John Travis
MCC 206
925-3817 (voice mail)
travis@mc.edu
(email)
Reading #1 - Monty Hall, MAA Online, July 2003
Reading #2 - Baseball/Moneyball, MAA Online, September 2004
Project #1 | Project
#2 | Project #3
Textbook
| Course Description | Course Meetings | Grading
|
Book Web Site | Web Stats Site (id =
"mississippi")
| Another
interesting
statistics site
MAT
253 Textbook:
A Brief Course in Mathematical Statistics, Tanis and Hogg. 0-13-175139-5. A graphing
calculator
(such as the TI-84) will be required for successful completion of this
course.
Web Resources:
Prerequisites: MAT 122. Students who
have
completed MAT 121 and are currently enrolled in MAT 122 will need
instructor's
consent.
Writing Projects:
Useful
Periodicals:
Assigned Articles
A
New Look at the Probabilities in Bingo, Agard and
Shackleford, CMJ, Vol 33, #4, Sept 2002
The
Average Speed on the Highway, Clevenson,
et.al., CMJ, Vol 32, #3, May 2001
Perfecting
the Analog of a Deck of Cards..., J.G. Simmonds,
CMJ, Vol 33, #1, Jan 2002
A
Rational Solution to Cootie, Benjamin and
Lluet, CMJ, Vol 31, #2, March 2000
Each
of these papers should be read and a written review prepared. In
the
review, the student should point out the major points of the article
including
how the article related to the material being studied in this class.
Comments on the examples presents and on "obvious" statements
given should be included. Any extensions, applications or
connections to
other material that the student discovers should be included.
Course Outline: People often make claims about being the biggest, best, most often recommended, etc. One sometimes even believes these claims. In this class, we will attempt to determine if such claims are reasonable by first introducing probability from a semi rigorous mathematical viewpoint using concepts developed in Calculus. We will use this framework to carefully discuss making such statistical inferences as above and in general to obtain accurate knowledge even when the known data is not complete. For general mathematics majors, this course satisfies the applied area requirement (III) listed in the college catalog. For math education majors, this course is required.
This course carries three hours of academic credit.
(From the college catalog: This course is a calculus based introduction to probability and statistics. Major emphasis is placed on developing a precise framework for solving problems under uncertainty. Topics covered include expected value, probability density functions and their distributions, interpretation of the Central Limit Theorem and its application to confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.)
Learning Objectives: This term, we will rigorously investigate the following concepts:
Meetings: The format of class meetings
will consist
generally of lectures by the instructor. Student participation will be
encouraged via classroom discussions as well as problem sessions where
the
student will present their work.
This class meets as scheduled. You are expected to be in class on time. University policy states that a student cannot miss more than 25% of class meetings and receive credit for the course. Further, attendance will be necessary in order to understand the material and make a good grade. The student is responsible for work and material missed when absent. Cheating in any way will be properly rewarded according to University policy (See the Undergraduate Bulletin; http://www.mc.edu/publications/policies/academic/219.html).
If you need special accommodations due to learning, physical, psychological, or other disabilities, please contact Dr. Buddy Wagner in the Counseling and Career Development Center. He may be reached by phone at (601)925-3354 or by mail at P.O. Box 4013, Clinton, MS 39058. (For the University Policy on disabilities: http://www.mc.edu/publications/policies/student/418.wpd)
Grading: There will be at least four sectional exams during the semester (with no comprehensive final). Makeup exams will be administered at the instructor's discretion only in case of a valid excuse given prior to the exam period. Also, selected homework/projects will be graded. Your final average will be computed by considering the homework/project average as an exam grade and then taking the average of this with all of the exams. The grading scale is
A=90-100
B=80-89
C=70-79
D=65-69
F=0-64
Aim now for the desired grade. All graded work will be returned to the student for keeping. If there were any question later about your grade, you would be expected to show these papers.