MA180: Statistics

Definition of Statistics (according to Wikipedia) The study of the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. It deals with all aspects of data including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.

Why Study Statistics? Useful in both professional and everyday life. Essential part of medicine, psychology, politics engineering, etc. Looks great on a Résumé List of direct applications: Index of Applications (Textbook, page xxi)

New Class Format! More concentration on statistical software than calculations-by-hand. BUT, also more concentration on understanding what the outputs mean! 3 credit hours 75-min Lecture 75-min Lab Self study and/or additional lab time in MLL Lab will include instructions on using statistical software. I will be in the MLL on Fridays for 2 hours (TBA)

Syllabus Schedule Copyright © 2010, 2007, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In Class Questions Example Used to test your understanding of reading/topics Doesn’t count as credit, but helps you learn more (thus increasing your grade!) Example What was the most Googled Question in 2013? What is Ricin? What is DOMA? What is Twerking? What is Gluten? Source: Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/17/google-top-search-terms-2013_n_4460102.html

Chapter 1 Introduction To Statistics 1.2 Statistical Thinking 1.3 Types of Data 1.4 Critical Thinking 1.5 Collecting Sample Data Copyright © 2010, 2007, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Definitions Data Population Sample Collections of observations (see section 1.3 for types of data). Population The complete collection of all individuals (data) to be studied. Sample A sub collection of members selected from a population. Example: The ages of UAB students Data Each student’s age Population Every UAB student Sample This class. Copyright © 2010, 2007, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Definitions Parameter Statistic A numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a population. Statistic A numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a sample. Example: Average age of a UAB student Parameter Average age of every UAB student Statistic Average age of this class

General Goals of Statistics Making sense of lots of data Summary Statistics Graphing data Identifying ‘unusual’ occurances 2. Determining characteristics of a population from a sample. Using a sample statistic to estimate the population parameter. (Confidence Intervals) Testing the value of a parameter from a using data from a sample. (Hypothesis testing). Naturally, these results will never be 100% accurate. BUT, we can determine how accurate they are AND how to improve this accuracy

Course Plan Basics Probability Distributions Central Limit Theorem! Definitions Graphing Data Summary Statistics Probability Core concepts Rules of Probability Playing Poker Distributions The way data is ‘shaped’ Central Limit Theorem! When everything comes together Estimating and Testing using Samples Confidence Intervals Hypothesis Testing ANOVA

Thursday’s Class Will be held in the Math Learning Lab: HHB 202 Will setup CourseCompass account and begin practicing homework problems Read Chapters 1 & 2 today or tomorrow.