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This is the home page for Math 104 (MWF 2-3).
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5/3/05 - My office hours for this week: Today (Tuesday) 10-12 and about 1:20-3:00; Wednesday about 10-5, except for the picnic 12-2; Thursday about 9-5 except for the numerous thesis talks that day; Friday morning if you send an email. Next week: Most of Monday; otherwise send email.
4/29/05 - A "sample" final exam (really, just the front page and a few sample problems on hypothesis tests and confidence intervals) and answers to the sample problems are visible by these links or under "course documents."
4/20/05 - THE SPSS Exam is now available. Here are the instructions. When you're ready to take it---
If it's Wednesday 4/20 or Thursday 4/21, find the exam in an envelope on my door and return it within 12 hours.
If it's after Thursday 4/21, find the envelope with your name on it in the basket near my door, and return it within 12 hours.
In either case, here are the databases used in the exam:
salary.sav
renal.sav
(These should be the same as the databases on the Bryn Mawr network, and also the same as the ones on the CD that came with the text.)
4/4/05 - Here is SPSS #7, due Friday, 4/15/05. IT'S THE LAST SPSS ASSIGNMENT except for the SPSS exam.
4/4/05 - HERE IS at least a tentative version of SPSS #6, due this Friday, 4/8/05.
3/27/05 - There isn't an SPSS assignment this week because of the exam. For people making up old assignments or exploring ahead, the SPSS lab schedule is the same EXCEPT that the only session on Thursday 3/31 is Rupa's session at 9-10am. That is, there will be NO lab TA Thursday afternoon or Thursday evening. Next week, back to normal.
3/21/05 - Here's a link to the Quinnipiac poll we'll mention in class today:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11385.xml?ReleaseID=660
The announcement of the poll doesn't really say much about methodology, but there is this paragraph:
"From March 2 - 7, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,534 registered voters nationwide. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points."
Where do you suppose they got that value for the margin of error? What does it mean?
3/16/05 - Here's a link
to the appeals court decision in People v. Collins, and some brief commentary from a law-school handout. If the link doesn't work, try typing:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/publications/evidenceiii/cases/people.htm
3/16/05 - Here's "problem B", part of the homework due 3/21:
Problem B. For this problem, assume that exactly 48% of the voting-age citizens of the US would answer "HC" if asked which of HC and RG they prefer for President in 2008. (The rest would answer "RG" or not give either answer.)
a. A pollster picks one voting-age citizen at random, and asks the question. What is the probability that the answer is "HC"?
b. A pollster picks 1000 voting-age citizens at random, and asks the question of each. What is the probability that exactly 480 of them answer "HC"? (Note: It may be way too hard to calculate the answer exactly. Just say exactly what calculation you would do. Also note: It may be necessary to approximate a little. Use common sense.)
c. What is the probability that exactly 481 of them will say "HC" ?
3/2/05 - Despite an earlier announcement, tomorrow night's SPSS TA session is 8-10pm as usual. Here's the regular schedule again, to keep it near the top of this page:
2/28/05 - Don't forget the mini-exam Wednesday 3/2. HERE IS AN EXPANDED VERSION of the checklist, with sample problems (but note: the web version doesn't have the pictures.
2/28/05 - THERE WILL BE CLASS TODAY regardless of snow. I'll probably go home right after class---no office hours after 3pm---but I will have office hours Thursday 1-5 this week and continuing after the break.
TODAY: We'll start chapter 13, on probability. We'll find out why the chance of getting a sum of 7 when rolling two dice is exactly 1/6, we'll play cards, and we'll draw balls from urns accroding to DeMoivre.
Tuesday morning's SPSS TA session (9-10am) is cancelled, since all people need to do on SPSS is some makeups or resubmissions. After the break the Tuesday morning sessions are moved to Thursday (see main schedule below).
2/24/05 - I should be able to get to class tomorrow no matter how deep the snow is, especially since I have an earlier class also. But if I can't make it, there will be a message on my office phone answering system, 610-526-5352, by 11:30am. If there's just a generic message, then class is on track.
2/22/05 - Homework for this week:
Read Chapter 10, sections 1,2,3,5. Also scan section 4 on the "regression fallacy."
Read or scan Chapter 11, sections 1,2,3.
Read Chapter 4, section 1. Also scan sections 2,3.
Problems to turn in Monday 2/28:
--- Chapter 10 review (pp. 176-179) - 2, 3, 4abc. (4c requires some
thought, and related comments have been in the NY Times lately.)
--- Chapter 11 review (pp. 198-201) - 1, 4a (about rms errors of regressions)
--- Chapter 12 review (pp. 213-216) - 1, 2
--- Chapter 23 special review (428-437) - 12
--- Chapter 29 special review (567-578) - 10
2/23/05 - OBSOLETE - SEE REGULAR SCHEDULE BELOW - Computer TA schedule for this week only (corrected 2/23):
(I have deleted the obsolete temporary schedules below.
After 2/25 we'll go back to the general schedule.)
