STAT 270 syllabus

Summer 2015

Instructor: Jorge Rodrguez

Last updated: May 11th, 2015.

Contact information
You can contact me by e-mail at [email protected].
Between May 11th and August 13th, I will attempt to answer brief questions by email:
-within 24 hours if sent between Monday and Thursday.
-within 48 hours if sent between Friday and Sunday or during holidays.
For questions that require a long answer, please ask in person during class or during my office hours
(see next section).
If you miss a class, I cannot repeat the whole lecture by email or go through the whole explanation
by email to a question that has already been answered at length during class. Please ask your
classmates for notes in those cases, or come to my office hours, or seek help in the Statistics
workshop.

Office hours
From May 13th to August 10th (except when the University is closed for holidays),
Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30 to 11:30 in room K10564.

Where is K10564?
Look at the diagram below. North is up, east is to the right. The red circle represents the
approximate location of K10564, it is upstairs in the 2nd level. Check where it is in relation to the
AQ (upper left corner), the bus loop and the cornerstone (upper right corner).

Schedule
Class takes place Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 to 10:20 in the Images Theatre at
the Burnaby campus.

Textbook:
Introduction to Probability and Statistics, second edition by Tim Swartz. Publisher: Pearson.
ISBN: 978-1-269-73721-0.
The custom softcover text by Pearson Learning Solutions is available in the SFU bookstore. It is
inexpensive ($26) and was written primarily to save you some money. The previous official
textbook sold for $238 back in 2011. There are some typos in the text, visit
http://people.stat.sfu.ca/~tim/lectures270/typos2.pdf for a list of typos and update your text
accordingly.

Additional material and resources:

There are no other required materials. However, if you want to check additional resources, the book
Probability and Statistics by Devore (any edition) will be useful. Other recommended resources
are Introduction to Mathematical Statistics by Hogg and Craig and Mathematical Statistics by
Freund and Walpole.
The course notes can be found on the course's website on Canvas.

Corequisite:
MATH 152 or 155 or 158. Students wishing an intuitive appreciation of a broad range of statistical
strategies may wish to take STAT 100 first.

Calendar Description:
Basic laws of probability, sample distributions. Introduction to statistical inference and applications.
Quantitative.

Outline:
1. Introduction to graphical and numerical descriptive statistics including histogram, boxplot,
scatterplot, sample mean, sample median, sample standard deviation and sample correlation
coefficient.
2. Elementary probability rules, basic combinatorial formulae, conditional probability and
independence.
3. Introduction to discrete distributions including probability mass function, expectation,
binomial distribution and Poisson distribution.
4. Introduction to continuous distributions including probability density function, expectation,
cumulative distribution function, uniform distribution, gamma distribution, exponential
distribution, normal distribution, normal approximation to the binomial distribution, jointly
distributed random variables, statistics and their distributions, Central Limit Theorem.
5. Single sample inference including estimation and testing for proportions and means.
6. Two sample inference including estimation and testing for differences in proportions and
differences in means, paired data.

Course website
I will be posting lecture notes and other relevant information for this course on Canvas,
canvas.sfu.ca. However, your scores for all the exams will be posted on courses.cs.sfu.ca (not
Canvas) by the Statistics workshop coordinator. You will generally get an e-mail from this
coordinator once a new exam score has been posted.
Discounting holidays and days allotted for exams, there will be 33 classes and 32 lessons. You can
expect that each lecture we will cover a complete lesson.
You can also obtain the class notes from http://people.stat.sfu.ca/~tim/stat270d.html . Notice that
this link contains information that not necessarily applies to this particular course. The information
on this syllabus takes precedence over any information appearing on the previous link.

Grading Scheme:
Your grade in this course will be based on the following elements and weights.

There will be 4 midterm exams worth 48% of your total score in the course. Each midterm is
worth 12%.

The Final Exam is worth 52% of your total score in the course.

I dont assign additional work for extra credit. Your grade in this course is assigned based on the
knowledge you can prove on the exams and your assignments.
I do not assign grades based on need, effort or attendance to class.

Statistics Workshop

Main one is located on the Burnaby campus in room K9516 (which is inside K9510). Take a
look at the campus diagram in the 2nd page of this document. Look for the green circle to the
left of the red circle.

Burnaby Stats workshop is usually open Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 4:30pm during
regular semester (except rst week of classes and holidays). Actual schedule will be
announced later.

Open during exams usually on a similar schedule as during the regular term. Final schedules
are sent close to the end of the semester.

A place to work on your own or with a group.

