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Course prerequisites:   MA242

Required text (WMS): Dennis D. Wackerly, William Mendenhall III, and Richard L. Schaeffer (2008).  Mathematical Statistics with Applications, 7th Edition. Brooks/Cole-Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 978-0-495-11081-1 (ISBN-10: 0-495-11081-7)

WMS Companion website Publisher provides Applets (see Browser Notes for JAVA requirements) and book supplements.

Homework: Homework will be assigned and due as indicated on the homework and lecture page. Unexcused late homework will not be accepted. The TA will grade homework and assign a score for each homework set. The final homework average will be computed after dropping the two lowest grades.

Homework grading: The end grade for each homework set is on a 100 point scale.  The grade is calculated from two parts, completion and accuracy.  The completion portion assigns credit if an earnest attempt is made to solve the problem, and the accuracy portion assigns credit for a correct solution. Partial credit is assigned in each part.  The completion percentage is calculated by dividing the number of problems attempted by the number of problem in the homework assignment.  The accuracy percentage is calculated by dividing the number of problems answered correctly that do not have answers in the back of the book, by the number of problems in the homework assignment that do not have answers in the back of the book. The total score is the average of the completion and accuracy scores.

It is important to check the homework and lecture page often since it is updated regularly.

Staying ahead of the instructor:  See Doonesbury

Examinations: Examinations will be closed book and closed notes.  However students will be permitted to bring one 8½ by 11 inch sheet of notes (both sides, any content) to each of the exams.  The final exam will be cumulative.  Bring calculators to all exams.

Old Examinations: Links to old examinations are provided (without solutions) in the table below. Because of differences in pacing, coverage and emphasis from semester to semester, these exam do not necessarily reflect the kind of questions that will be on this semester's exams.

Year	Previous Exams
2002	MT1	MT2		Final
2003	MT1	MT2		Final
2004	MT1	MT2		Final
2005	MT1	MT2	MT3	Final
2006	MT1	MT2		Final
2007	MT1	MT2		Final

Exam schedule:

Asking questions: If you have questions about lectures, homework assignments, exams, procedures or any other aspect of the course please log onto http://courses.ncsu.edu/ , follow the links to "ST" and "ST421" and click on "Message Board".  Then click on "Post New Topic", enter your question in the Message box, and click on "Submit Message".  You will receive a response from me or another student. Everyone in the class will be able see your question and the response.

email you send to me:  Because I receive so much spam with my email I sometimes miss email messages from students.  Before I delete my spam messages I will search the subject line for "ST421", so when you write to me please include this in your subject line.

Anonymous mail: If you wish to send me an anonymous comment, suggestion or reminder, please visit: Wolfware Anonymous Feedback site

Grading System:  Final grade will be based on:

                              Final Semester Score = (HW + M₁ + M₂ +2×F)/5

where HW is the homework average (out of 100) after dropping the two lowest scores and M₁, M₂ and F are the scores (out of 100) on the two midterm exams and the final exam.  Grades will be assigned on the ± scale according to this grading scale.

On-line grade book: I will record your homework and examination scores in the ST421 Grade Book as they become available.  Please check these from time to time and let me know if the posted scores differ from those in your records.  Note that the scores posted on the Grade Book are not official. 

Auditing:  Auditors are expected to attend class regularly and submit homework on the same schedule as the other students.  The final grade for auditors (AU or NR) will be based on their final homework average.

Policy on Academic Integrity:  The University policy on academic integrity is spelled out in Appendix L of the NCSU Code of Student Conduct.   For a more thorough elaboration see the NCSU Office of Student Conduct website.  For this course group work on homework is encouraged.  However copying someone else's work and calling them your own is plagiarism, so the work you turn in should be your own.

Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities.  In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services Office (DSO), 1900 Student Health Center, CB# 7509, 515-7653.

Reference handouts: Mathematical formulae    Discrete distribution    Continuous distributions

Software:  StaTable is a program that provides probability calculations for 25 common probability distributions.  Numerical calculations may be obtained for tail areas (e.g. cdf) and for percentage points of selected discrete and continuous distributions.  The program is provided at no cost by Cytel.  A free download version is offered for Windows.

Printing Handouts: Instructions for greatly speeding up the printing of the lecture slides:

• Click the icon for the lecture handout you wish to print.  The slides will appear in Adobe Acrobat.
• Click on File > Print.  This will bring up the Print window.
• Click on the Advanced button (located at the bottom left-hand-side of the Print window).  This will bring up the "Advanced Print Setup" window.  Check the "Print As Image" box (located near the top in the center of the "Advance Print Setup" window).  Click on OK to return to the Print window.
• To select between Portrait and Landscape orientation, click on Properties.  Landscape is preferred
• Click OK to start printing.

Information provided on this webpage is subject to change so students should refer back to it periodically.

Reference material:

Elliot A. Tanis and Robert V. Hogg (2008).  A Brief Course in Mathematical Statistics.  Prentice Hall.

Jay L. Devore and Kenneth N. Berk (2007).  Modern Mathematical Statistics with Applications. Thomson Brooks/Cole.

John A. Rice (2007). Mathematical Statistics and Data Analysis, 3rd Edition. Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Richard J. Larsen, Morris L. Marx (2005).  An Introduction to Mathematical Statistics and Its Applications, 4th Edition.  Prentice Hall College Division.

Michael J. Evans and Jeffrey S. Rosenthal (2004). Probability and Statistics (The Science of Uncertainty). W.H. Freeman.

Robert V. Hogg, Allen T. Craig and Joseph McKean (2004). Introduction to Mathematical Statistics, 6th Edition. Prentice Hall.

Irwin Miller and Marylees Miller (2004).  John E. Freund's Mathematical Statistics with Applications, 7th Edition. Prentice Hall College Division.

Larry Wasserman (2004).  All of Statistics: A Concise Course in Statistical Inference. Springer Verlag.

Lee Bain and Max Engelhardt (2000). Introduction to Probability and Mathematical Statistics, 2nd Edition. Duxbury Press.

Steven F. Arnold (1990). Mathematical Statistics  Prentice-Hall.

Alexander McFarlane Mood, Duane C. Boes, Franklin A. Graybill (1974).  Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.