COURSE CODE & COURSE TITLE: Introduction to Statistical Theory STAT151
Instructor Name
Email
Tel
Office
COURSE DESCRIPTION
: Denis Leung
: denisleung@smu.edu.sg
: 68280396
: SOE 5047
Statistics is a science that is synonymous with the analysis and interpretation of data. Statistics was first used for analyzing biological data but over the past few decades, has evolved to become an indispensable tool in almost every field and discipline. This course is a foundation course in Statistics for students who wish to pursue a quantitative major at SMU such as Economics, Business Statistics,
Actuarial Science or Finance. It takes a contemporary approach in introducing some of the most fundamental concepts and tools in Statistics. Students will have firsthand experience to apply the concepts learned in this course through projects and exercises.
Statistics is a mathematical science, and so a taste and aptitude for mathematical thinking is an important ingredient. However, it is neither necessary nor sufficient to have a strong mathematical background for students to enjoy and benefit from this course. Therefore, we encourage all students with some basic understanding of calculus and algebra to apply.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students who complete this course would:
1. Have a sound mathematical foundation in probability and statistical inference methods.
2. Have a basic understanding of statistical and probability models and how they can be used in practice
3. Be prepared for an upper level course that requires Statistics and Probability as quantitative analysis tools.
ASSESSMENT METHODS
Final exam (closed book):
Continual assessments:
Projects (2):
Quizzes (2):
Class Participation:
Total:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
50%
40% consisting of
24%
16%
10%
100%
All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the academic work of other students) are serious offences.
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All work (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense.
When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU Code of
Academic Integrity may be accessed at http://www.smuscd.org/resources.html.
CLASS TIMINGS
Class sessions are of 3-hour duration per week. Each session will involve a lecture and a discussion of assignments and readings.
RECOMMENDED TEXT AND READINGS
There is no textbook required for this course. Course materials will be in the form of slides (in class), notes and exercises posted on a course webpage.
SCHEDULE OVERVIEW
This course calendar is tentative and subject to change as the course progresses. Please check the course webpage periodically for the up-to-date version. Please read the notes before each class. The assigned exercises are for your own practice and will not be graded.
Week
1
Suggested Homework**
Exercise 1-3
2
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
3
4
5
6
Topic
Overview and Introduction
Random variables, probability distribution function, families of discrete distributions, families of continuous distributions
Joint, marginal and conditional distributions
Expectation and variance
Some special distributions
Sampling and sampling distribution
Estimation - maximum likelihood
Methods of evaluating estimators and the Cramer Rao lower bound
Interval estimation
Recess (no class)
Hypothesis Testing
Regression and correlation
Project 1 presentation & quiz 1
Break- no formal class
Project 2 presentation & quiz 2
Reading week (no class)
Final examination
Exercise 4
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Exercise 7
Exercise 8
Exercise 9
Exercise 10
Exercise 11
Written report due Oct 26, 5pm
Preparation for Project 2
Written report due Nov 9, 5pm
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Final Examination
The Final Exam will be comprehensive, i.e.
, you will be responsible for ALL the materials covered in the course, which include materials in all the class slides, class notes, projects and the assignments.
The Final Exam will be closed book but you are allowed to bring in a two-sided A-4 size "cheat sheet".
THE EXAM WILL BE HELD ON THE DATE SPECIFIED. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE.
Projects
There will be a total of TWO projects for the semester. Students will work in groups on these projects.
For each project, there will be an oral presentation and a written report component. The written report must be submitted to the TA (in electronic form) by Monday, 5pm of the week the project is due. On the day of the presentation, each group will give a 10-15 minute oral presentation. Details are given in the document Project Guidelines.
If you missed the project presentation(s), your grade may be snow-balled into that of the final exam if the reason for your absence falls into one of those under "Excused Absence" (see below), otherwise, you will receive a grade of 0.
Quizzes
There will be TWO quizzes. The quizzes assess students ’ understanding of the concepts they used in the projects. The quizzes will be held on days of the project presentations.
Excused Absence
An excused absence from the quiz is an absence covered by
1. A Medical Certificate (MC).
2. A Letter from the Dean of your School (explaining why the Dean has approved your absence from my class due to an important athletic event, conference, case competition, etc .). It is your responsibility to obtain this letter from your Dean before the missed class(es).
3. A Letter from your NS Commander (explaining why the Commander cannot reschedule your reservist training if you have a conflict with attending my class on important dates). It is your responsibility to obtain this letter from your Commander before the missed class(es).
Except for (1) above, a letter from the appropriate authority must reach me at least one week prior to the presentation day. For (1), the MC must be submitted to me as soon as possible.
Unexcused Absence
All other absences will be deemed unexcused (past examples have included taking a drivers license exam, missing the bus, vacations, classes from other institutions that are not part of the SMU curriculum, all co-curricular activities other than the ones stated in (2) above. If the absence is unexcused, a grade of 0 will be recorded
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