251key 4/30/08
Click here for 'doc' format.
Welcome to the Eco251
Web Page
This is a web page in progress. The page contains links to the course syllabus,
course outline with homework assignments, computer problems, and annotated
outline. It will contain old exams and problem solutions after they are discussed in
class. For future use bookmark this page.
My hard drive is regularly checked for viruses. If you get a virus report, please give
me the document number and I will reboot it. Some virus problems have been
reported in one of the computer rooms. These seem to be in the computer, not in the
documents. If this happens to you, report it to the help desk and try another room.
My standing offer: If you submit a good exam problem to me, you might just find it on the
exam. The better thought out it is, the more likely it is to go on the exam with minimal
changes. However, since there are 2 Statistics exams, the numbers are likely to be changed.
A number of students have submitted questions in the past and, I believe, gotten better grades
because of it.
My new standing offer: Work to improve the course, if it is used, will be rewarded by
adding extra credit points to grades on graded homework. This includes, but is not limited to:
1) The first person to notice an error on any posted document except, maybe, exams; 2) help
to improve course graphics and 3) valuable ideas for new documents or problems.
Notices:
You should always be sure that you have a copy of the current outline pages to bring to class.
You should know how to access Blackboard.
http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/entering_blackboard_for_the_first_time.doc
In addition to the prerequisites, you are expected to be able to express yourself in
writing. All e-mails to the instructor at rbove@wcupa.edu should be in grammatically
correct but not terribly formal English with the spelling checked.
From the Tutoring Center:
How to sign up for a tutor
Come to 105 Lawrence Center and fill out a request form. You must be present to be assigned.
You may sign up for up to three different courses. Make sure you give us the course name,
course number, and your section number.
If our tutors are booked, you will be placed on a waiting list. We will contact you as soon as a
space becomes available.
Remember, tutors are assigned on a first come, first serve basis. If you anticipate a problem in a
given subject, sign up early -- crisis tutoring does not work.
The LARC cannot schedule more than one tutoring session per class, per week. Exceptions are
reviewed on a case by case basis.
If you have a learning disability or require individualized tutoring, let us know right away. We will
try to accommodate your needs as much as possible.
081LARCstaff list.doc
April Notices
April 30 – Note that I will allow you to start the final exam early. Also please note changes in
office hours for Thursday and Friday of this week.
April 29 – The 3rd exam solution is now in OLD EXAMS.
April 24 – Note that I will not be on campus on Monday.
April 19 – Note this wording correction in take-home.
i. There are exactly 14 firms in the US that produce jorcillators and (1+g) produce computers as well. If you
pick a random sample of 3 firms to examine, what is the chance that
at least one will be a computer producer?
What is the chance that all the firms in your sample are computer producers? Assume that the same proportion of 70
companies
produces computers, what would the probabilities be that at least one and all three in a 3-firm
sample be computer producers? (4)
April 21 – There are wording problems in the jorcillator problem in the take-home. Corrections
involve removing the word ‘month’ and replacing it with ‘period.’
The probability of the phillinx failing is given by a Normal distribution with 18 g and 3. , For
example, if the life of the phillinx is represented by x1 , the chance of the phillinx failing in the first ten years is
(equation)
e) (Extra Credit) Find the probability that the jorcillator and the Phillinx both fail in the third period (1)
f) (Extra Credit) Find the probability that the jorcillator fails in the third period, given that the phillinx fails
in the third month.
April 18 – The Solution to the Fourth Graded Assignment is now available. Last year’s final
exam is now available in OLD EXAMS.
April 17 – For your convenience the solutions to the graded assignments now appear
immediately below this month’s notices.
April 15 - The Solution to the Third Graded Assignment is now available. 3takehome-08.doc is
the take-home for next Thursday’s exam. I was running a fever and trying to deal with last
minute income tax problems when I wrote it, so ask questions if anything looks strange.
April 9 - Error in Graded Assignment 3. ’’(Use tables in c, d etc.)‘’ should tell you instead to use
tables in the Binomial and Poisson distributions if possible.
April 8 – All problem solutions for Sections M, N and O are now in PROBLEM SOLUTIONS.
Problem O2 has been added to HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS.
