STAT 303 - Syllabus

Statistics 303, Sections 503-504
Syllabus, Spring 1996

H. Joseph Newton, Professor and Head of Statistics
447 Blocker, 845-3141, jnewton@stat.tamu.edu , http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton
Office Hours: Daily 11-12, or by appointment
The course grader is Don-Sig Jang whose office hours will be announced as soon as possible. His office is located in 416G of the Blocker Building and his phone number is 845-5714. His e-mail address is jang@stat.tamu.edu .

On Mondays and Fridays the two sections will meet together in HECC 204 from 1:50-2:40. On Wednesdays, Section 503 meets in Blocker 161 from 1:50-2:40, while Section 504 meets in Blocker 161 from 3:00-3:50.
Blocker 161 is a computer classroom, while HECC 204 is a large lecture hall.
The lab is open for general use all day Fridays. Night and weekend hours will be announced in the near future. Graduate assistants will be available during open hours to assist you.

MATH 141 (Business Math I) or MATH 166 (Finite Math), or equivalent. Because these courses contain significant amounts of probability, STAT 303 will have very little material in probability.
You will be using IBM type PC's running Windows. We assume you can learn this quickly.

Text: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics , 2nd Edition, David S. Moore and George P. McCabe, Freeman.
Statistics 30X Class Notes, Spring 1996, available at Notes-n-Quotes.
Optional: Stataquest 4 for Windows, J.T. Anagnoson and R.E. DeLeon, Duxbury. This is the software we will use in the course. It will be installed on the PC's in Blocker 161 and on all public PC's on campus. If you want to run it on your own PC, you will need to buy this book and software.

A day-by-day outline of the course is contained in the Statistics 30X Class Notes. There are 14 weeks of classes (Spring Break is March 11-15) with no Monday in Week 1 and no Friday in Week 11 (April 5). The 15th week contains only a Monday and a Tuesday with Tuesday treated as a Friday.
The last day to Q-drop is April 1.

There will be two in-class exams (Friday February 16 and Friday April 12) worth 25% each and a final exam (Tuesday, May 7 from 3:30-5:30 in HECC 204) also worth 25%. These exams will be closed-book, closed-notes, multiple choice so you need scantrons and pencils. Any tables or formulas I feel you need wil be provided on the exam.
The exams will cover primarily statistical concepts as opposed to the homework which will test methods. You will have access to exams from previous semesters so you will know what they are like. Please don't be surprised when the exams are not like the homework.
The exams are comprehensive only in the sense that material in any math class builds on previous material.
Make-up of missed exams will be allowed only for university-excused absences and will be prepared by the Department of Statistics for all sections of STAT 301, 302, and 303 during a weekday evening within two weeks of the missed exam.
Exams will be returned only to the student who took the exam. Grades will not be given over the phone, and will be given only to the person taking the exam. Grades will not be posted unless written permission is obtained from students in advance.

Homework will be assigned approximately once a week and will cover primarily statistical methods.
Late homework assignments will NOT be accepted. If you find you cannot be in class the day an assignment is due, please be sure it is in my departmental mailbox by the time class begins on that day.
Homework should be your own work.
Complete solutions to each homework set will be available in the Evans Library reserve room after it has been collected.
Please write your homework on standard sized 8.5 by 11 paper or computer paper (front-side only) and staple the pages together.

I will use two methods of finding a (possible) final letter grade and you will receive the higher of these two letter grades as your final grade:

Each of the four grades (two midterm exams, the final, and the homework) will be curved and a letter grade assigned. I will then find a GPR of these four letter grades. If it comes out to be (for example) 3.75, the final grade is an A, while if the GPR is 3.5 and the homework grade is higher (not higher) than B, the final grade is A (B). Other grades are determined similarly.
I will also add the four uncurved numerical grades and curve that total to find a (possible) letter grade.

It is the policy of the Department of Statistics (as well as Texas A&M University) to assign a grade of I (incomplete) only when a student misses one in-class exam or the final exam due to a University-excused absence, and is unable to make up the exam or final exam before final grades are due in the Registrar's office. Students who miss, and do not make up, more than one in-class exam, or one or more in-class exams and the final exam will NOT be given a grade of I (incomplete).
In cases involving extenuating circumstances, you may request an NG (no grade) from the Dean of your college.