Department of Statistics
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
Statistics 101
Spring 2008
____________________________________________________________
Professor:
Office:
Contact:
Andreas Buja (Sections 001 and 002)
471 JMHH
Send email only in case of emergency. For the address, see my webpage.
Your primary source for questions and answers should be the webCafe
discussion board (see below). Otherwise, send email to the TAs.
Classes meet: Section 001, Mon/Wed 10:30-12:00, in G06 JMHH
Section 002, Mon/Wed 1:30-3:00, in G06 JMHH
Office hours: Fri 1-3pm, 471 JMHH (both sections)
Teaching Assistants and Stat Lab
Name:
Alex Braunstein Sivan Aldor-Noiman Michael Baiocchi
Email:
braunsf
sivana
mbaiocch
(@wharton)
Phone:
898-1249
898-1247
573-0533
(215-)
Office:
433
432.1
434
(JMHH)
Office Hours: Mon 2-4
Thu 3-5
Tue 3-5
The Stat Lab provides help with statistics to anybody on campus. It is located in F96
JMHH and is open on days when classes are in session. For staffing and hours, see
http://www-stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~juntianx/statlab.html
Whoever you find there may or may not be able to help with homework. Therefore, most
useful for you are the Stat Lab hours staffed by our own TAs:
Alex Braunstein: Wed 1-3
Sivan Aldor-Noiman: Wed 10-12
Michael Baiocchi: Mon 10-12
Course website
Statistics 101 is using webCafe. You can gain access by going to
http://webcafe.wharton.upenn.edu
and following the link to the Statistics Department. All materials for this course will be
distributed and managed via the website, and you will be able to monitor your grade
entries throughout the semester.
Note for non-Wharton students: If you do not have a Wharton computing account, you
will need to establish one to access the website. The account also provides access to the
computing labs in Wharton and to the intranet. To get an account, on or after the first day
of classes, go to
http://accounts.wharton.upenn.edu
After you have obtained your account, allow up to 12 hours for activation.
Wharton students and students who have recently taken a Wharton course have existing
accounts.
Course Overview
This course develops ideas for helping to make decisions based on data. Some of the
following material will be covered:
 preliminaries: percentages, logarithms, changing units
 data displays: boxplots, histograms, scatterplots, mosaic plots, maps, time series plots,
comparison boxplots
 summary statistics: means, standard deviations, z-scores
 linear association: correlation, simple linear regression, slopes and intercepts, R2,
RMSE, prediction intervals
 logarithmic models: diminishing returns, exponential growth/decay/depreciation,
elasticity,
 probability, Bayes’ theorem, expected values and variances, the normal distribution,
 statistical inference: standard errors, confidence intervals, statistical tests, significance
levels, p-values,
 applications of statistical inference to group comparisons and linear regression
The course does not dwell on the details of computation—its focus is understanding
concepts and interpreting data.
Course Materials
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
Textbook: Statistics for Business and Economics, 6th ed., by Newbold, Carlson,
Thorne.
Computer software: JMP 6 – Statistical Discovery Software, Thomson.
Book and software should have been bundled, but the software distributor bungled the
deal. We will get a CD with the JMP software later in the semester (which is why the
book is about $9 more expensive than it would otherwise). Keep the receipt so you can
get the JMP CD later. Both the book and software will be used in Stat 102 again.
Meanwhile you should buy a 6 month license of the JMP software from the following
online vendor for about $30:
http://estore.e-academy.com/
go to Software, then JMP6, and select the license for 6 months and your computer model.
This license will bridge us over till the CD is available. The CD will allow you to run
JMP for ever, in particular in Stat 102, and in subsequent statistics courses if you choose
to take more.
Homework
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There will be approximately six homework assignments.
Hand in a paper copy; no email. You must keep a dated file with your solutions on
your computer in case the paper copy gets misplaced.
Homework will not be accepted late.
The homework is designed to teach, and you are encouraged to seek help from the
instructor and the TAs if you have questions. You may also work with and help each
other. You must, however, submit your own solutions, with your own write-up and in
your own words. Verbatim copying is against the honor code!
Examinations
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Midterm 1: Wed, Feb 7, 6-8 pm
Midterm 2: Mon, Apr 9, 6-8 pm
Final exam: Thu, May 3, 6:00-8:00pm.
Quizzes: in-class at the beginning of the class, lasting approximately 15 minutes
o January xx
o February xx
o February xx
o March xx
o April xx
o April xx
You must take the quizzes in your own section!
Conflicts with dates: The exams and quizzes have been arranged so as not to conflict with
religious holidays. If you still have a serious conflict, let the instructor know
immediately. Make-ups are not available except for serious medical conditions with
proof of doctor visit. Travel of any kind, including for weddings, do not qualify for
make-ups. If you have conflicts of this type, take this course in another semester.
Form of quizzes and exams: Mostly multiple choice, each question with four possible
answers, only one of which his correct. On occasion there may be a question that asks
for a numeric result.
Content of exam questions: The questions will often not be straightforward. They require
real thinking as well as careful reading of the class notes and a good understanding of the
homework problems. In general, it is a bad idea 1) to try to read the instructor’s mind,
and 2) to live with the impression “I think I got it”.
Grading Policy
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Your lowest quiz score will be dropped. A missing quiz counts as a zero score.
All homeworks and exams count toward the final grade.
Your course grade will be calculated as 20% homework, 15% quizzes, 15% midterm
1, 20% midterm 2, and 30% final exam. These weightings refer to z-score scales
where the standard deviation is the unit:
course score = 0.2· zhw + 0.15· zquizzes + 0.15· zmid1 + 0.2· zmid2 + 0.3· zfinal
(Standard deviations and z-scores will be an important topic in this class. The reason
for using z-scores is to equalize the importance of the various grade components.
This will be explained in detail in the first half of the semester.)
Petition for Regrading
On occasion an exam/quiz/homework question is graded incorrectly or it can be argued
that alternative answers should also be accepted. If so, submit your original
exam/quiz/homework to a TA with a clearly written paragraph that states the reasons for
a regrade.
Lost Homework Policy
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Homeworks do get lost on occasion. As an insurance against this eventuality, keep
the original MS Word file with your solutions on your PC and do not change its time
stamp after the due date anymore. You can still view the file without affecting the
time stamp, but on exiting MS Word answer NO when asked “Do you want to save
the changes to…?”
If your homework has been lost, print it again and also print a screen snapshot of an
Explorer window that shows the folder containing the homework file in “Detail”
mode (for the time stamp in the column with header “Date Modified”). Submit both
to the TAs, and the homework will be accepted.
Electronic Devices

The use of laptops is prohibited in class. Any instance of email and IM activity in
class entails a deduction from the final grade of one grade level (for example, A →
A–, B– → C+).
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The same prohibition applies to the use of cell phones and BlackBerries, in particular
text messaging, as well as entertainment devices.
Violations of Honor Code
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Violations of honor code entail immediately a letter grade of D or F for the whole
course. Neither grade can be erased from the record by retaking the course.
Violations of honor code include, but are not limited to, acts of copying, cheating,
colluding, disrupting of other students’ learning, lying and misrepresenting facts.