Mathematics 114
STATISTICAL METHODS FOR
THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Fall 2006
Jeff Witmer King 205 775-5706 (or 775-8380)
Goal: The goal of this course is to help you develop statistical reasoning skill, which should make you a more effective scientific investigator.
Text and Software:
The text is Statistics for the Life Sciences, 3rd ed., by Samuels and Witmer. For software we will use the Macintosh statistical package Data Desk, which is on the campus network.
Course Outline:
We will cover essentially all of Statistics for the Life Sciences. I hope to cover chapters 1-5 by the time of the first exam (see below), chapters 6-8 for exam 2, and chapters 9 - 11 for exam 3. The final will be comprehensive.
Note that this is a statistics course. We will use mathematics as a tool, but will concentrate on statistical ideas, not on mathematics. Most of you will find the mathematics in this course to be rather easy. If you see statistics as mathematics then you may think that this is an easy course. However, most people -- including people who have been using statistical methods for many years -- find the key concepts in statistics to be quite hard to really understand. It is easy to get a "surface" understanding of statistics. It is even easier, with a computer, to "do" statistics. It is hard to really understand what you are doing. Class time -- and exam questions -- will be devoted to the understanding part. To fully benefit from what we do in class, you need to read the text before class.
Office Hours: 10-11 MWF, 3-4 MWF
Note: During office hours I will almost certainly be in or near my office. I am usually in my office between 9 and 5:30, except when I am in class or at a meeting; you should feel free to drop in and see me at any time. You only need an appointment if you want to guarantee that I will be in at a time other than an office hour.
Homework:
Some of the homework problems at the end of each section and chapter have solutions in the back of the book. Problems will be assigned from these exercise sets on a daily basis. These will not be collected, but they are good practice for the exams and you should do them. Some homework will be assigned, collected, and graded from those problems for which solutions are not given in the back of the book. I'll make solutions available for the "hand in" problems after they are due. All homework is due on the announced date at the beginning of class. The Math Department policy is to not accept late work. A list of homework problems is given at the end of this syllabus.
Web:
Course information is available on Blackboard (http://bb.oberlin.edu/). I'll post homework sets and announcements here.
Labs:
There is a weekly computer lab session that will be held in King 137. For the most part, the labs will accompany material presented in lecture, but sometimes new material will be introduced in lab. We will use the computer package Data Desk extensively in the labs. I will use the Computing Center’s file server network as a means of making data available to you. You will need to use your account on the campus network.
In most weeks you will be expected to hand in a completed lab exercise sheet, as evidence that you have done the work and have answered the appropriate questions. These lab sheets will be graded and, taken together over the semester, will count for 100 points (the equivalent of an exam).
Exams/Projects/Grades:
We will have three midterm exams and a comprehensive final. You will also complete a project in which you collect and analyze data of your choice. The project report is due near the end of the semester. I'll provide more information about this later. The exams are worth 100 points each. You may bring a 3x5 card with notes written on one side to each exam. The final is worth 150 points and is open-book. The labs are worth 100 points (together) and the project is worth 100 points. Homework is worth 100 points. I'll drop the 2 lowest lab report scores and the 2 lowest homework scores from your grade. Course grades are based on total points earned.
Calculators:
You will want to have a calculator for exams, but you don’t need anything fancy like built-in statistical features. Some calculators, such as the TI-83, have extensive statistics capabilities -- which are very useful -- but you don't need such a calculator for this course.
Exam Schedule:
Exam 1 Friday, 6 October (tentative)
Exam 2 Friday, 10 November (tentative)
Exam 3 Wednesday, 6 December (tentative)
Final Monday, 18 December, 7:00 p.m. (definite)
Homework list
These dates are subject to change, so take a look at the course web page from time to time (but I expect to be able to stick to this schedule).
Chapter 2 do: 2,4,11,18,26,27,31,53,56,73
hand in: 20,28,54,57,66,80 due Wednesday 9/13
Chapter 3 do: 5,9a,16,18,31,45,47
hand in: 7,10a,15,19,26,33,46 due Friday 9/22
Chapter 4 do: 3,4,8,12,18,31
hand in: 9,10,11,15 due Wednesday 9/27
Chapter 5 do: 1,4,5,15,20,23,34,47
hand in: 7,10,18,35,40a,50 due Friday 9/29
Chapter 6 do: 1,7,10,11,16,20
hand in: 2,6,13,18 due Wednesday 10/11
Chapter 6 do: 28.37,40,43,52,59
hand in: 29,31,36,39,41,49,58 due Monday 10/23
Chapter 7 do: 1,7,10,23,25,29,42,46,48,54
hand in: 4,11,16,30,31,36,50,51 due Friday 10/27
Chapter 7 do: 62,64,76,77,79,92
hand in: 63,70,80,107 due Wednesday 11/1
Chapter 8 do: 13,21,31,41
hand in: 2,16,20,39 due Friday 11/3
Chapter 9 do: 3,4,9,14,17
hand in: 5,6,19,26,43,44 due Monday 11/13
Chapter 10 do: 1,2,8,15,18,40
hand in: 3,11,17,22,41 due Friday 11/17
Chapter 10 do: 29,30,49,55,59,63
hand in: 37,48,58,65 due Monday 11/20
Chapter 11 do: 3,4,9,18,28,38
hand in: 5,8,12,15,22,31,39 due Wednesday 11/29
Chapter 12 do: 4,7,15,23,29a,b,32,44
hand in: 6,12,13,22,39,41 due Friday 12/8
Chapter 13 do: 1,9
hand in: 6,12,14 due Wednesday 12/13