Detailed schedule and resources

Class 12

This class is delivered by asynchronous video lecture:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5 (under construction)

Class 11

Announcements:

• Explanation of exam curving and retake policy.
• The exam questions and solutions are on Brightspace.
• You should have received a grade report. Let me know of any questions after class.
• Discussion of the exam answers will take place next time we meet in person.
• The next class (Thursday Oct 8) will be via asynchronous video lecture. Check back here on Detailed Schedule page for details.

Today’s material: Ch 5, first part (pages 146-157), Activities 5.1-5.5 (pages A-20 to A-23).

• [3:10pm] pages 147-149: read at home.
• pages 150-151: Event, simple event, sample space.
• [3:15pm] Activities 5.1-5.2, page A-20: do in class if time allows, otherwise complete at home (DICITAOCAH).
• pages 151-154: probability model, union, intersection, complement.
• page 154: fill in. (in class)
• page 155: mutually exclusive events.
• [3:40pm] Activity 5.3, page A-21: DICITAOCAH
• still page 155: Probabilities for equally likely events
• [3:50pm] Activity 5.4, page A-22: DICITAOCAH
• page 156: Addition rule.
• [4:00pm] Activity 5.5, page A-23: DICITAOCAH
• page 157: Addition rule for mutually exclusive events

Class 10

Exam 1.

Class 9

Optional event tomorrow night: 7pm ATS – Can a computer program think like a human?

Exam revision.

• Bring questions to class.
• Remember you will need an approved non-graphing non-programmable calculator for the exam. (Purchase for $5 from instructor if desired.)
• No bathroom breaks in the exam.
• Write answers on your own paper.

Class 8

Announcments:

• Minitab datasets available
• PDF version of HW4 is available. You can use this or the MS word version.
• Exam details are on home page.
• Get your calculator approved! (Or buy one from the instructor for $5.)
• HW3: Note how to describe a distribution in words correctly
  • Give a single typical value for the center.
  • Give a range of values where most of the data lies.

Today: Remainder of chapter 4, pages 134-145

• [3:10pm] Answers to Activities 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.
• [3:15pm] Influential points and outliers, p135-137
• [3:25pm] Coefficient of determination, p138-139
• [3:40pm] Example 4.2, p140-141.
• [3:50pm] Minitab lab, pages 142-145 in pairs.
  • Instructions for launching Minitab can be found in the Minitab instructions.
  • You will need the data file OJuice.mtw.

Class 7

Clarification from last time: a quartile is just a single number, not an interval:

• The first quartile, \(Q_1\), is the 25th percentile.
• The second quartile, \(Q_2\), is the 50th percentile (the median).
• The third quartile, \(Q_3\), is the 75th percentile.
• The interquartile range (IQR) is the difference \(Q_3 - Q_1\).

Announcement:

• For the exams, you can use a scientific, non-graphing, non-programmable calculator. You can buy one from me for $5 if you want.

Today: First part of chapter 4, pages 109-133 + Activities 4.1-4.4, pages A17-19 + Example 4.1, pages 132-133.

Plan:

• [3:05pm] pages 109-117: Read carefully at home. Complete Activities 4.1 and 4.2 at home – the solutions will be provided next time.
• [3:10pm] correlation coefficient, pages 118-121. Activity 4.3 in class if time allows, otherwise complete at home.
• [3:30pm] linear regression, pages 122-129. Activity 4.4 in class if time allows, otherwise complete at home.
• [3:50pm] calculating least squares line (line of best fit) pages 130-131.
• [4:00pm] Example 4.1 – do in class.

Class 6

Announcement: homework 3 was updated 9/17/2026.

Today: Second part of chapter 3, pages 92-108 + Activity 3.2, page A-14 + minitab lab, pages 102-108.

• do Activities 3.3 and 3.4 at home

Plan:

• [3:00pm] return HW1+2, explain grading:
  • random subset of questions are graded, then a score for completeness is added, usually marked “cpt”.
  • solutions are available on the course website. Each student should check solutions carefully to ensure answers on ungraded questions are correct.
• [3:05pm] p92-93: review the empirical rule (a.k.a. 68-95-99.7 rule).
  • Mnemonic: Think of dialing these numbers on a phone keypad. It’s a cross in the bottom right corner and then a swoosh across the bottom row – see diagram.
  • example 3.3, together in class
• [3:10pm] p94-95: z-scores
  • example 3.4 – do at home if skipped
  • Activity 3.2, page A-14
• [3:20pm] p96: percentiles
  • example 3.5 – do at home if skipped
• [3:25pm] 96-97: Interquartile range (IQR)
  • examples 3.6 and 3.7 – do at home if skipped
• [3:30pm] p98: 1.5IQR rule for outliers
  • example 3.8 – do at home if skipped
• [3:40pm] p99: five-number summary
• [3:45pm] p99-101: boxplots
  • example 3.9 – do at home if skipped
  • Activity 3.3, page A-15 – do at home
  • Activity 3.4, page A-16 – do at home
• [3:50pm] In-class minitab lab in pairs:
  • see Minitab instructions for how to log in to the Minitab web app.
  • work through coursepack pages 102-108. Finish for homework.

