Mathematics 363
Introduction to
Statistical Methods
Fall 2013
Course Home Page
Overview.
In Introduction to Statistical Methods, we
shall be using your background in science and your knowledge of calculus and
differential equations to consider the issues of collection, model derivation
and analysis, interpretation, explanation, and presentation of data. Even though our examples derive mainly
from the life sciences, statistics is applicable to a
wide variety of academic disciplines, from the natural and social sciences to
the humanities.
Day-to-Day Operations.
The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from
9:30 AM to 10:45 AM in room 351
of the Education Building. The course will use a textbook written by
the instructor and is be available to the students. The schedule of topics, the
textbook, and assignments are
given in the course
syllabus. The class will have
an undergraduate teaching assistant, Adrian Carballeira.
Andrian has majors in mathematics, Spanish, and
ecology and evolutionary biology.
name |
email |
office hours |
location |
Joe Watkins |
jwatkins
at math.arizona.edu |
12:00 – 1:30 Wednesdays 9:30 – 10:00 Fridays 10:00 – 11:00 Fridays |
522 Mathematics 522 Mathematics 220 Mathematics |
Adrian Carballeira |
adrianc at email.arizona.edu |
3:00 – 4:00 Tuesdays 3:00 – 4:00 Thursdays |
220 Mathematics 220 Mathematics |
Feel free to stop by my office in room 522 of
the Mathematics Building,
call me at 621-5245 or send an email.
Use of Software.
We will do some software computation using R. R
is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It
compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS. To download R, please choose your preferred CRAN
mirror. Copies of Introductory Statistics with R
by Peter
Dalgaard are available at
the bookstore. Other options for software assistance can be found on the resource webpage.
Evaluation of Students.
We shall have 2 in-class midterm exams and a comprehensive
final exam. Our final is scheduled for Thursday, December 19th, 2013 from
10:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m.
Homework is an essential part of any mathematics or
statistics course. Problem sets will be collected approximately bi-weekly. In
addition, we will have 5 short response assignments. These will give you the
opportunity to express your views on some of the modern issues in statistics.
Students will also design and complete a small project that
analyzes data using statistical software. Permission to turn in late homework
for credit must be arranged in advance.
The grading scheme is
number |
points |
total |
|
problem sets responses |
6 5 |
varies 5 |
150 25 |
midterm exams |
2 |
100 |
200 |
project |
1 |
50 |
50 |
final exam |
1 |
175 |
175 |
total |
600 |
Grades will be given on the usual scale A is 90%-100%, B is 80%-89%,
C is 70%-79%, D is 60%-69%, and E is below 60%. The instructors may move these
cutoff values down. If you fail to complete the course due to circumstances
unforeseen, then you may qualify for a grade of I, "incomplete'" if
all of the conditions are met:
Students should take the time to become familiar with the
Student Code of Conduct and the Code of Academic Integrity.
Best wishes to you for a good semester in this course and in
all your other activities.
- Joe Watkins