Practice testsCalculator (TI-36X) excerisesHomework solutions (pdf file format)
|
Lab exercisesDownloads (right-click and choose "Save Target As...") |
You are not alone in beginning to learn Excel for the course. Your professor and TA have had the same experience. The Excel learning process, like most new learning, requires your time and persistence. Here are some further ideas to help you get up on Excel.
I require the Excel Manual for my sections of the course to help you with Excel. Most students who have chart and histogram problems learn that they can be solved by studying pages 19-29 in the Manual. I suggest you bear down on these pages.
If that is too much of your time right now, try the Excel Help system. Get into search mode and look for help on Chart. Its very informative. Remember to try Help and reading the manual as immediate sources of answers to Excel issues. And please do come by my office as well as Guidong's.
If you are working with Excel at home and do not have the Data Analysis option already in the Tools menu, then here is how to get the Analysis ToolPak I use in lectures. You MUST have the installation CD for this step, or plan to use the CBA computer labs instead of working at home. The Add-Ins are bundled with Excel, this is not anything extra.
|
Your lowest homework assignment grade (of 6) will be dropped. Your final exam grade, if higher than any test grade, will replace one test grade. The course grading scale: A 90-100, B 80-89, C 70-79, D 60-69, F below 60. Grades will be posted in eGradebook. |
The course concentrates on the practice of statistics as a tool for learning about the real world. Upon completion of the course you should be able to think critically about data, use graphical and numerical summaries, apply standard statistical inference procedures, and draw conclusions from the analyses.
Excel is a popular statistical tool in business today. You are expected to put in the study time with the required Excel Manual to become proficient with Excel and to learn how to handle stat procedures with Excel. The CD that accompanies the principle textbook has sample data sets for you to use with Excel. You are not expected to learn to use the Macros on the CD, only the standard built-in Excel statistical functions. These optional Excel functions are already installed in the 5th floor computer labs. If you are working at home, you may have elected to not install them. In that case, use the Tools menu, Add-Ins, and Analysis TookPak steps. If the ToolPak is not listed then insert your Excel CD and browse for the Add-Ins. You cannot use Excel for stat until you have the standard Analysis TookPak. All homework assignments require Excel.
Tests will not use Excel. Instead, you are required to have a suitable calculator for all tests and the final exam. Until undergraduate students are required to have notebook computers or our computer labs become much larger, we will continue operating the course with both Excel and the calculator.
| Date | Day | Lect | Topic | Watch Videos | Read Chapters | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27 | Wed | 1 | Introduction | 1 | In both books | |
| Aug 29 | Fri | 2 | Displaying distributions | 2 | 1.1 | |
| Sep 01 | Mon | 3 | Holiday | |||
| Sep 03 | Wed | 4 | Describing distributions (meet: Mod Labs) | 6 | 1.2 | |
| Sep 05 | Fri | 5 | The normal distribution | 4 | 1.3 | |
| Sep 08 | Mon | 6 | The normal distribution | 5 | 1.3 | |
| Sep 10 | Wed | 7 | The normal distribution | |||
| Sep 12 | Fri | 8 | Scatterplots | 8 | 2.1 | HW 1 |
| Sep 15 | Mon | 9 | Correlation | 9 | 2.2 | |
| Sep 17 | Wed | 10 | Least squares regression | 7 | 2.3 | |
| Sep 19 | Fri | 11 | Least squares regression | 2.4 | ||
| Sep 22 | Mon | 12 | Relations in categorical data | 11 | 2.5 | |
| Sep 24 | Wed | 13 | Relations in categorical data (meet: Mod Labs) | 13 | ||
| Sep 26 | Fri | 14 | Designing samples, experiments | 14 | 3.1, 3.2 | HW 2 |
| Sep 29 | Mon | 15 | Toward statistical inference | 3.3 | ||
| Oct 01 | Wed | 16 | Samples, experiments, inference, review | 12 | ||
| Oct 03 | Fri | 17 | Test 1 | |||
| Oct 06 | Mon | 18 | Randomness | 15 | 4.1 | |
| Oct 08 | Wed | 19 | Sampling distributions | 18 | 4.4 | |
| Oct 10 | Fri | 20 | Sampling distributions | |||
| Oct 13 | Mon | 21 | Estimating with confidence | 19 | 6.1 | |
| Oct 15 | Wed | 22 | Estimating with confidence | HW 3 | ||
| Oct 17 | Fri | 23 | Tests of significance | 20 | 6.2 | |
| Oct 20 | Mon | 24 | Tests of significance | |||
| Oct 22 | Wed | 25 | Using significance tests | 6.3 | ||
| Oct 24 | Fri | 26 | Using significance tests | |||
| Oct 27 | Mon | 27 | Power | 6.4 | HW 4 | |
| Oct 29 | Wed | 28 | Inference as a Decision | |||
| Oct 31 | Fri | 29 | Review | |||
| Nov 03 | Mon | 30 | Test 2 | |||
| Nov 05 | Wed | 31 | Inference for mean of population | 21 | 7.1 | |
| Nov 07 | Fri | 32 | Inference for mean of population | |||
| Nov 10 | Mon | 33 | Comparing two means | 22 | 7.2 | |
| Nov 12 | Wed | 34 | Comparing two means | |||
| Nov 14 | Fri | 35 | Inference for a proportion | 23 | 8.1 | HW 5 |
| Nov 17 | Mon | 36 | Comparing two proportions | 8.2 | ||
| Nov 19 | Wed | 37 | Comparing two proportions | |||
| Nov 21 | Fri | 38 | Inference for regression | 25 | 10.1 | |
| Nov 24 | Mon | 39 | Inference for prediction | 10.2,10.3 | ||
| Nov 26 | Wed | 40 | Multiple regression | 11.1 | ||
| Nov 28 | Fri | 41 | Holiday | |||
| Dec 01 | Mon | 42 | Multiple regression | 11.2 | ||
| Dec 03 | Wed | 43 | Multiple regression | 11.3 | HW 6 | |
