AMS 315
Data Analysis
Spring Semester, 2012

Class: Tuesday, Thursday, 6:50-8:10, Engineering 143
Instructor: Stephen Finch

Office Hours: Tuesday: 2:30-3:30, Thursday: 2:30-3:30, and by appointment. There will be extra office hours the week before each examination. These will be announced on the class blackboard. My office is in the Mathematics Tower, Room 1-113. Phone: 632-8369. My e-mail is Stephen.Finch@stonybrook.edu.

Text: Ott, R.L., Longnecker, M. (2009). Statistical Methods and Data Analysis. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury. There is a sixth edition that I will assign problems from. Assignments will be posted on the class Blackboard. Your homework papers will be commented upon but not scored. You will not suffer much of a loss if you get an older edition or even a different text.

Examination Requirements

There will be two in-class examinations (one on Thursday, March 1 and the second on Thursday, April 19) and a final examination on Tuesday, May 8, from 5:15 pm until 7:45 p.m. Each examination is comprehensive. Example problems for examinations will be part of your chapter study guides posted on the class blackboard. You may use an approved calculator in the examination provided that you permit the proctor to inspect it during the examination. You may have one standard paper size (8.5 by 11 inches) page of notes. You may write on the front and back, and the sheet must have your name on it. The statistical tables and graphs that are needed to solve problems will be provided. You may not write on the tables and graphs and must return them at the end of the examination. You may not use any other assistance during the examination. The examination component of your grade, E, will be calculated by the rule E1 +E2 +EF. Each in-class examination will be have about 6 questions each worth 40 points so that the examination is worth approximately 240 points. The final examination will have about 12 problems and be worth approximately 500 points. Typically, a score of about half of the available points is a C performance. A performance with about two-thirds of the available points is a B range performance. A performance with 88% of available points is typically an A range performance.

The dates of the examinations are:

1. Thursday, March 1, with target coverage from Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
2. Thursday, April 19, will be comprehensive and cover Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12.
3. Final: Tuesday, May 8, 5:15 pm-7:45 pm. It will be comprehensive and cover Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
Lecture Schedule

This schedule is a rough guide to the pace of the lectures. In general, I will go through the text sequentially. Your standing assignment is to read the material before lecture and identify difficulties that you want to have discussed further in lecture and office hours. You also have a standing assignment to read a newspaper or internet news source to identify stories that involve the use of statistics. If any class is cancelled due to weather conditions, I will cover the material in the next meeting. Examinations are fixed on the dates above. You will be responsible for all material covered in class up to the examination date.

Tentative Lecture Schedule

Jan 24: Chapter Three, Data Description
Jan 26: Chapter Four, Probability and Probability Distributions (simulation issues)
Jan 31: Chapter Five, Inferences about Population Central Values
Feb 2: Chapter Five, Inferences about Population Central Values
Feb 7: Chapter Six, Inferences Comparing Two Population Central Values
Feb 9: Chapter Six, Inferences Comparing Two Population Central Values
Feb 14: Chapter Seven, Inferences about Population Variances
Feb 16: Chapter Seven, Inferences about Population Variances
Feb 21: Chapter Eight, Inferences about More than Two Population Central Values
Feb 23: Chapter Eight, Inferences about More than Two Population Central