TAs can help you with statistical concepts and exercises.

TAs wont solve your assignments nor give you the answers but they can guide you.

About 20 computers available with internet and statistical software.

Maintain an appropriate level of voice. No shouting, there are others trying to study. Need to
speak on the phone? Please go outside for the duration of your call.

Be corteous. Dont litter. Dont bring your pets, consider others allergies. Clean after
yourself after you are done using a space.

Once marked, quizzes will be available at the Statistics workshop.

You can discuss the marking of the answers in your quizzes with the corresponding TA.

Dont leave your belongings unattended. Expensive items have been lost or stolen in the
past.

Assignments
There will be no homework assigned for marking. However, it is recommended that you solve the
exercises in the textbook in order to practice the concepts covered in the lectures.
You can know what exercises you are supposed to be working on based on the lesson being
currently covered. You can also get an idea of how much material will be covered in the near future
or before a midterm based on the fact that one lesson will be covered during a particular lecture.

Exams
There will be 4 midterm exams worth 48% (12% each) and a Final exam worth 52%.

Midterm 1 (50 minutes length): Friday May 29th 2015 from 9:30 to 10:20 in our regular
classroom in Images Theatre.

Midterm 2 (50 minutes length): Friday June 19th 2015 from 9:30 to 10:20 in our regular
classroom in Images Theatre.

Midterm 3 (50 minutes length): Friday July 10 th 2015 from 9:30 to 10:20 in our regular
classroom in Images Theatre.

Midterm 4 (50 minutes length): Friday July 31s t 2015 from 9:30 to 10:20 in our regular
classroom in Images Theatre.

The final exam (3 hours long) is worth 52% of your final score in this course. The final exam is
cumulative (all material covered throughout the summer term will be tested) and it will take place
on Thursday August 13th from 3:30pm to 6:30pm in a room to be announced.

No notes will be allowed for any of the exams. Only a non-programmable (scientific is ok)
calculator that cannot perform integration will be allowed. You cannot share your calculator with
other students and you cannot use your cell phone as a calculator during exams. If you are unsure
whether your calculator will be allowed on the exams,

b u y SHARP EL-510RNB (or ask for the calculator approved by the Math, Physics,
Chemistry and Biology Departments) for about $10 at the SFU bookstore
OR
get approval from me for your current calculator before the first exam takes place.

The questions in the exams are supposed to test your knowledge of the material in the course, not
your ability to replicate answers to previously solved questions with different numbers or scenarios.
More information will be posted on Canvas prior to the corresponding exam.
Academic dishonesty actions during exams wont be tolerated. Students trying to look at other
directions other than their papers, who use unauthorized notes or electronic devices (such as
programmable calculators) or who try to communicate with other students, will receive a penalty
that can be the deduction of marks from their exams or a score of 0 on that exam. Besides this, a
report of the incident will be completed. A sample of the report is shown below

Rescheduling of exams

If you are unable (for any reason, including sickness) or unwilling to write any of the
midterm exams, its weight will be equally redistributed among the other midterms. If you
don't write any of the midterms, you will lose 48% of your final score in this course, unless
for ALL four quizzes you have a valid reason (sickness, family emergency, etc.) AND can
provide supporting documentation. In this case the final exam will be worth 100% of your
final score for this course. Weddings, concerts, travel plans with your friends or parents, etc.
are not considered valid reasons to miss an exam. Once you sit on a midterm exam, its
weight cannot be transferred to other exams.

SFU does accept religious reasons as a valid excuse to miss a quiz or an exam. Between the
two alternatives that SFU offers instructors to deal with students who have missed an
academic component due to a religious reason, I have chosen the same one described in the
previous point. The weight of any missed midterm exam on grounds of religious activities
will be equally redistributed among the other midterms. If the missed exam in question is the
final exam, refer to the paragraph below to know what the procedure is to write a make up
final exam.

Valid reasons to miss the nal exam usually include sickness or a family (rst degree
relatives) emergency. Proper documentation supporting your situation must be presented in
order to qualify for a make-up exam and it will be evaluated by the Head of the Department,
who will grant or deny permission. Weddings, concerts, travel plans with your friends or
parents, etc. are not considered valid reasons to miss a final exam. A make-up nal exam
will be scheduled during the rst week of the Fall 2015 semester. For sickness related
reasons, please provide the form found at https://www.sfu.ca/mbb/Ugrd/documents/healthcarestatement-general.pdf
o filled out,
o signed
AND
o stamped
by your Canadian licensed healthcare provider and you.

