Sunday, August 29, 2010

Practice problems for homework 1

1) Here are the homicide numbers for Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco from earlier in this century.

Oakland: 96 homicides, 399,000 population
Richmond: 40 homicides, 99,000 population
San Francisco: 96 homicides, 775,000 population

Find the murder rates from these years, rounded to the nearest tenth per 100,000 population and rank them from lowest (1st) to highest (3rd).

2) Here is a list of numbers. It is the number of wins by teams in the American League at the end of the 2008 regular season.

97, 95, 89, 86, 68, 89, 88, 81, 75, 74, 100, 79, 75, 61


a) Make a stem and leaf plot for the data.
b) Find the five number summary
c) Find IQR and the high and low outlier thresholds
d) Is there any outlying data?
e) find the average, rounded to the nearest tenth.

Answers in the comments.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Link to data on Box Office Mojo website (top 100 movies of 2008)

The following link will take you to a data set we will put into an Excel spreadsheet.

The top 100 box office movies of 2008

Syllabus for Fall 2010

Math 13: Intro to Statistics
Fall 2010 – Laney College
Saturday: 9:00am-12:50 pm
Instructor: Matthew Hubbard
Email address: mhubbard@peralta.edu
Recommended textbook: none
Class website: budgetstats.blogspot.com

Office hours:
M: 8:30-8:55 am G-210 (Classroom)
Th: 10:00-10:25 am Math lab G-201
F: 8:30-8:55 am G-210 (Classroom)

Add and drop class dates
Last date to add: Sat., Sept. 11
Last date to drop class without a “W”: Fri., Sept 24
Last date to drop class with a “W”: Wed., Nov. 24

Holiday schedule for Saturday schedule
Saturday after Thanksgiving Saturday, Nov. 27

Test dates:
Midterm 1: Saturday, Sept. 25
Midterm 2: Saturday, Oct. 30
Comprehensive Final: Saturday, Dec. 11 9:00 am- noon

Homework to be turned in: Assigned each week, due FRIDAY AT NOON.
Late homework accepted AT THE BEGINNING of the class
Quizzes: One every week in weeks without a midterm or final

Grading system

Homework 20%
Lab 5%
Quizzes 25% *
Midterm I 25% *
Midterm II 25% *
Final 25%

Lowest two of the homework scores will be dropped from the total.
Lowest two of the quiz scores will be dropped from the total.
*Lowest total out of 100 points the quiz total and two midterms will be dropped from the final grade.
Anyone getting a higher grade out of 100 points on the final than the weighted average of all grades combined will get the final percentage instead deciding the final grade. This option is only available to students who have missed at most three homework assignments.

Class rules: All cell phones and electronic communication devices off during class.
No hats, hoodies or headphones worn during quizzes and exams.
No calculators that also combine a cell phone or text message machine.

Recommended calculator: TI-30XIIs (any calculator with at least two lines of output will do, the TI-30XIIs is the cheapest that does all the things you need to do in this class. If you need help with any Texas Instruments calculator, I should be able to steer you in the right direction. I haven’t used other brands of calculators as much.)


The TI-83 or TI-84 are also excellent choices, but much more expensive. The TI-34 Mulitview is also good and only slightly more expensive than the TI-30XIIs


Academic honesty: All assignments you turn in, homework, exams and quizzes, must be your own work. Anyone caught cheating on these assignments will be punished, where the punishment can be as severe as failing the assignment and being banned from the class for an indeterminate period.



Student Learning Outcomes

Describe numerical and categorical data using statistical terminology and notation.
Understand how to determine probability of deterministic events in real life situations.
Analyze and explain relationships between variables in a sample or a population.
Make inferences about populations based on data obtained from samples.
Given a particular statistical or probabilistic context, determine whether or not a particular analytical methodology is appropriate and explain why.