Class 5

if you have 35 minutes to spare…. ??what are these people talking about??

Today: First part of chapter 3, pages 76-93 + Activity 3.1, page A14.

• p76-82: Measures of center:
  • Mean, median, trimmed mean, mode
• p83: Example 3.1, together in class
• p84-91: Measures of spread:
  • deviations, mean absolute deviation (MAD), sample variance, sample standard deviation, population variance and standard deviation
• Activity 3.1 (page A-14) – Individually, check with neighbors.
• p92-93: The empirical rule (a.k.a. 68-95-99.7 rule).
  • Mnemonic: Think of dialing these numbers on a phone keypad. It’s a cross in the bottom right corner and then a swoosh across the bottom row – see diagram.
• didn’t have time for this: preliminary minitab lab:
  • see Minitab instructions for how to log in to the Minitab web app.
  • see coursepack page 102 to get started. Go up to and including Histogram on page 106.

Class 4

Today: Ch2, pages 47-75 + Activites 2.1-2.2, pages A11-12

• pp 47-48: read at home
• p49: distribution of a variable
• p50: four definitions
• p52: frequency and relative frequency
• p52-54: histograms. Play around with this histogram demo if you want (Credit: Shodor Education Foundation + Department of Mathematical Sciences, Appalachian State University).
• [3:20pm] pp55-57: stem-and-leaf plots
• pp58-61: shape: symmetric, skewed, uniform, mounds
• [3:30pm] Activity 2.1: Try it on your own, discuss with neighbors.
• [3:40pm] pp62-63:
  • Outliers.
  • Summary for numerical distributions: shape, center, variability.
• pp64-65: bar chart, pie chart
• pp66-68:
  • Summary for categorical distributions: mode, variability.
• [4:00pm] Activity 2.2: Try it on your own, discuss with neighbors.
• pp71-75: Misleading statistics – read at home if we don’t have time to go over in class

Class 3

• turn in HW0

• Mnemonics for concepts from last time…

  Mnemonic for Type I and II:

  Type I rejects a null that’s true.
  If the null is false, you’ve got a Type II

  Mnemonic for p-value:

  What does the p-value of x mean?
  It’s the chance of x or something more extreme

Today: ch1, pages 22-46; activities 1.1-1.3, pages A7-A10

• This corresponds to chapter 1 of Introductory Statistics: Exploring the World Through Data, by Gould, Wong, and Ryan; 3rd edition (2019), Pearson. ISBN 978-0135188927.
  • A copy is on reserve in the library – ask for it at the front desk.
• pages 22-25: read at home
• p26 – Variable types, then activity 1.1 (A7)
• pages 26-29: read at home
• pages 30-31 – Incomplete data
• pages 32-35 – Two-way tables, marginal distribution, conditional distribution
• pages 36-37 – Observational study vs experimental study, units/subjects, response/outcome, explanatory variable/factor, levels, treatment
• p38 – example 1.1 – Together in class
• p39 – Association versus causation, Confounding, lurking variable
• p40 – We skip activity 1.2 and return to it later if time allows – otherwise complete this at home
• p41-43 – read at home
• p44 – placebo effect
• We skip activity 1.3 and return to it later if time allows – otherwise complete this at home
• p45-46 – read at home

• Activity 1.4 in pairs:

  Pair	Names
  1	Talon & Marissa
  2	Abigail & Yixing
  3	Carson & Tess
  4	Ashlynn & Donovan
  5	Ishan & Ella
  6	Josh & Lin
  7	Matthew & Olivia
  8	Bodie & Stephanie
  9	Sal & Emma
  10	Eli & Quan
  11	Landon & Nini
  12	Evan & Timi
  13	Yoongi

  Go back to activities 1.2 and 1.3 if you finish 1.4.

Class 2

• syllabus questions
• AI use
  • optional: Prof Dick Forrester’s guide for AI use in a stats course, and a standard prompt for this course
• CP finish Chapter 0, pages 4-21
  • finish activity 0.3
  • p10 – determine \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\)
  • activity 0.4 (\(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) for jar)
  • p16 – 2-sided rejection regions – study at home
  • p18-21 – \(p\)-value
  • activities in 6 groups – number off:
    • activity 0.5 (\(p\)-values etc. for 3 studies)
    • activity 0.6 (\(p\)-values for jar)

Class 1

• CP (course packet) pages 1-9
  • we actually only reached page 4
• Read syllabus and bring any questions next time
  • Make a note of the four exam dates and the required evening event
• HW0 is due next Monday
  • after today you are ready to tackle questions 1-5 from HW0.