Final exam hardship

If you have more than 2 scheduled nal exams within 24 hours, arrangements can be made to
have the middle exam rescheduled. You must inform me immediately in case your Stat 270 nal
exam should be rescheduled (only if it is the middle exam) and at least a month in advance if
some of your nal exams have not yet been scheduled by the beginning of the Summer 2015
term. If your nal exam for Stat 270 has to be moved to another day or time, it can be scheduled
on any of the official SFU examination days between August 12 th and the 21st, so you should be
available on those dates (i.e., you should not make travel plans on those days if you are in this
situation). Travel plans are not a valid reason for not being able to write the final exam on the
original or a new date.

If you have a nal exam scheduled immediately after or immediately before the Stat 270 nal
exam but on a different campus, you will be given the option to write the other exam at the
Burnaby campus (make arrangements with the corresponding Department) or to write the Stat
270 nal exam on the other campus (if possible). Please inform me immediately if you have this
kind of conict or at least 2 weeks before the date of our nal exam in case some of your final
exams haven't been scheduled yet.

Exams with special accomodations

If you need special accomodations to write an exam, please contact the CSD at SFU,
http://students.sfu.ca/disabilityaccess.html. They will request documentation from you and make an
assessement on your situation while keeping your case private. If they have a request or suggestion
for me, they will let me know. No special accomodations or requests for additional time to write
exams or completing assignments will be granted without a proper assessement from the CSD. It is
best to go early in the semester because it takes time to properly register with them.

Marking of exams
All exams will be marked by the Stats workshop TAs. The scores for your midterm
exams will be posted on courses.cs.sfu.ca (NOT on Canvas).
You will receive an email from the Stats workshop coordinator stating that your midterm
exam has been marked or an announcement will be made during lecture. At this point you
can go to the Stats workshop and ask a TA for your marked midterm. You will need to
show an ID, preferably an SFU one, in order to retrieve your exam.

If you think a question has been wrongly marked/assessed please discuss it with
the TA who marked your question. To know who marked your question, take a look at
the information displayed outside the Stats workshop (to the left of the green drop boxes).
This information is displayed for 1 or 2 weeks only. Please discuss any issues with the
TAs during this timeframe. After 2 weeks, no revisions will be accepted. If the TA
changes your score, he/she will fill out a form and it will be forwarded to the Stats
workshop coordinator. It can take up to 2 weeks for your score to be updated online.

If your total score for an exam was wrongly calculated, you can let any TA know
about it. If the TA changes your score, he/she will fill out a form and it will be forwarded
to the Stats workshop coordinator. It can take up to 2 weeks for your score to be updated
online.


If your score shows wrongly online or you don't see online a score for your
marked midterm (remember your scores are not on Canvas but on courses.cs.sfu.ca), you
can contact the Stats workshop coordinator in person on room K10552 (one level above
the Stats workshop) or at [email protected].

If after discussing it with the corresponding TA you still don't agree with your
score for a question on a midterm or if you prefer me to reassess many questions on your
midterm, please provide me with a WRITTEN note explaining where and why you think
a particular question or questions were marked incorrectly. Once you submit your exam
in this way, I will revise ALL of it (not only the questions for which you dont agree on
the marking) and may update your score. This means your new score can remain the
same, can go up or even go down. At the bottom of your note write I understand that by
submitting my exam for revision, my new score can decrease, stay the same or increase,
and sign.

Remind
Remind is a tool that will let me communicate with you in emergency situations where it would be
impractical or of little use if I email you (for example if a lecture has to be cancelled at the last
moment). I advice you to register for this service following the instructions below. I don't get to see
your phone number and you don't get to know my phone number, messaging happens using
remind.com as an intermediary. I won't use this tool to communicate everyday matters but only in
emergency situations. Since I started using 'remind', I haven't had the need to send a message but I
started using it because there were a couple of situations in the past where it had been a very useful
tool. If you want to know more about this service, visit remind.com.

Tutor
Students looking for a Tutor should send an email to [email protected] with Tutor Request in the
subject line. Please only include information that you would like forwarded to our tutors mailing
list. The rate has to be agreed between you and your potential tutor.

The ne print
Students should be aware that they have certain rights to condentiality concerning the return of
course papers and the posting of marks. Please pay careful attention to the options discussed in class
at the beginning of the semester. Students are reminded that Academic Honesty is a cornerstone of
the acquisition of knowledge. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University.
Students are encouraged to review policies pertaining to academic integrity available on Student
Services webpage at http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html .