April 7 – Error in Graded Assignment 3. 2f should read “Compare means and standard
deviations for a Binomial distribution with p=.45, n=20and a
Hypergeometric Distribution
with p=.45, n=20, N=1000.”
April 5 - Graded Assignment 4 is due on Tuesday April 15.
April 4 – I have posted the solution to the last exam in OLD EXAMS. I just added one problem
to Graded Assignment 3. This is much easier than the other problems. You should recognize it
and know the answers before you start. Make sure that you keep a copy of Graded
Assignment 3 to compare with the posted solution. There is no guarantee that it will be
returned before the next exam.
April 1 – I have posted all solutions to Sections K and L and some for Section M in PROBLEM
SOLUTIONS. Some Normal distribution problems from another text have been posted so that
you have lots of examples. Graded Assignment 3 is due on Thursday April 10. Graded
Assignment 4 will be posted shortly.
References Copied from end of Document.
OUTLINE – and lecture summaries.
LOUTLINE Outline spaced for use in class.
TERMS NOT EXPLAINED ELSEWHERE.
PROBLEM SOLUTIONS
PROGRAMS
OLD EXAMS
SYLLABUS SUPPLEMENT EXCERPTS also see SYLLABUS SUPPLEMENT CONTENTS
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY STATEMENT – See syllabus for current version.
SYLLABUS
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
PROBLEMS THAT APPEAR IN ONLY THE 8TH OR 9TH EDITION
Macros from Minitab
First Graded Assignment
Solution to the First Graded Assignment
Second Graded Assignment
Solution to the Second Graded Assignment
Third Graded Assignment
Solution to the Third Graded Assignment
Fourth Graded Assignment
Solution to the Fourth Graded Assignment
March Notices
Mar 26 – I have revised 2takehome-08.doc to account for inconsistencies between the
instructions and the first example in the first problem.
Mar 22 - The Solution to the Second Graded Assignment is now available. 2takehome-08.doc is
the take-home for Thursday’s exam. But why didn’t anyone tell me they couldn’t find it?
Mar 21 – Please avoid leaving assignments under doors! There is an envelope on my door that I
always check before doing grading and I have a box in the department office. Also – please
make copies of everything you hand in to me. Though relatively little gets lost, one lost
paper is bad enough.
Mar 19 – A reply has finally been sent to everyone who asked about the study group. Please turn
in Graded Assignment 2 before the weekend. A takehome exam section will be posted tonight
and the exam will be a week from tomorrow. 2takehome-08.doc
Mar 7 - One of my students has expressed an interest in forming a study group for Eco251. If
you are interested e-mail me and I will give you her wcu e-mail address.
Mar 6 - Graded Assignment 2 has been posted and is due on Tuesday, March 18. Apologies to
my 12:30 class! The material in section K that I went through in class today had been distributed
to you in 251v2out as part of the current outline and appears in a different order in 251var2,
toward the end of my book of tables.
Mar 4 – You should be doing problems in sections 1-5 in part J. I have posted all problems in J
and one problem in K in PROBLEM SOLUTIONS.
Mar 3 – I have just posted the answers to the last exam in OLD EXAMS. Exams will be returned
in class tomorrow.
February Notices
Feb 27 – You should now have done all the problems in Section H and be working on Section I.
All solutions have been posted in PROBLEM SOLUTIONS.
Feb 19 – Yes! The exam is open book!!!! A corrected version of 1takehome-08 has been posted
– I hope that this does not affect your answers to the ‘required’ problems.
Feb 19 – From Dr. Benzing on calculators. HP10BII i.e., HP10B2 (the last number is the Roman
numeral 2) is used by all finance majors and recommended for all FIN325 students.
Feb 18 – Fatal Error in my statement of Davies’ formula in the extra credit. In Davies’ Formula
(log (Q1) – log (Q2)) should read (log (Q1) + log (Q3)).
Feb 15 – The Solution to the First Graded Assignment is now available. To protect yourself
and to be able to check your work against posted solutions please make copies of these
assignments before you hand them in.
Feb 12 – Note the following correction to problems in section H.