| Dec 05 | Fri | 44 | Review | |||
| Dec 11 | Thr | 45 | Final exam 2-5PM GSB 2.124 |
STA 309 is a mixture of lecture, textbook, online video learning, homework completed with Excel and tests using your calculator. Attend lectures, read the text and work the exercises, study the online videos, submit homework assignments on time, and be prepared to take timed tests using your calculator, not Excel. You will be required to spend a considerable amount of time learning stat, Excel, and the calculator. Practice will prepare you for perfect performance. Work the textbook exercises, check your answers in the back of the textbook. Practice.
Your proficiency with statistics will improve with active practice; i.e., working problems and explaining your results. The textbook has about 100 problems per chapter for additional practice. Answers to all odd numbered problems are given in the back of the textbook.
As a part of this course, you must watch videos from the series Against All Odds: Inside Statistics, which was prepared with funding from the Annenberg Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
You may watch the videos on or off campus. Bring your own headphones to hear the audio portion on campus. Click on a video title to watch in Windows Media Player. Clicking on Alt + Enter on the keyboard will toggle between full screen and original size video while the video is playing. The up and down arrows can be used to increase or decrease the volume. Each of the videos is approximately 28 minutes in length. From other places on campus, you may use the Video links on the homepage. You will need to give your McCombs domain login and password. You must have an individually funded (IF) computer account to use the labs. If you have problems, talk to the Millennium lab proctors AND send an e-mail message to webmasters@bus.utexas.edu.
Assignments must be turned in by 12 noon on the due date. There are no late penalties. Late homework is not graded and a score of zero is recorded for the assignment.
Use the standard built-in Excel functions (and the standard statistical ToolPak described above) to complete all homework assignments. Do not use the Macos that are described in the Excel Manual.
Statistics is a cumulative subject that requires frequent practice. If one topic is confusing, the next is likely to be more so. To address this, it is necessary for you to practice statistics on a frequent basis. The homework assignments are designed to keep you current in the course.
All homework must be printed using Excel and stapled in the upper left corner. Headings on each page must have your name and the page number. Footings must have the course name (STA309-03845) and the homework number (HW 1 - 6). If you are not familiar with Excel printouts, study the following sequence of actions: File menu, Page Setup, Header/Footer, Custom Header, Custom Footer.
Homework assignments are taken from the exercises in the principle textbook and must be worked with Excel. To get full credit for the work, show the grader more than the final results, but do not show all the raw data in order to save paper. If you are concerned about how to get the best score, answer in a similar fashion to the odd-numbered exercise answers, but be sure and add graphs (where required) and other supporting summaries. If you were the grader, you would appreciate being able to locate the answers quickly. Make it easy for the grader to give you the best score.
Where data is available on the textbook CD the name of the Excel file is shown in parenthesis.
You may bring anything to the tests except a cell phone or another person. Bring books, notes, calculators, etc. You must bring a picture ID to the final exam. The final exam will be cumulative. There will be no make-up tests. Your final exam grade will replace one lower test grade. You must inform the professor in advance if you are going to miss a test due to observance of a religious holiday or an official university activity.
Your professor and TA are available to help you during office hours.
If you prefer a private tutor, the UT Learning Center (phone 471-3614) in Jester A332A can arrange one for you for a reasonable charge. The UT Learning Center also has a series of videotapes and computer programs to help you with this class.
The McCombs School of Business has no tolerance for acts of scholastic dishonesty. By teaching this course, I have agreed to observe all of the faculty responsibilities described in that document. By enrolling in this class, you have agreed to observe all of the student responsibilities described in that document. If the application of that Policy Statement to this class and its assignments is unclear in any way, it is your responsibility to ask me for clarification. Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty: Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. You should refer to the Student Judicial Services website or the General Information Catalog to access the official University policies and procedures on scholastic dishonesty as well as further elaboration on what constitutes scholastic dishonesty.
Scholastic dishonesty in this course includes copying or collaborating during an exam, discussing or divulging the contents of an exam with another student who will take the test, and use of homework solutions from another student or semester.
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. This includes students with learning disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.