Math 2200 Spring 2016

1. Section Information

Section Time Location Instructor email Office Hours
FL2014 L24 Math 2200 01: Elem Stats M-W-F-- 11:00A-12:00P Busch 100 B. Blank brian@math.wustl.edu Cupples I 224
M 1:30PM-2:30PM
F 10:00AM-11:00AM
FL2014 L24 Math 2200 02: Elem Stats M-W-F-- 12:00P-1:00P Busch 100 B. Blank brian@math.wustl.edu Cupples I 224
M 1:30PM-2:30P
F 10:00AM-11:00AM


Please include [M2200] in the subject line of any email message that pertains to this course. This is particularly important if you send the email that does not bear the address of a university account. Including [M2200] in the subject line will help avoid accidental deletion of your still unread message.



2. Grading Information


There are two components to grading: exams and online homework.

There will be three evening exams during the semester, E1, E2, E3.

There will also be a final, E4.

Exam Date Location Time Your Score Solutions
E1 Tuesday February 9 Check here on exam day. 7:00-9:00PM Available day after exam Available day after exam
E2 Tuesday March 8 Check here on exam day. 7:00-9:00PM Available day after exam Available day after exam
E3 Tuesday April 12 Check here on exam day. 7:00-9:00PM Available day after exam Available day after exam
E4 Thursday, May 5 2016 Check here on exam day. 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM Available day after exam Available day after exam


The three evening exams, E1, E2, E3 and the final exam, E4, each out of 100 (twenty equally-weighted multiple choice questions), will be combined in the following way to obtain an exam point total, T, out of 100:

T := (E1 + E2 + E3 + 2*E4 - min(Ei : i = 1 .. 4))/4


The exam score T, scaled down to 93 points, and the homework score, HW, out of 7 will be combined to obtain an overall score S defined by:

S := 0.93*T + HW

This will be translated into a letter grade of A, B, C, D, F (with plus and minus shadings) in a way that is not stricter than the following table:

Numerical Range Letter Grade
[80 , 100] A
[65 , 80) B
[50 , 65) C
[40 , 50) D
[0 , 40) F


Plus/minus shadings will NOT be determined until just before the final grades have been submitted. If the final letter grades have not been entered into Blackboard, then the cutoffs for plusses and minuses have not yet been determined and no inquiry can, or will, be answered.

For example, if a student obtains evening exam scores of 85, 60, and 70, and a final exam score of 80, then the 80 replaces the 60, and T is equal to (85 + 80 + 70 + 80)/4, or 78.75. If the student's homework grade HW is 6.75 out of 7, then S := 0.93*78.75 + 6.75 = 79.9875. That is guaranteed to earn at least a B-, but it almost surely would correspond to a letter grade of at least a B+. It might bring an A-, but there is no guarantee of that because 79.9875 < 80.0. Rounding up may not occur.

It is unlikely that a need for "upward curving" will arise. After the final exam, grades will be determined according to the algorithm described above. If the grade distribution is significantly lower than usual, then "curving" will be considered. I have not resorted to substantial curving since 1997 (and that was for a differential equations course). In M132 F2015, I lowered the cutoffs for C- and D so that the overall grade distribution was similar to previous grade distributions.

3. Exam Policies

The following subsections concern attendance at exams, excused absences, scratch paper, cheat sheets, calculators, and so on.

Attendance

Attendance at each of the three evening exams and at the final exam is mandatory. If you are absent and you have not been excused, then you will receive a score of 0 for the exam. A single grade of 0 on an evening exam will be replaced by a final exam score, assuming that that score is not also 0. However, a final exam score can replace only one evening exam score.

Excused Absences

Excused absences can be granted in cases of illness and bereavement. In general, you must bring the matter to my attention before the exam so that you can be excused from it. An excused absence for an evening exam temporarily results in no reported grade for the missing exam. After the final exam, a statistical technique, multiple linear regression, is used to generate a numerical grade for the missing exam score. This ``expected'' grade is then used in the formula for T given above. An excused absence for the final exam results in the grade of I (incomplete). The normal method of completing the course is to take the Math 2200 final exam the following Fall.

The need for two excused absences is rare, and there is no general policy. We do not use multiple linear regression when there are two excused absences. Resolution of the missing scores is handled on a case-by-case basis, but the method most frequently used is to assign the grade of I (incomplete) and have the student take the missing exams the next semester to complete the course.

Exam Rules - Seating and Booklets

Seating is preassigned - click on the seat lookup link (Section 2 above) on the day of the exam. If there is a problem with your assigned seat, then ask a proctor to relocate you. All calculations are to be done in the examination booklet provided. The booklet has your name on it. If for some reason there is no booklet with your name on it, then you will be given one that is marked EXTRA EXAM. If so, write your name on the booklet. Answers are marked on scan cards. Work in the examination booklet is not graded. Enter your answers carefully and check each one. Verify that you have not omitted any lines and that you have not filled in two choices on one line.

Scratch paper is NOT permitted. The cover page of your examination booklet states that all work is to be done in the booklet. Other mathematics classes will be taking their exams at the same time as you take yours. It is possible that scratch paper is allowed and distributed to students in those other classes. However, you may not ask for or accept scratch paper.

