around us. We will emphasize conceptual understanding of the material; calculations require no more preparation than algebra. You need a hand-calculator, at a minimum one that can store å X² in memory. Another choice, but more expensive, is one that has memory functions to store separately the sums of two variables (x and y) and produce r (the correlation). You may not use a hand-held electronic device or a laptop that has the capacity to store words in memory during exams, so it is best to have a separate calculator.

The web: Many course handouts (other than those in the Reader) and outlines of my lectures will be available via Bruin-on-Line. There are 2 ways to reach the course. One is through your automatic my.ucla web page. The second way of getting to the class web page is to go directly to the real site that I maintain. Sometimes this works better. The address is:

http://www.stat.ucla.edu/~cochran/stat10/spring

When you have a question, the course web page should be the first place to look for the answer. You can probably get the correct answer here the quickest. You may wish to download my lecture outlines to make your notetaking easier, but with the caveat that the notes reflect only what I intend to say, and as has been said before, "the best laid plans often go astray."

Sections: In sections, TA's will review the homework problem sets with you as well as give you practice with other concepts covered in the course. This is also an opportunity to review material presented in class and to have a more personal experience with your classmates.

Exams: There will be two midterms (Friday, April 23 and Friday, May 14) and a final (Tuesday, June 15, 8:00 am). Mark your calendars now; there will be no early or late exams given for any reason. The midterms are not cumulative. One third of the final exam will cover the material presented after the second midterm; two/thirds of the final will be cumulative covering the whole course. You may use a hand-held calculator during the exams. Exams will be based on both my lectures and the textbook and include multiple choice, short answers and manipulation of data, including calculations. Doing the homework and the exercises in the book (including those not assigned as homework) are the best means of preparation for the exams. Always bring your student photo ID to exams because identification will be checked on a random basis.

Homework: There are 9 problem sets assigned--but #3 and #6 are not turned in for credit so that I may give you the answers to aid your studying for the midterms. Assignments and the date the 7 other assignments are due are listed below. The problem numbers refer to the REVIEW EXERCISES at the end of the chapter unless SR (Special Review Section) is specified. Assignments are turned in at the end of class lecture on the day due. Because answers to the homework are handed out during lab, no late homework will be accepted for any reason. If you are going to miss class when homework is due, you can always turn it in early to my mail box in the Statistics, 8th floor, MS 8130. FAXing or E-mailing the homework to myself or TA's is not allowed. The TA’s have been instructed not to accept homework from you to avoid problems with lost homework. Each homework assignment is graded as follows:

The homework is meant to give you practice at mastering concepts--for this reason you will not be penalized for occasionally getting the wrong answer. Because the homework is being graded for how much of it you attempted and completed, the decision as to how "done" is done will be left to the reader. Answers that suggest you did not thoroughly attempt the homework, such as answering simply "yes" or "no" to complicated questions or answering most questions in a way that indicates you did not study the chapter, will not be considered "done." You must show all your work.

Grading: Your grade will be determined as follows:

*You must take both midterms. I will standardize the two midterms to the one with the highest class mean in order to maintain your relative performance when keeping your best midterm. If you take only 1 midterm, I will average that score with the 0 from the other midterm to calculate your total points (see "missed exams" information below).

In the past, grades in Stat 10 have averaged about 26% in the A's, 33% in the B's, 31% in the C's, and 10% in the D's and F's. Grades in this section will be generally consistent with that distribution, although sometimes classes perform better or worse than the average.

Housekeeping:

• Your pages must be stapled. Don't trust someone else to keep your pages together. Forget paper clips, tape, folds, gum, rubberbands. These do not work.

• In the upper right corner of every page put:

a. Your full name

b. Your student ID number

c. Your section number

d. Your TA's name

• On the first page in the upper left corner, put the number of the homework assignment and the date you turned it in.

• Clearly number the problems using the Chapter and Problem numbers in the book.

• Do the problems in the order assigned. The reader will not go looking for them. If this is at odds with your own style, the easiest thing to do is to put each problem on a separate page and then put them in order before you turn your homework in.

• Write clearly. You want the reader to know that you completed the work. If your writing is illegible, that may be hard to determine. If you cannot write legibly, then print your answers.

• Remember, the reader is only trying to be sure that you did the work. If he or she cannot make sense of your homework then it might not be considered done.

• The reader will keep track of whether or not you follow these guidelines for each assignment.