Unit name | Statistics 1 |
---|---|
Unit code | MATH11400 |
Credit points | 10 |
Level of study | C/4 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Johnson |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
Normally an A Level in Mathematics or equivalent |
Co-requisites | |
School/department | School of Mathematics |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Statistics is now very important in many fields of human endeavour - in science, medicine, industry, social science, commerce and government. The very basic idea of statistics is that of modelling phenomena in a random way, using the tools of probability theory. Having specified a model, inferences can be made about elements of the model. These cover, not only estimates of quantities of interest, but also assessments of how accurate these estimates are. This unit introduces the basic methods of statistical data analysis and inference. It includes sections on descriptive statistics, estimation, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, and looks at simple applications of these procedures.
Aims:
To introduce the role of statistics in contemporary applications and to develop an elementary understanding of, and fluency in, the statistical paradigm of data collection, exploration, modelling and inference.
Syllabus
Relation to Other Units
This unit is part of the foundation for all statistics units in later years.
Students should be able to:
Transferable Skills:
Use of statistical software for elementary statistical analysis on the computer.
Lectures supplemented by weekly small group tutorials for first year students. Weekly problem sheets, with outline solutions available a fortnight later.
The final mark for Statistics 1 is calculated from one 1½ -hour written examination in May/June. This examination paper is in two sections.
Section B has 3 longer questions; you should attempt TWO. If you attempt more than two, your best two answers in Section B will be used for assessment.
The recommended text is:
J. A. Rice, Mathematical statistics and data analysis, Wadsworth and Brooks Cole.
There are many other elementary texts on Probability and/or Statistics that you may find useful. However, the book by Rice may be recommended for the Statistics 2 course as well.
As part of the Statistics syllabus, students are required to develop familiarity with the statistical software package R. The use of R is continued in Statistics units in years 2, 3 and 4. The recommended text for R is:
P. Dalgaard, Introductory Statistics with R, Springer