DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND APPLIED PROBABILITY
PSTAT 5A
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Tatiana Khariton
CONACT INFORMATION: Due to a large
size of the class, please contact me only if your question cannot be resolved
by your TA.
Office: South Hall 5505
Phone: 893-8155
Email: tatiana@pstat.ucsb.edu
LECTURES: Music LLCH on Tuesdays, Thursdays 12:30 - 1:45.
OFFICE HOURS: Tuesdays, Thursdays 2:15 - 3:15 in South Hall 5505
TEXTBOOK
Essential Statistics. Jammalamadaka, S. Rao (1998). Kendall-Hunt Publishing
Company.
ISBN 0-7872-5393-6. This will be available along with a recommended supplement
in the bookstore.
ABOUT THE COURSE
This course is part of the general education of undergraduate students. The
emphasis is on the elements of statistical thinking, not on mathematical derivations.
However, in order to explain statistical ideas it will be necessary to use
some simple mathematics, but this will be kept to a minimum. We will be studying
data and chance. These are generally present in our experience of the world,
for example, in literary and historical studies, political and social analysis
of human societies as well as in experimental science.
You will learn to construct reasoned arguments based on numerical data. Concepts will be as important as calculation. You will need to be able to do arithmetic, use a calculator, a software package and to solve simple equations. An open mind and a willingness to study are also essential.
CONTENTS
The textbook will be covered almost fully (except may be a couple of sections).
Chapters 1-2 will be covered in the first week, after that each week we will
cover one chapter.
HOMEWORK
At the end of each lecture, you will be assigned homework. Most of these questions
will be from the textbook and will provide you with practice at solving problems.
All homework will be set with a view to providing you with the skills required
for quizzes and exams. If you cannot do the homework, please seek help, otherwise
you will not understand subsequent lectures. Homework will not be graded and
does not form part of your grade. However, some of the quiz problems will
be very similar to these problems.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Your class grade will consist of section worksheets, 5-6 quizzes, a midterm
and a final. There will be no make-up examinations or quizzes. The marks will
be divided as follows:
Section worksheets 10%
Quizzes 20% There will be 6 quizzes. The best 5 will be counted for your grade.
If you miss a quiz you will be given a mark of zero for that quiz.
Midterm (Thursday May 1, 12:30-1:45) 30% The midterm exam will be based on
the material covered up to the week before. You will be allowed to use your
textbook only! Bring your calculator. A picture ID will be required for identity
verification.
Final (Monday June 9, 12:00-3:00) 40% The final examination will cover all
aspects of the course. You will be allowed your textbook only! Bring your
calculator. A picture ID will be required for identity verification.
If a midterm is missed, you will receive zero credit for that part of the
grade. No make-up midterm will be given. In exceptional circumstances (e.g.
well-documented medical problems), a missed midterm will not be counted when
computing your course grade.
If you have a disability and would need special academic accommodations, please bring a letter from Disabled Students Program (DSP) to the instructor during her office hours at the beginning of the quarter.
Examination Rooms: For the Midterm and Final exams we will have an additional classroom to which half of you will be assigned. It is your responsibility to find out in which room you will be examined
PROCEDURE FOR QUERYING MIDTERM MARKS
Your TA will return your Midterm paper to you in the section following the
examination. If you fail to collect your paper at this time, please collect
it from me during my office hours. If you wish to query your mark, you MUST
return your script to your TA immediately, stating your grievance, in writing.
Your TA will then pass the script to me and I will re-grade the entire paper.
Please note that grades can go down as well as up or remain the same. Under
no circumstances will any midterm paper that has been taken away from class
be re-marked.
GRADING
The grades will be curved as follows:
A 20%,
B 30%,
C 40%,
D, F 10%
GETTING HELP
Lectures, sections and office hours are all there for your benefit. TA's office
hours will also be announced shortly. Please use them. We will have section
worksheets and quizzes in sections every week. Therefore the sections are
mandatory and you may not want to miss them. If you need additional help,
you may enroll at CLAS. Please be wary of private tutoring as this has led
to problems in the past.
Prior to the midterm and the final, review problems with solutions will be available in the RBR and on ERES. (Electronic Reserve System) at http://eres.library.ucsb.edu (password spring). It is important that you familiarize yourself with the style and content of these past papers. You TA will provide help.
Solutions to the homework problems assigned each week will be available in the RBR. During the course, occasionally supplementary material may be made available in the RBR and on ERES.
This course assumes knowledge of High School Algebra. In particular, you will need to know how to solve simple equations. You are also recommended to revise the equation of a straight line. If you have any difficulties with this work, you should ask your TA for help. No knowledge of statistics is assumed.
COMPUTING
Instead of doing computations for homework by hand or with a calculator you
are encouraged to use the statistical software package Minitab. You can download
Minitab or can buy it from the bookstore. If you prefer, you can use Minitab
in the Ellison Labs and some other labs. During the course I will occasionally
refer to the Minitab output and will use to formulate problems in your exams.
CALCULATORS
You will need a basic calculator only which will be allowed during the quizzes
or exams. You don't need to purchase a calculator that can do graphics or
has statistical functions.
WORK LOAD
This is a 5-unit course and therefore, according to University regulations,
it carries a workload of about 15 hours per week. This includes lectures and
sections. The remainder of the time being private study.
Enjoy the course.
