Basic Applied Statistics
STAT 200

Fall 2003, CRN 13426(10:00) or 13402(12:00) 4 credits
Department of Statistics
University of Pittsburgh

( StatTutor Labs 1&2 on displaying and describing distributions are still available here.)

( StatTutor Labs 3&4 on displaying and describing relationships are still available here.)

( StatTutor Labs 5-8 on inference about means are still available here.)

News

• 4/23/02 Final Exam scores averaged a little over 79%, with a standard deviation of 13%; course average was about 80%.
• Dr. Pfenning will hold extra office hours Monday, December 8th from 9:00 to 12:00.
• 11/19/03 Practice Final handed out in class; here are the solutions
• 11/14/03 Midterm 2 scores had mean 72%, standard deviation 16%; see solutions
• 11/05/03 Practice Midterm 2 handed out in class; see solutions .
• 1/22/03 Normal Practice Exercises Solutions now available
• 10-6-03 Midterm 1 scores had mean 78%, standard deviation 13%; solutions provided here.
• 9-30-03 Read coincidence stories of our class members! or coincidence stories of last year's class coincidence stories from two years ago or coincidence stories from three years ago!
• 2/5/03 Practice Midterm 1 handed out in class; see solutions .
• Fall 2003 Survey data: survey9-21-03.txt. a tab-delimited text file, is now available;
To download it into MINITAB, type ctrl A to highlight, ctrl C to copy, start up MINITAB, type ctrl V to paste it. If it asks about delimiters, click OK.
• 8/25/03 MINITAB is available at all campus computing labs, such as Cathedral, Forbes Quad, Benedum, and of course the Stat Lab. If in addition you would like to have MINITAB on your PC, Pitt's Software Licensing Service at 105 Bellefield Hall (behind Heinz Chapel) is now offering MINITAB CDs for only $5 a copy (be sure to have your student ID with you)! Otherwise, a free fully functional demo can be downloaded from www.minitab.com BUT it will only run for 30 days, so consider waiting until later in the semester!
  
• All recitations on the following dates: August 26, September 2, October 7, November 18, November 25 will be held in the Stat Lab 435 CL (enter on Bigelow side of Cathedral, take steps up to 4th floor. Otherwise recitations will meet in the assigned classroom (CL 213 or 302)
• 8/26/03 Handout in recitation on MINITAB Basics to be used as a reference for all MINITAB work.

Description

This is a course for students who wish to learn basic methods in order to analyze simple studies and experiments. This course will present the basic methods of applied statistics, utilizing an easy-to-use interactive statistical computing package called MINITAB. Students will be provided with readily understandable and intuitive descriptions of statistical analyses. The topics to be covered include: basic descriptive statistics for univariate and bivariate data, very elementary probability theory, random samplings from populations and random allocation to experimental treatments, sampling distributions, concepts of confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, tests of means in one-sample, two-sample, paired-sample and standard analysis of variance contexts. Categorical data analysis will also be discussed. Most students taking this course will probably not pursue further formal undergraduate study in applied statistics.

Prerequisites

MATH 0031 (Algebra) or equivalent. No Comp. Sci. background needed.

Requirements

Homework,computer lab problems, quizzes, two midterms, and a comprehensive final exam.

Grading

Course Grade

90-100% A; 80-89% B; etc. Plusses are assigned to the students at the top of each grade range and minuses to the students at the bottom. None of us can know in advance if an individual student will be a "borderline case"; completing extra credit assignments (specified in lecture notes) throughout the semester can help you to optimize your chances for the best possible grade. These are to be handed in to me by the following lecture; no late homeworks or extra credits will be accepted.

Textbook

Utts and Heckard: Mind on Statistics, 2nd ed., Duxbury Press

Lecture Notes

Handed out weekly in class; also available for copying in Math/Stats library 4th floor Thackeray

Recitations

• Tuesday, 9:00-9:50 CL 213 [CRN 13439]
• Tuesday, 10:00-10:50 CL 213 [CRN 13442]
• Tuesday, 11:00-11:50 CL 213 [CRN 13447]
• Tuesday, 2:00-2:50 CL 302 [CRN 13434]

Instructor: Yang Zhao yaz7@pitt.edu Office Hours Thursday Sept. 4th and 11th in CL 2712 from 9:30 to 11:30; location for the following weeks to be announced

Recitations will concentrate on the use of MINITAB (our computer package) and on the clarification and review of lecture material. All quizzes except Quiz 10 will be administered in recitation. In addition, individual questions, especially those pertaining to the homework assignments, may be addressed.

Note: The material in this course is cumulative in nature. Thus, it is important not to fall behind in your reading or assignments or you will find yourself lost. If you are confused, see me or your recitation instructor for help.

Note to Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services, 216 WPU (412) 648-7890, as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. See their website www.drs.pitt.edu

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