Math 282: General Statistics
Course Syllabus
Fall 2005
Instructor: William Hooper
Office: Science Center 371
Phone: 6415
Email: hooperw@clarkson.edu
Webpage:   http://clarkson.edu/~hooperw/MA282/index.html.
Blackboard:   http://athena.clarkson.edu.
Office Hours: By appointment and
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Friday
2:00pm-3:00pm 10:00am-12:00noon 4:00pm-5:00pm 12:00noon-1:00pm

Office Hours subject to change.

Class Meeting Times: M W F 1:00pm - 1:50pm in Science Center 162.

Teaching Assistant: Kindanna Coulibaly
Office: Science Center 388
Phone: 3866
Email: coulibka@clarkson.edu
Office Hours: By appointment and

Tuesday Thursday
9:30am-11:30am 9:30am-11:30am

Lab section meeting times:
Section 11: Tuesday, 1:00pm-1:50pm in Snell 239
Section 12: Tuesday, 2:00pm-2:50pm in Snell 239
Section 13: Thursday, 1:00pm-1:50pm in Snell 239

Textbook: Elementary Statistics using Excel , second edition by Mario F. Triola.
Objectives:
1. Help students develop the ability to summarize data and use statistical methods to analyze and interpret data.
2. Help students understand the basic statistical concepts and techniques necessary to utilize statistical information.
3. Help students apply statistics to real life problems.
4. Help students critically read and evaluate statistical information.
Outcomes: At the end of the course the students should be able to
1. identify both continuous and discrete probability distributions,
2. understand and be able to use linear regression techniques,
3. construct estimates and Confidence Intervals for population parameters, and
4. perform hypothesis tests.
Academic Integrity: "The Clarkson student will not present, as his or her own, the work of another, or any work that has not been honestly performed, will not take any examination by improper means, and will not aid and abet another in any dishonesty." (Clarkson Regulations) Any student violating this standard will receive an F in the course and will not be allowed to submit any further work.

You are welcome, and sometimes expected, to work with other students on homework and projects. However, what you turn in should represent your own understanding of the assignment.

Equipment: You are expected to have a calculator for homework problems. A simple scientific calculator will suffice. Spreadsheet programs may also be used for homework. In addition we will be using Microsoft Excel for some of the homework assignments.
Exams: There will be three in-class exams in addition to the final exam. The dates are:
Exam 1: Wednesday, September 28
Exam 2: Friday, October 28
Exam 3: Friday, December 2
Final: Week of December 12 - 16

The material to be covered on exams will be outlined two classes before the exam. The Final Exam will be comprehensive, covering the whole course. ANYONE UNABLE TO TAKE AN EXAM SHOULD CONTACT ME AHEAD OF TIME TO EXPLAIN THE REASON. Any exam missed without prior approval receives a grade of 0. Any appeals to grades must be submitted in writing within one week of the day exams are returned to the class.
Homework: On-line homework assignments will be given every week through blackboard. These assignments will be based on the textbook and information covered in lecture. You may also be required to use Excel to get some of the answers. Blackboard assignments must be completed by the given deadlines, and your homework average will count as 10% of your final grade. Note: We will not have a Blackboard assignment during an exam week. Instead, there will be a sample exam made available.
Quizzes: We will have a ten-minute quiz every Friday during class. These quizzes will be based on the Blackboard assignments, and count as 10% of your final grade.Note: We will not have a quiz during an exam week.
Section: There will be a 50 minute lab section held every week. The purpose of these section meetings is to allow you to ask questions about lecture material and homework problems, as well as to work through some sample problems as a group. Attendance and participation in section meetings will count as 10% of your final grade.
Grading: The three semester exams will count 15% each, while the final exam will count 25%. Your on-line homework assignments will count 10%. Your weekly quizzes will count 10%. Your section grade will count 10%.
General Comments: Class attendance is HIGHLY recommended. The material is a combination of theory and calculation, and it is necessary to understand the theory in order to do sensible calculations and interpret them correctly. We will cover as much of the textbook as time allows. We may, however, skip some sections or include additional material. The topics covered in the text are:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Statistics
Chapter 2: Describing, Exploring, and Comparing Data
Chapter 3: Probability
Chapter 4: Probability Distributions
Chapter 5: Normal Probability Distributions
Chapter 6: Estimates and Sample Sizes
Chapter 7: Hypothesis Testing
Chapter 8: Inferences from Two Samples
Chapter 9: Correlation and Regression
Chapter 10: Multinomial Experiments and Contigency Tables
Chapter 11: Analysis of Variance
Chapter 12: Nonparametric Statistics
Chapter 13: Statistical Process Control
Chapter 14: Projects, Procedures, Perspectives