--- Mon. 2/21, 8-9pm (Irene)
--- Tue. 2/22, 9-10am (Irene)
--- Tue. 2/22, 1-3pm (Evan)
--- Wed. 2/23, 3-5pm (Rupa)
--- Wed. 2/23, 8-9pm (Yuna)
--- Thur. 2/24, 1:30-3:30pm (Yuna)
--- Thur. 2/24, 4-6 (Rupa)
--- Fri. 2/25, 12-1pm (Rupa)
SPSS assignment 3 is due Wednesday,
but with no penalty for waiting to turn it in on Friday 2/25 instead.
2/11/05 - SPSS assignment 3 (in the documents section below) is due Wednesday, 2/23, after the exam. (Some people may be busy on Friday 2/25.) But note: This assignment is very good practice for the exam, so it would be good to do the reading and work at least the conceptual exercises before Friday, 2/18, even if you write them up later.
2/9/05 - Here's a longer and wordier version of the second SPSS assignment. (WORD, 3 pages.)
2/8/05 - What's on the exam?
2/7/05 - Here is the schedule for computer lab assistants for the rest of the semester (or at least until it changes):
2/7/05 - Second SPSS assignment - due 2/11/05; description might get expanded
Also: As an alternative to printing the data window, you are welcome to email me a saved version of the window (in the form of a ".sav" file). In that case, just email me both the saved-data-window file and the word-processor file, and we'll keep it entirely paperless.
1/31/05 - Homework due Monday, 2/7/05:
Ch.5 (pp 93-95) 11, 7
Ch.6 (Special, pp.105-6) 4, 11
Ch.5 (93-95) 8, 9
Ch. 4 (pp. 74-76) 7(all) (7c* is worth some extra thought)
1/31/05 - Warnings on SPSS: (1) Don't save data to the public folders; (2) Don't print a data window unless you're pretty sure the size is reasonable.
1/30/05 - The homework added Friday, due Monday, is from Chapter 5, pp. 93-95: problems 1, 3, 4, and 6. These problems all turn on estimating the fraction of observations between A and B, given that they are normally distributed and you know the average and standard deviation. This table of Phi(z) might help; or, you can do them by the method in Chapter 5, using the table at the back of the book.
1/28/05 - Here is a handout describing the first SPSS computer assignment, due
in class next Friday,
Feb. 4. It's mostly just familiarization.
I hope you'll all take time, after finishing the assigned tasks, to
play around with the SPSS program and get used to how the "data window" and "output window" work.
(BTW: Here is the Excel workbook referred to in the SPSS handout.)
Course documents:
sampleproblems.doc - Front page of final plus practice problems, from calss 4/27. (Word, 4 pages) sampleanswers.htm - Answers, 4/29SPSS-7.doc - seventh (last) SPSS assignment, 4/8, due 4/15 (3 page WORD)
SPSS-7.htm - HTML version (better for web)
SPSS-6.doc - sixth SPSS assignment, 4/4, due 4/8 (3 page WORD)
SPSS-6.htm - HTML version (better for web)
probability.doc - probability review, 3/28/05 (10 page WORD)
SPSS-5.doc - fifth SPSS assignment, 3/18, due 3/25 (1 page WORD)
SPSS-4.doc - fourth SPSS assignment, 3/14, due 3/18 (1 page WORD)
SPSS-4.htm - HTML version (better for web)
normals2.doc - handout on normal distributions for miniexam, expanded version but without pictures, from class 2/28. WORD, 5 pages.
SPSS-3.doc - third SPSS assignment, 2/11, due about 2/23 (1 page WORD)
SPSS-3.htm - HTML version (better for web)
cigarettes.xls - Cigarette data from class 2/9 (Excel workbook)
Stat020905.ppt - Two PowerPoint slides with an "optical illusion"
from class 2/9 (but most people weren't much illused)
preexam1.doc - First cut at "what's on the exam" document, 2/9/05 (Word, 3 pages)
preexam1.htm - Same, html version
SPSS-2.doc - second SPSS assignment, as revised 2/9/05, due 2/11/05 (3-page WORD)
SSPS-2short - original shorter version, 2/4/05 (1 page WORD)
SPSS-1.doc - first SPSS assignment, 1/28, due 2/4/05 (3-page WORD)
Page69.xls - Excel workbook referred to in the problem set.
ztable.doc - Table of Phi(z), used for normal distributions. WORD, 1 page.
Handout from class 1/24, with (some of the) homework due 1/31:
handout012405.htm - revised 1/28 with new problems
Datasets from class 1/21 and 1/24: datasets.doc (5-page WORD document)
Two documents from class 1/19:
Stat011905 - powerpoint slides on types of variables, pie charts, histograms
StockPriceHistogram.xls - Excel file with stock price histogram (looks normal)
Questionnaire and survey form from 1/17: Questionnaire.doc - Survey.doc - both 1-page Word docs
104schedule.htm - Schedule (with assigned problems), latest version
104CourseInfo.html - Course Information (syllabus), 1/21/05.
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