(Statistics is) the most important science in the whole world, for upon it depends the practical application of every other science. Florence Nightingale Introduction to Statistics (Math 146) Fall Quarter 2013 Syllabus WELCOME TO MATH 146. Introduction to Statistics is your opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of ideas which play a powerful role in business, politics, and nearly all scientific areas, yet are frequently misunderstood and often misused. We will investigate statistical concepts, techniques and applications, and will look at some subjects from an historical perspective. We will do all this in a cooperative setting. Statistics is best learned by doing it, so we will do many problems in class and you will have frequent homework assignments (oh, great). In addition to discussing many statistical ideas and methods for problem solving, in this course we will emphasize the development of critical thinking to (help) make sense of the world. This includes skills such as reading carefully, recognizing unstated assumptions, paying attention to details (as well as the bigger picture), and connecting past learning with current topics. When you have successfully completed this course, you will not only have learned a lot of statistics, but also have improved your ability to read challenging material, understand it and use it. Brief intro to the course: What is statistics? Though many think of statistics as a branch of mathematics, statistics is actually a mathematical science whose subject matter is data and how we can produce and analyze data to gain greater understanding of our world. Descriptive statistics involves organizing, summarizing, and presenting data in an informative way, such as by producing graphs, calculating a measure of the center of the data or variation among the data, etc. Inferential statistics, which is a basis for the scientific method, involves using sample data to make estimations or test claims (hypotheses) about one or more populations. Inferential statistics has applications in any situation where a scientific study is valuable including medical research, public opinion polls influencing political or business decisions, and data-based research in any scientific field. Results will not be absolutely certain, but can be stronger or less strong, so we will go into details of methods to have a more informed perspective about margins of error and confidence levels. Seeing how ideas and techniques of statistical inference come together to investigate often serious issues for which complete information is not available can give one a greater appreciation not only of the potential for statistics to be misunderstood and misused, but also of the potential power and value that can come from applying statistical methods in well-designed studies and interpreting results with strong understanding.
Instructor info INSTRUCTOR: Larry Wiseman OFFICE: C190E OFFICE PHONE: 253-840-8356 OFFICE HOURS: MWF 11:00-11:50 am; TTh 4:00-5:15 pm; other times by appointment. I am happy to meet with you outside of class to discuss the course, homework, other mathematical questions you might have, etc. Student success YOUR SUCCESS: Your learning and success are important to me. I want you to succeed by really knowing and understanding the material and being able to show it. You can give yourself your best opportunity for success by doing the following: 1) Review regularly After every class, I recommend reviewing material discussed as soon as is convenient. 2) Read and work ahead It can be helpful to read each section and begin the homework for it before we discuss the section in class. 3) Ask questions Feel free to ask me questions any time, in class or outside of class. 4) Study by yourself Quality time. 5) Study with others I encourage you to form study groups. Working with others on homework is fine, though it is probably best if you make a first attempt at each problem on your own. STUDENT EMAIL ACCOUNTS: If you have not done so already, please activate your Pierce College email account (@smail.pcd.edu) and either check it regularly or have messages to it forwarded to whatever email account you check most often. I will sometimes send you course materials and info about the class via your Pierce College email account. To use your Pierce email, go to http://www.pierce.ctc.edu, click on Shortcuts at the top of the page (right of center), scroll down to Student Email Login and click, then sign in (if you re not sure how, click on Can't access your account? ). Instructional methods for this course are subject to change, especially in the event of widespread illness or campus closures. If such a situation occurs, I will probably be communicating with the class through email. COURTESY: The following can be distracting to other students and should be avoided during class unless I specifically ok them for a situation: private conversations, eating, texting, and other use of cell phones or laptop computers. If a medical condition, such as hypoglycemia, requires you to eat a small amount of food in class, please do this discreetly. If I see you texting during class, you will not receive credit for attendance that day. During a test it will result in a score of zero on that test. If some situation requires you to be able to receive or send texts in class, please let me know ahead of time. PARTICIPATION: Your presence and participation are valued and important parts of this class. Please attend class every day, if possible, arriving early enough that you are ready to go when class begins. Your participation in class can have a big impact on what you and others learn from this class. To increase participation (not to embarrass anyone), I may sometimes call on students in