4. Statistical Independence.
Text 4.16d, 4.22, 4.21!, 4.24, 4.30, 4.31, 4.33 [4.14d*, 4.19*, 4.20*, 4.22*, 4.28, 4.29, 4.31,
4.68*] (4.18*, 4.19*, 4.21*, 4.26, 4.27, 4.29). H8, H9 (H5, H6). pg. 97(pg. 85 in 3rd ed)
Applications 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 44. H7 (H4).
Feb 14 – Check these notices daily in case of errors in the take-home. I mentioned that there
were some topics in last year’s exam that were not covered in class. These are Pareto diagrams
(Pg 25 in text), five-number summaries (pg 102 in text) and stem-and-leaf displays (pp 30-31). A
stem-and leaf problem solution 251solnD1 has been posted.
Feb 13 – The take-home part of the forthcoming exam is available as 1takehome-08. It should be
handed in inside the in-class part of the exam.
Feb 11 – The first exam will be in the classroom on Thursday, Feb 21. The take-home part of
the exam will be posted on the website on Feb 14. It should be handed in inside the in-class part
of the exam.
Feb 7 – Graded Assignment 1 is due one week from today. The exam should be on Thursday Feb
21. The error in the enlarged version of the review problem that I used today does not appear on
the version that I handed out.
Feb 5 – You should now be doing all the problems in Section G. All solutions have been posted
in PROBLEM SOLUTIONS.
Feb 5 – The National Association of Black Accountants has a meeting on Feb 7 at 5:30-6:30pm
in A305. The topic is ‘Do’s and Don’ts of the Interview process. Bring your resume. Everyone is
welcome!
January Notices
Jan 31 – You should now be doing all the problems in Section F. All solutions have been posted
in PROBLEM SOLUTIONS.
The National Association of Black Accountants has its ‘Welcome Back Social’ tonight at 5:306:30pm in A303 with games, pizza and soda. Everyone is welcome!
Jan 20 – By now you should have done all problems in sections A-D and be doing the first
problem in section F. All solutions have been posted in PROBLEM SOLUTIONS.
Jan 18 – When you need it, the worksheet for problems G3A and G4 is at 251wrksht. Graded
Assignment 1 has been corrected. If you are curious or just lazy, the routine 251crazy will do the
first part of the graded assignment for you, but your writeup should fool me into believing that
you actually did the work.
Jan 17 - Graded Assignment 1 is now available. No due date has been set. I have not worked
through the solution yet, so keep posted on changes by regularly checking the notices. Don’t
forget to turn in the Academic Dishonesty statement.
Jan 16 - The letter below came from the tutoring center. The current list of tutors is posted above.
"The LARC is welcoming students for registration for the Spring 2008! Please let your
students know we have tutors available for most 100- and 200-level
gen. ed. courses. We
will also offer Praxis review sessions and the Academic Success Workshop. Have a wonderful Spring!"
Thank you!
Gerardina L. Kenney
Interim Director
Learning Assistance and Resource Center
610-738-0496
gkenney@wcupa.edu
Jan 9 – For class schedule, see below. On the first day of class, I will hand out the following
Documents: SYLLABUS and the documents from the OUTLINE – and lecture summaries that
are listed in 251descrCover1. There will be a revised academic dishonesty statement that must be
signed and returned to me.
Jan 8 – I am posting my schedule for the spring below. Actual office hours during each week
will be posted on the next page.
Every year a significant minority of Students taking Economics 251 and 252 receive a grade of C- or lower.
Almost all of these students are required by the Business program to receive a C or better in the course. When this
requirement was imposed, I asked the faculty if I should now be giving C’s to the people who would have earned a
C- before the requirement was imposed and was told that I should not. Almost all the people who received a grade
of C- or lower for the course received a grade of D+ or lower on the final exam, this was a score of 18 out of a
nominal 75 on the exam.
Every year students who received grades of C- or lower ask me if there is some way they can make up the
grade. Unfortunately this is impractical and defeats the purpose of a grading system. Almost all of these people will
tell me that they worked hard and attended all of my classes. Good intentions, however, are no substitute for being
able to show me that they learned something. I, therefore, must say no to requests to do something to make up the
grade. It just doesn’t seem reasonable to believe that people who learned relatively little during the term are going to
suddenly understand statistics or that I could offer this opportunity to everyone who did not get a C. I, honestly, have
no idea how anyone can make up this grade in the few weeks before the start of the next term.
