University of Tennessee
Math 115 Statistical Reasoning Departmental Syllabus Fall 2012
Text: Essentials of Statistics, by Triola, Fourth Edition (custom printing), Addison
Wesley Publishers. Make sure you get the MyMathLab access code with your textbook.
Technology/Calculators: The website for the online homework is www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com
see the blackboard website for more details. A graphing calculator is required for this course. The Math Department highly recommends and provides support for the TI-83+ and TI-84+ models, you will need one of these or another calculator capable of doing ALL required functions for this course. Use of cell phone calculators and calculators with advanced alpha-numeric capabilities, such as the
TI-89, is forbidden in this course.
Course Description: An introduction to probability and statistics without calculus. Not available for credit to students in the College of Business Administration. (QR) 3 credit hours.
Quantitative Reasoning distribution requirement from catalog: In today’s world, arguments and claims often rely for support on scientific studies and statistical evidence.
Students should possess the mathematical and quantitative skills to evaluate such evidence. Furthermore, students should possess the skills both to recognize the quantitative dimension of problems and to use mathematical reasoning to formulate and solve the problem. Finally, students need strong quantitative skills because they are indispensable in managing everyday-life situations.
Course Goals: Mark Twain once said “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics.” I prefer to say “Statistics don’t lie, statisticians do,” as statistics tell you exactly what they tell you, nothing more and nothing less. To avoid being misled, it is imperative that a person be statistically literate.
As a student taking this course you will be formally introduced to many of the commonly used statistics. You will gain the necessary knowledge to effectively reason through what the statistics really are saying and you will develop the quantitative skills needed to do your own statistical analysis.
Specifically, you will learn how to: Develop your own theories about a population, collect quality data, determine the appropriate statistical techniques to use in various situations, calculate statistics and interpret their meanings, understand the strengths and weaknesses of that analysis, and evaluate the validity of other people’s statistical arguments.

Student Learning Outcomes: At the end of this course, you will be:
 Recognizing, defining and recalling numerous symbols, terms and graphics used in statistical communication and analysis.
 Collecting and analyzing quality data.
 Calculating and explaining the conceptual meaning of several sample statistics and population parameters. These will include the concepts of location, distribution, variation and correlation such as the mean, standard deviation and percentages.
 Using the relationship between samples and the populations they are taken from in combination with the fact that when samples are truly random they are also predictable to calculate and apply sampling distributions to various real world situations.
 Determining the appropriate statistical techniques to use and using them to compute estimates of population parameters. Students will be calculating both point and interval estimates and interpreting their meaning. Students will be able to distinguish between the meanings of these two statements: “There is a 90% chance the population mean is between 7 and 11.” and “A 90% confidence interval for the population mean is 7 to 11.”
 Evaluating theories about populations to determine if they are conclusively supported through a hypothesis test. This requires selecting the appropriate sampling distribution to use, then calculating and interpreting the meaning of the p-value.
 Investigating relationships between multiple variables by performing a hypothesis test on Pearson’s correlation coefficient or a Chi-squared tests of Independence as appropriate.
Grades: Grades will be determined using the grading scale below. Your letter grade is a measure of your mastery of course material and your fulfillment of course objectives.
Weights:
Exam 1 (19%)
Scale: Range:
A
Scale: Range:
90 – 100 C 70 – 73
Exam 2 (19%)
Exam 3 (19%)
A-
B+
Final Exam (19%) B
Online HW (12%) B-
Written work (12%) C+
87 – 90
83 – 87
80 – 83
77 – 80
73 – 77
C-
D+
D
D-
F
67 – 70
63 – 67
60 – 63
57 – 60
Less than 57

Important Dates:
Add/drop without W deadline August 31 st (Friday)
Labor Day No class
Fall Break No Class
September 3
October 11 th rd (Monday)
& 12 th (Thursday and Friday)
Drop with W deadline November 13 th (Tuesday)
Thanksgiving Break No Class November 22 nd & 23 rd (Thursday and Friday)
Last day of classes December 4 th (Tuesday)
Final Exam: The final exam is comprehensive, and all students are required to take the final exam.
Disability Services: If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a documented disability or if you have emergency information to share, please contact the
Office of Disability Services at Dunford Hall, 974-6087.
Math Tutorial Center: The Math Tutorial Center is in Ayres Hall room G012 (east basement). It provides free tutoring. Hours of operation are posted at http://www.math.utk.edu/MTC/ Please make use of this free service.
Academic Standards of Conduct: All students are expected to abide by the University
Honor Statement. In mathematics classes, violations of the honor statement include copying another person's work on any graded assignment or test, collaborating on a graded assignment without the instructor's approval, using unauthorized "cheat sheets" or technical devices such as calculators, cell phones or computers for graded tests or assignments, or other infractions listed in "Hilltopics". These violations are serious offenses, subject to disciplinary action that may include failure in a course and/or dismissal from the University. The instructor has full authority to suspend a student from his/her class, to assign an "F" in an exercise or examination, or to assign an "F" in the course. See "Hilltopics" for more complete information. A report of all offenses will be sent to appropriate deans and the Office Student Judicial Affairs for possible further action.
The Honor Statement
An essential feature of the University of Tennessee is a commitment to maintaining an atmosphere of intellectual integrity and academic honesty. As a student of the
University, I pledge that I will neither knowingly give nor receive any inappropriate assistance in academic work, thus affirming my own personal commitment to honor and integrity.

section
1.2 Statistical Thinking
1.3 Types of Data
1.4 Critical Thinking
1.5 Collecting Sample Data
2.2 Frequency Distributions
2.3 Histograms
2.4 Statistical graphics
2.5 Critical Thinking: Bad Graphs
3.2 Measures of Center
3.3 Measures of Variation
3.4 Measures of Relative Standing and Boxplots
4.2 Basic Concepts of Probability
4.3 Addition Rule
4.4 Multiplication Rule
4.5 Complements and conditional Probability
5.2 Random Variables
6.2 The Standard Normal Distribution
6.3 Applications of Nonstandard Normal Distributions
6.4 Sampling Distributions and Estimators
6.5 The Central Limit Theorem
7.2 Estimating a Population Proportion
7.3 Estimating a Pop. Mean: σ Known
7.4 Estimating a Population Mean: σ Not Known
7.5 Estimating a Population Variance
8.2 Basics of Hypothesis Testing
8.3 Testing a Claim About a Proportion
8.4 Testing Claims About μ: σ Known
8.5 Testing Claims About μ: σ Not Known
8.6 Testing Claims About Variances and SD’s
10.2 Correlation
1O.3 Regression
11.2 Multinomial experiments: 
2 Goodness of Fit
11.3 Contingency Tables: 
2 Test of Independence and Homogeneity