class. If you miss a class, please get notes and assignments from a classmate. Once you have done this, I will be glad to answer any questions you have about the material, but I will not repeat the presentation(s) you missed. STUDYING: Doing homework and studying are not the same thing (though they can be put together see Ceiling Test handout). You may need to review a concept or procedure many times before it becomes your own. Be an active participant in your own learning. In addition to spending enough time with the material, it may be helpful to occasionally ask yourself if you are really understanding what you are reading, doing, etc., and ask yourself questions like, What am I learning from this problem/reading/lecture? Then try to commit to memory what you are learning. I suggest preparing for class by doing the reading and the homework and making a list of any questions you have. Along these lines, here are a couple other thoughts that seem true to me: If you want to learn something, you are ultimately the only person who can do it, though others may help facilitate your learning. One generally gets about as much out of something as one puts into it. PROBLEM SOLVING SUGGESTIONS: You will learn the most from the homework only if you make an honest attempt at every problem that seems difficult to you at first. Don t give up too soon! Here are some suggestions if you are not sure what to do: 1) Reread your text and lecture notes about relevant material and sample problems. 2) Find a simpler example or try to create a simpler example. 3) Try something and see where it leads. 4) Spend at least a half hour on a problem, then if you don t seem to be getting anywhere, give it a rest or seek help. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Students with disabilities who believe they may need academic adjustments, auxiliary aids or services to fully participate in course activities or meet course requirements are encouraged to register with the Access and Disability Services (ADS) Office. Students requesting accommodations must obtain the "Approved Quarterly Academic Adjustments, Auxiliary Aids or Services Green Form" provided by ADS. For more information contact one of the ADS Office Fort Steilacoom/JBLM, Cascade Building, Welcome Center, 253-964-6526/6527 or Puyallup, Gaspard Building, Room A106, 253-840-8335/3301. ABOUT MATH ANXIETY: The fact that math anxiety is a familiar phrase shows that many people are not confident about their ability to learn, understand and do mathematics. But one important thing about mathematics is that it is logical it is understandable. Everyone in this class has the ability to learn the math in this course as well as more advanced courses if they are willing to spend enough time working at it. This doesn t mean it will always be easy, that understanding will always come quickly, or that you will get every problem right on every test. It does mean that you can learn math well if you give it enough quality time. The best way to deal with math or test anxiety is to use that energy to prepare thoroughly. However, sometimes this by itself is not enough. If you do become anxious before or during a test, one thing I recommend is to take several deep, slow breaths. This has been scientifically shown to be calming. (Breathing slowly reproduces the physiological conditions of a calm state and in this way increases calmness. Fast breathing reproduces the physiology of an anxious state.)
Materials TEXT: Required: Interactive Statistics, Third Edition, by Martha Aliaga and Brenda Gunderson. Please bring your text to class since we will often be using it during class. We will cover most sections of our text. Please read all sections of our text that we cover. Recommended: The Student Solutions Manual contains worked-out solutions to most oddnumbered exercises in our text. The publisher provided our text packaged with this solutions manual and a TI-83 graphing calculator manual for the same price as the text alone. (The manual will work equally well for a TI-84.) I ll demonstrate how to do anything I expect you to be able to do with a graphing calculator, but the manual can provide helpful additional reference. GRAPHING CALCULATOR: For this course, you will need to own or at least have access to a scientific calculator that can do basic statistical calculations and linear regression. If you borrow a calculator from someone you know, please note that it is not acceptable to share a calculator during our tests. If you will be purchasing a graphing calculator, I strongly recommend a Texas Instruments TI-84+ or TI-83+ for ease of use with the graphing calculator guide. These calculators have extensive statistics features including functions we will not cover, but which can arise in more advanced stats courses if you take one later. The Pierce College library has some TI-83 calculators available that may be rented for the quarter. If you expect to take calculus through Calculus III, you might want to get a TI-89 or TI- Nspire. Some statistical calculations are a bit easier on a TI-83/4, but the TI-89 and Nspire can do some things useful in calculus that the TI-83/4 calculators don t do. If you have a different graphing calculator, it can probably serve your needs for the course, but I may need to spend a little more time looking at a user manual and playing around with it in order to help you use it for our purposes. Smartphone calculator apps: If you have a Smartphone, you might check to see whether a graphing calculator app is available for your model. A TI-83 graphing calculator emulator app has recently been available for Androids. Grading Your course grade will be based on your percentage of total possible points from attendance, homework, a group project, tests, and the final. The following indicates how a percentage of total possible points translates to a decimal grade: 4.0 = 96+% 3.3 = 87% 2.6 = 78% 1.9 = 68-69% 1.2 = 59% 3.9 = 95% 3.2 = 86% 2.5 = 76-77% 1.8 = 67% 1.1 = 58% 3.8 = 94% 3.1 = 84-85% 2.4 = 75% 1.7 = 66% 1.0 = 50-57% 3.7 = 92-93% 3.0 = 83% 2.3 = 74% 1.6 = 64-65% 0.0 = 0-49% 3.6 = 91% 2.9 = 82% 2.2 = 72-73% 1.5 = 63% 3.5 = 90% 2.8 = 80-81% 2.1 = 71% 1.4 = 62% 3.4 = 88-89% 2.7 = 79% 2.0 = 70% 1.3 = 60-61%