SPRING SCHEDULE
OFFICE HOURS:
These hours may conflict with faculty meetings, doctors’ appointments etc. Check the
weekly schedule below before coming in.
M
noon-2 PM
T
3:15-5 PM
W
noon-2 PM
R
3:15-5 PM
I am also usually available after classes, after office hours and Friday afternoons. You
are encouraged to come in at your convenience without appointment (Call in advance to
be sure that I am in). If you don’t understand what is going on in class, please come to
my office
CLASS SCHEDULE:
Class
Number
Subject
Catalog
Sect Component
2820
ECO
251
01
LEC
2832
ECO
251
05
2834
ECO
252
2838
ECO
252
Start
Time
End
Time
Roo
m
Meeting Days
Building
2:00PM 3:15PM
TuTh
Anderson 213
LEC
12:30PM 1:45PM
TuTh
Anderson 213
02
LEC
11:00AM 11:50AM
MWF
Anderson 217
06
LEC
10:00AM 10:50AM
MWF
Anderson 217
Final Exam Schedule
Spring 2008
EXAM
Monday May 5 Tuesday May 6 Wed. May7
2008
2008
2008
8:00 am -
MWF
TR
MWF
Thursday May
8
2008
TR
Friday May
9
2008
MWF
10:00 am
10:30 am 12:30 pm
1:00 pm 3:00 pm
3:30 pm 5:30 pm
8-8:50
MWF
11-11:50
MWF
2-2:50
MWF 3-3:50
MW 3-4:15
9:30 – 10:45
TR
12:30-1:45
TR
2-3:15
SPA 101
SPA 102
SPA 201
SPA202
9-9:50
MWF
10-10:50
MWF
1-1:50
ACC 201
ACC 202
ACC 302
6:00 pm 8:00 pm
8:30 pm 10:30 pm
M 4:15-7P
MW 4:15-5:30
M 7:15P-10P
MW 8:45P-10P
T 4:15-7P
TR 4:15-5:30P
T 7:15P-10P
TR 7:15P8:30P
W 4:15-7P
MW 5:45-7P
W 7:15P-10P
MW 7:15P8:30P
8-9:15
TR
11-12:15
MAT 102
MAT 351
MAT000
MAT001
MAT101
MAT103
MAT104
MAT121
R 4:15-7P
TR 5:45-7P
R 7:15P-10P
TR 8:45P-10P
Schedule
Monday April 14
Office Hours Noon – 2pm
Tuesday April 15
Office Hours 3:15 – 5pm
Wednesday April 16
Office Hours Noon – 2pm
Thursday April 17
Office Hours 3:15 – 5:00pm
Friday April 18
No Office hours
Monday April 21
Office Hours Noon – 2pm
Tuesday April 22
Office Hours 3:15 – 5pm
Wednesday April 23
Office Hours Noon – 2pm
Thursday April 24
Office Hours 4:30 – 5:30pm
Friday April 25
No Office hours
Monday April 28
No Office Hours
12-12:50
All Saturday
Classes
Tuesday April 29
Office Hours 3:15 – 5pm
Wednesday April 30
Office Hours Noon – 2pm
Thursday May 1
Office Hours 1 – 3pm
and, probably, later
Friday May 2
Office Hours Noon – 1pm
Monday May 5
Office Hours 1pm – 2pm
Tuesday May 6
Office Hours 3:30 – 4:30pm
Wednesday May 7
Office Hours 1pm – 2pm
Thursday May 8
No Office hours (except by
request)
Friday May 9
No Office hours (except by
request)
Monday – Friday
May 12-18
No Office hours (except by
request)
Monday – Friday
May 19-21
No Office hours (except by
request)
Monday – Friday
First Summer Session – Office
hours to be announced
May 26-30
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS – DO NOT DO 2007 ASSIGNMENTS!
