0 to Statistics in One High-Velocity Semester
Student Survival: Top Ten List of What to Know to Pass Introductory Statistics
Course Information and Syllabus
Flu PolicyIf you are ill with symptoms of influenza (i.e. fever over 100, sore throat, cough, stuffy or runny nose, fatigue, headache, body aches, vomiting and diarrhea) please do not come to class. Instead, immediately contact your medical provider or Student Health Services (515-7107) for advice or to arrange an appointment.
If you are diagnosed with the flu, please inform me immediately via email at reiland@stat.ncsu.edu. You will be required to be isolated away from classes until at least 24 hours after you are free of fever (100 degrees), or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications. You will NOT be penalized for missing class when you are sick.
After presenting proper documentation of your illness, you will be allowed to make up without penalty any missed homework assignments, lecture worksheets, and exams.
Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.In the fields of observation chance favors only those minds which are prepared.If a man will begin with certainties he will end with doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.If you don't believe in random sampling, the next time you have a blood test tell the doctor to take it all.Don't give up, don't ever give up!   Statistics myths this course will disprove: Myth1: "If I had one hour left to live, I would live it in statisticsclass because it would seem to last forever!" Myth 2: "If it moves, it's biology; if it changes color, it'schemistry; if it breaks, it's physics; if it puts you to sleep, it's statistics. Myth 3: Math class is tough! |
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Spring 2013
"But where shall I begin?"asked Alice. "Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; then stop."Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland So, What Is (Are) Statistics?
Q: What is Statistics?A: Statistics is a way of reasoning, along with a collection of tools and methods, to help us understand the world and make intelligent, informed decisions.
Q: What are statistics?
A: Statistics (plural) are particular calculations made from data.
Q: What are data?
A: Data (singular form is datum) are values along with their context.
"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time."
T.S. Eliot
Welcome to ST 305 Section 001!!
Our first class meeting will be 10:15-11:05 Monday, Jan. 7 in room 215 Park Shops.
Throughout the semester we will meet in room 215 Park Shops, M T W Th F 10:15-11:05. Check Registration and Records now to be certain that you are enrolled in the class.
Course Description
ST 305-001 is NOT a math course. The central theme of the course is to help you learn to understand the world from data. "Beyond the formula" skills are emphasized. This course will require you to: think critically, be skeptical, think about variation (rather than just about the center), move beyond a "memorize the answer" approach, and think about conditional probabilities and rare events to make inferences from data. Some mathematical skill is required to work with elementary statistics, but mathematical manipulations will be replaced by relying on technology for the calculations and graphics; this will allow more emphasis to be placed on the "beyond the formula" skills mentioned above.
This course requires more intellectual effort than the low mathematical level suggests! It is related to every other course you may study. The course is elementary in mathematical level but conceptually rich in statistical ideas and serious in its aim to improve your data-analytic skills and your ability to apply statistical methods with understanding.
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where--" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat. "--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."-- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6 --
Where Alice wants to go and where we want to go depends on our goals. The goals for our course are as follows:
Goals: ST 305 will
i) prepare you for more advanced statistics courses;ii) give you the necessary data-gathering, data-analysis, and interpretation/communication expertise to meet the challenges of a more demanding cognitive global environment;
iii) enable you to incorporate statistical thinking into your everyday lives.
Dr. Reiland's office hours: T, Th 12:30-1:30; other times by appointment.
