Math 263 Syllabus

Dates can also be found in the PDF Calendar and WebAssign Calendar.

Section	001 and 004
Schedule	Section 001 MWF 9:00-10:50am, Section 004 - MWF 10:00-10:50
Room	Saguaro Hall 114 (Both Sections)
Term	Fall 2012
Instructor	Marek Rychlik, Professor of Mathematics
Office	MATH 605
Phone	621-6865
Email	rychlik@u.arizona.edu
Instr. Webpage	http://alamos.math.arizona.edu
Course Webpage	http://alamos.math.arizona.edu/~rychlik/math263

Office hours

General Information

Course Description (from the Schedule of Classes):

Sample spaces, random variables and their properties, with considerable emphasis on applications. Computer exercises and hands-on activities will be used in class to introduce the concepts.

Text

Introduction to the Practice of Statistics - 7th edition, Moore, McCabe, and Craig Published by W. H. Freeman (mandatory)

Attendance

General rules

Students are expected to attend every scheduled class and to be familiar with the University Class Attendance policy as it appears in the General Catalog. It is the student’s responsibility to keep informed of any announcements, syllabus adjustments or policy changes made during scheduled classes. Students are expected to behave in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct and the Code of Academic Integrity. The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own. University policies can be found at http://policy.arizona.edu/academic Students who miss the first two classes will be administratively dropped unless they have made other arrangements.

Attendance and clicker polling

A student who does not participate in clicker polls on a given day is automatically assumed absent on that day (see below to find out about clickers).

Self-directed reading and the use of external resources

Due to a large amount of material covered in this class, students are expected to study many topics on their own. Such topics will be essential to successful completion of homework assignments and the exams.

Reading ahead

The student is expected to be familiar with the contents of the material being covered. Here is a simple rule not to fall behind on reading: read at least one section ahead of the section just covered.

An Example

According to the class Calendar, Section 1.3 is covered on August 26. Sections 2.1 and 2.2 are covered on August 29. You will be expected to have read Sections 2.1-2.2 during the August 29 class period. You will be asked RF responder ("clicker") questions during the August 29 class period on the contents of Sections 2.1 and 2.2.

Divergence from the Calendar

Sections will be covered in the order stated on the Calendar. However, it is likely that minor divergence from the Calendar will develop. In this case you should determine your read-ahead sections based on what is actually covered in class. The instructor may not explicitly state in class which section you should read ahead.

Clicker (RF responder) polling participation

The student will receive an RF responder (commonly known as "clicker") free of charge. The clicker is a loan from the Math Department and the student must return the clicker in a working condition to the instructor at the end of the semester. The student is expected to participate in class polls. The result of the polls will be used in several ways:

• As a method of checking attendance and participation. This part is for credit. Typically, there will be several clicker questions every class period. Attendance and participation do earn credit, see below for the precise point assignment for all class activities.
• As an instructor's aid to guage student's progress and understanding of the material (not for credit).
• As a way to generate ad hoc polling data to illustrate certain important statistical concepts (not for credit).

Clickers may be used for conducting occasional quizzes for credit, instead of conventional paper quizzes. Such quizzes will be announced with sufficient notice, just as paper quizzes would be.

Help

Help may be obtained as usual during instructor's posted office hours. In addition, the Math Department conducts tutoring specifically with Math 263 in mind, in Math East 145. The tutors are often current and past Math 263 instructors, and the tutoring hours are very flexible.

Additionally, help may be obtained from an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) working with the instructor on this course. The UTA will hold office hours and conduct tutoring in the general tutoring room (Math East 145).

Computer and software skills

General knowledge

This class requires general proficiency in using a computer, varying from beginning to intermediate levels. Some advanced skills will be required. Some assignments will assume that you have access to a Windows-based computer (mainly to the problems with Microsoft Excel on other platforms).

Microsoft Excel

Intermediate Excel skills are required.

Excel plugins

The Data Analysis plugin

The RExcel plugin

The plugin provides an interface to a high quality, advanced software called R. R is free of charge and will serve as a replacement for advanced statistical software repeatedly mentioned in the textbook, such as Minitab, SPlus, SPSS or SAS. Only very simple uses of R will be covered primarily in the second half of the class. The student is expected to be able to install the R and RExcel software on their computer, following directions available on Wikipedia.

Calculuators

You can use a calculator of your choice during the exams. The calculator should support basic statistical functions such as mean and standard deviation calculations. TI-85 falls into this category. Other functions, such as the built-in normal distribution or t-distribution, will not be used during the exams. TI-83 and TI-84 support these features. This instructor will base the tests on the use of statistical tables, which makes the availability of advanced statistical functions optional. Graphing capabilities may also be useful, but will not be relied upon during tests.

Late Homework Policy

No late homework shall be accepted.

Homework Assignments

WebAssign assignments

A commercial computerized system called WebAssign will be used with preloaded on-line tests. Information on WebAssign will be provided in class. WebAssign is Web-based and requires any computer with a relatively new browser.

Microsoft Excel assignments

Some assignments will require working with Excel. The student is expected to either have or acquire relevant proficiency at using the software. This class will not teach the student the basics of Excel. Sample assignments are available on-line. Due to the use of Excel, MS Windows is recommended for these assignments. There will be approximately 6 Excel assignments.

Summary of In-Class Exams and Assignments

Assignment/Exam Name	Date	Weight
Midterm 1	Monday, September 10, 2011	100 pts
Midterm 2	Monday, October 8, 2010	100 pts
Midterm 3	Monday, November 19, 2010	100 pts
Final	Section 001 - Thursday, 12/13/2012, 8:00 am - 10:00 am, Section 004 - Friday, 12/7/2012, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm	200 pts
WebAssign	N/A	100 pts
Excel/R Assignments	N/A	100 pts
Clicker Quizzes	N/A	50 pts
Total		750

The final exam is scheduled according to the Schedule of Classes.

The University’s Exam regulations for final exam week will be strictly followed. The regulations can be found at http://www.registrar.arizona.edu/schedule094/exams/examrules.htm .

The Final Grade

The final grade will be strictly based on the total points for all assignments and exams. The cut-offs for grades shall be as follows;

Point range	Grade
676 - 750	A
601 - 675	B
526 - 600	C
451 - 525	D
< 450	E

The instructor may lower the grade cut-offs at his discretion. The cut-offs shall not be increased.

Missed exams and quizzes

Students are expected to be present for all exams. If a verifiable emergency arises which prevents you from taking an in-class exam at the regularly scheduled time, you must notify your instructor as soon as possible, and in any case, prior to the next regularly scheduled class. Make-up exams and quizzes will be administered only at the discretion of the instructor and only under extreme circumstances. If a student is allowed to make up a missed exam, (s)he must take it at a mutually arranged time. No further opportunities will be extended. Failure to contact your instructor as stated above or inability to produce sufficient evidence of a real emergency will result in a grade of zero on the exam. Other remedies, such as adjusting credit for other exams, may be considered.

Additional Course Policies

Students with disabilities

If you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of this course, please meet with your instructor to discuss ways to ensure your full participation in the course. If you determine that formal, disability-related accommodations are necessary, it is very important that you be registered with Disability Resources (621-3268; drc.arizona.edu). You should notify your instructor of your eligibility for reasonable accommodations by TBA. You and your instructor can then plan how best to coordinate your accommodations.

Incompletes

The grade of I will be awarded if all of the following conditions are met:

• The student has completed all but a small portion of the required work.
• The student has scored at least 50% on the work completed.
• The student has a valid reason for not completing the course on time.
• The student agrees to make up the material in a short period of time.
• The student asks for the incomplete before grades are due, 48 hours after the final exam.