ATTENDANCE: You will receive 1 point for each day that you attend class. If you arrive after I take role, I do not guarantee that you ll receive credit for attendance that day unless you check with me after class about it. Please attend class every day, if possible, arriving early enough that you are ready to go when class begins. If you miss a class, please get notes and assignments from a classmate. Once you have done this, I will be glad to answer any questions you have about the material, but I will not repeat the presentation(s) you missed. [Note: If you find it necessary to miss a class, it is possible for you to receive attendance credit for that day. However, what will be required involves a fair amount of work and is not equivalent to being in class. See me if it is necessary for you to miss a class day and you want further information.] HOMEWORK: See the handout which starts with Reading and Working Ahead, then has info on Homework Scoring. There is also an optional assignment on Homework Corrections. GROUP PROJECT: There will be a group project involving graphs. TESTS: Tests during the quarter will be worth up to 30 points each. If you cannot take a test at the scheduled time, you may make arrangements with me to take it earlier (but not later) for full credit. If an emergency prevents you from taking a test on time, please contact me when you have a good opportunity. If arrangements can be made for you to take a make-up exam before I return tests to the class, you may do so, but there will be a 20% reduction of your score so that there is no benefit from having extra time to prepare for the test. Unless otherwise noted, a calculator may be used on tests. No test score will be dropped. Tests are closed book, but you may use a 3 by 5 inch note card (both sides) prepared by you OR receive a 10% (3 point) bonus for taking the entire test without notes. FINAL EXAM: We will have a comprehensive final exam worth up to 45 points. On the final, you may use up to four 3 by 5 inch note cards (or one side of an 8.5x11 inch paper) with notes prepared by you OR receive a 10% bonus for taking the entire test without notes. Our final is scheduled for Mon., Dec. 9 from 2:15-4:25 pm. ACADEMIC HONESTY: In this class, it is fine (and encouraged) to work with others on homework, but not on tests. Cheating is not expected to occur, but if it does the following will apply: On a test, any student who copies another s work or cheats in any other way will receive a score of zero for that test. Any student who knowingly allows another student to copy one s work on a test, or in any other way assists another student in cheating, will also receive a score of zero for that test. Cheating and/or assisting another to cheat on more than one test will result in a course grade of 0.0. STAR EXTRA CREDIT: If you wish to do extra (unassigned) problems for practice and show me your work, I will consider this to be extra credit in your favor. There is an optional assignment for extra credit involving misuse of statistics. I will also consider your class participation and the conscientiousness of your work throughout the quarter to be extra credit if they are particularly strong. (These sorts of extra credit go in my records as stars. Typically, having a fair amount of this extra credit increases the course grade by 0.1. Extra credit for points will also be available on tests.)
Misc. EMERGENCY PROCEDURES FOR CLASSROOMS: Call 911 and then Campus Safety in response to an imminent threat to persons or property. In the event of an evacuation (intermittent horns & strobes), gather all personal belongings and leave the building using the nearest available safe exit. Be prepared to be outside for one hour and stay a minimum of 200 feet from any building or structure. So long as it is safe to do so students are expected to stay on campus and return to class after evacuations that last less than 15 minutes. Do not attempt to re-enter the building until instructed by an Evacuation Director (identified by orange vests) or by three horn blasts or bell rings. Please notify the nearest Campus Safety Officer or Evacuation Director of anyone left in the building or in need of assistance. The phone number of Puyallup Campus Safety is (253) 840-8481. COURSE PREREQUISITE: Satisfactory placement test score or a grade of at least 2.0 in Math 98 (Intermediate Algebra). WITHDRAWALS: Please talk with me first if you wish to withdraw. The last day to withdraw is Tues., Nov. 12. HOLIDAY: There will be no class on Wed., Nov. 27 (part of the Thanksgiving holiday). A final word: I hope you will enjoy this course and find it valuable for your growth and education. If you find you are having difficulties or concerns, please let me know if there are things I can do that will help the course go better for you. Gaining deeper statistical understanding and stronger problem solving ability takes time and perseverance, but the rewards can be great.