MA 341
Statistical Analysis and
Probability Theory
Spring 2001
Instructor: Dr. Holly Zullo
Office: 119 SI
E-mail: hzullo@carroll.edu
Office Hours: MWF 9-10am; TR 3-5pm; other times by appointment
Note: I am generally around MWF 8am – noon, and TR 1pm – 5pm, but I can arrange to be here at other times if you let me know.
Text: Modern Engineering Statistics, Lapin
Prerequisite : MA 334
Grades
Your grade will be composed of three in-class exams worth 15% each, a final exam worth 20%, and homework and projects worth a total of 35%. Your numerical grade will then be converted to a letter grade using a standard scale: A (90-100); B (80-89); C (70-79); D (60-69); F (below 60). Attendance and class participation may be considered in borderline cases.
Homework
Homework will be assigned and collected for most classes. I will grade it based on correctness and completeness. Late homework will not be accepted unless prior arrangements have been made with me.
You will have a large final project in which you will gather information via the World Wide Web, analyze the data set(s) using any appropriate methods, and write a report on your findings. You will also present your results orally during the last week of class (probably the last day of class). You may choose to work individually or in pairs, and you must discuss your topic with me by the end of March.
Other smaller projects may be assigned throughout the semester.
We will have three in-class exams. The first of these will be February 7; then you can put this class out of your minds during the modeling contest! The other exams will be announced at least one week in advance, but I expect them to be around March 23 and April 25. The final is Monday, May 7, 3 pm – 4:45 pm. You must be present for all exams or risk a grade of zero.
Course Material
We will begin with a brief review of the early
chapters of the text, and a detailed review of chapter 7. The main material
for this course will be chapters 8 – 14 plus some supplementary materials.
I hope for this course to be a synthesis of a general statistics course and
a traditional calculus-based course in that I want you to walk away understanding
the concepts (general stats course) as well as the computations (traditional
calc-based course). We will use the computer for many of the computations –
mainly SPSS, but possibly Excel and Mathematica as well. We will meet in the
computer lab when it is appropriate.