Exam Rules - Aids

On each exam, ONE "cheat sheet" in the form of a 4" x 6" note card (the medium size of the standard three sizes) will be permitted on each of the four exams. Both sides may be used.

Any calculator will be permitted (and some sort of calculator is strongly advised). It is not anticipated that a sophisticated calculator will be necessary, so, if you do not already own a calculator more advanced than a basic TI-30, it is not recommended that you purchase one. Familiarity with a more advanced statistics calculator can provide a time advantage, but a large number of students get by with a basic calculator and have no trouble finishing the exams in the alloted time.

Violations of these policies will be referred to the Academic Integrity Committee (and the same goes for copying answers, of course).

4. Text

There is no textbook. Lecture notes can be downloaded from my stats folder. Everything on which you will be tested can be found in the notes. Experience shows that most students neither need nor want any other material to supplement the notes. However, experience also shows that a small number of students do wish to consult a published textbook. If you find yourself in that group, then I recommend one of the following two texts:

Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning From Data,
by Alan Agresti and Christine Franklin

or

Stats: Data and Models
by Richard De Veaux, Paul Velleman, and David Bock

If I were getting either book, I would look for the second edition, which will be much cheaper than more recent editions. An older edition of a textbook is often an inconvenient or poor substitute for the current edition of a course textbook, but for a self-study accompaniment, it is usually just as good. Of the two books listed, I prefer the first, but I follow the second a bit more closely (because it has often been the book adopted for the course in recent years).

5. Syllabus

Week Sections Suggested Problems
#1 (01/20, 01/22) Chapter 1: Sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 Chapter 1: 1-11
#2 (01/25, 01/27, 01/29) Chapter 2: Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 Chapter 2: 1-10
#3 (02/01, 02/03, 02/05) Chapter 3: Sections 3.1, 3.2 Chapter 3: 1-20
#4 (02/08, 02/10, 02/12)
EXAM: Tuesday, Feb 09
(Covers thru 02/05)
Chapter 4: Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 Chapter 4: 1-8
#5 (02/15, 02/17, 02/19)
Chapter 5: Sections 5.1, 5.2 Chapter 5: 1-8
#6 (02/22, 02/24, 02/26) Chapter 6
Section 6.1 (covered on exam)
Sections 6.2, 6.3 (reading only, not covered on exam)
Chapter 6: 1-5
#7 (02/29 03/02, 03/04) Chapter 7: Sections 7.1-7.4 Chapter 7: 1-32
#8 (03/07, 03/09, 03/11)
EXAM: Tuesday, March 08
(Covers through 03/04)

Chapter 7: Section 7.5
Chapter 8: Section 8.1
Chapter 7: 33-44
Chapter 8: 1,2
#9 (03/14-03/18)
Spring Break
(No Classes)



#10 (03/21, 03/23, 03/25) Chapter 8: Sections 8.2-8.4 Chapter 8: 3-10
#11 (03/28, 03/30, 04/01)
Chapter 9: Sections 9.1-9.4 Chapter 9: 1-5, 7-18, 21-26
#12 (04/04, 04/06, 04/08) Chapter 9: Section: 9.5
Chapter 10: Sections 10.1-10.4
Chapter 9: 6, 19, 20
Chapter 10: 1-7, 11-13, 15, 22
#13 (04/11, 04/13, 04/15)
EXAM: Tuesday, April 12
(Covers through 04/04,
Section 9.5 inclusive)

Chapter 10: Sections 10.5-10.6 Chapter 10: 8-10, 14, 16-21
#14 (04/18, 04/20, 04/22) Chapter 12 Chapter 12: 1-6
#15 (04/25, 04/27, 04/29) Chapter 11 Chapter 11: 1-6
FINAL EXAMINATION Thursday, May 5
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Please verify in Course Listings


6.Homework

Several homework sets will be assigned. Homework is done through Webwork, which is accessed through this link:

Webwork

Fall 2014 was the first time Webwork was used at Washington University for a statistics course. (If you have had a calculus course here, then you know that we use it regularly for calculus courses.) My opinion is that the statistics exercises that are available are not as good as those that are available for calculus, and they are more problematic. Pay attention to specific alerts that you will receive by email.

7. Links to Exam History


The math department web-posts many exams. Here is the link to the page of departure for the department's archive of old exams: Old Exams in PDF format A caveat: Old exams sometimes cover different topics. Other instructors often ask questions that I would not (and doubtless vice versa). In any event, I have already used what I consider the best of these old exam questions as exercises in the posted notes. Exams I have previously written for this course can be found here: My old 2200 exams in PDF format. Because you may reasonably infer that I consider the questions on these exams to be excellent exam fodder, there is no reason for me to highlight them a second time by inclusion as exercises in the lecture notes.

8. Arts & Sciences Spring 2016 Academic Calendar



Brian E. Blank
Department of Mathematics
Washington University in St. Louis
1 Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130

Phone: (314) - 935 - 6763
Fax: (314) - 935 - 6839

e-mail: brian@math.wustl.edu

Last Updated: 25 March 2016