First Graded Assignment
Solution to the First Graded Assignment
Second Graded
Assignment
Solution to the Second Graded Assignment
Third Graded Assignment
Solution to the Third Graded Assignment
Fourth Graded Assignment
Solution to the Fourth Graded Assignment
You should always be sure that you have a copy of the current outline pages to bring to
class. You should know how to access Blackboard.
http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/entering_blackboard_for_the_first_time.doc
In addition to the prerequisites you are expected to be able to express yourself in
writing. All e-mails to the instructor should be in grammatically correct but not
terribly formal English with the spelling checked! Note the following rules!
1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Be more or less specific.
7. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
8. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
9. No sentence fragments.
10. Don't use no double negatives.
11. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out or mispeld something.
12. Eschew obfuscation.
13. i get very angry if you Don’t capitalize correctly.
14. Pronouns should be put in the correct case, and the passive voice should be avoided
by you and I.
15. I were very happy if you would have learned the difference between the subjunctive
and the conditional.
16. Be fermiliar with the spelling and pronunciation of words like higharchy.
17. Its very annoying if you don’t know when ‘its’ needs it’s apostrophe.
18. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
Do you know the difference between ‘you and I’ and ‘you and me,’
‘fortuitous’ and ‘fortunate,’ ‘enormousness’ and ‘enormity,’ ‘lay’ and ‘lie,’
‘reticent’ and ‘reluctant,’ ‘mischievous’ and ‘mischeevious?’ Most students
and too many faculty and newspaper editors don’t. ‘mischeevious’ is not a
real word, but I have been hearing ‘mischievous’ pronounced that way too
often.
SPELLCHECKER
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
All rights reserved (c) Novinite Ltd., 2001-2004.
You are permitted to use any of the articles only if you obligatory quote the source.
Sofia Morning News is a registered trademark No 33727/10.08.1998 under the Bulgaria's Patent Office.
Office Hours: (Call 610-436-2134 if you're not sure! But you are always
better off e-mailing rbove@wcupa.edu) . I am often in during afternoons outside
of these hours.)
If you would prefer to get documents by email, send me your address and I
will put together a list. In general, if you have trouble with any document,
send me an e-mail and I will try to e-mail the document to you from my
personal stash. However, if your equation writer works as badly as the one I
have on my old computer at home, you may not be able to read parts of the
documents.
SYLLABUS
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
PROBLEMS THAT APPEAR IN ONLY THE 8TH OR 9TH EDITION
251wrksht is a worksheet for problems G3A and G4.
Document continues on next page.
OUTLINE – and lecture summaries.
LOUTLINE Outline spaced for use in class.
TERMS NOT EXPLAINED ELSEWHERE.
PROBLEM SOLUTIONS
PROGRAMS
OLD EXAMS
SYLLABUS SUPPLEMENT EXCERPTS also see SYLLABUS SUPPLEMENT CONTENTS
CURRICULUM VITAE
Document Covers
251descrCover1
251probCover
251distrCover
Behrenson Text CD-ROMs
http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/Berenson/CD-ROM%20Topics
http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/Berenson/Data%20Files-8th/
http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/Berenson/Data_Files-9th/
Document continues on next page.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Dr. Daniel Mohan has kindly provided a list of websites related to statistics. In
particular a copy of Minitab can be rented from the Minitab website. Note: A new window will be popped up to
display the linked pages. You will want to close this window when you are done looking at the selected site.
SPSS Home Page
Minitab Home Page
Texas Instruments Calculators
SAS Home Page
Frontline Systems
LINDO Systems
http://www.spss.com/
http://www.minitab.com/
http://www.ti.com/calc/
http://sas.com/
http://frontsys.com/
http://www.lindo.com/
Stata Corporation
http://www.stata.com/
I am going to start my own list of additional resources here.
Measuring Inequality, a PowerPoint presentation which explains various measures of
income inequality, is available on the ECAAR website. This presentation was prepared
by Paul Burkholder, ECAAR's Project Manager, as part of our project on "Inequality and
Democratic Development." Paul is a recent graduate of Temple University, with a
degree in economics. He does research for current and potential projects, and assists
with media and member outreach.
See
http://www.ecaar.org/Inequality/powerpoint/measuring%20inequality_files/frame.htm
