Detailed Schedule -- Understanding Randomness

Spring 2010, Prof. Little

This is a tentative, evolving schedule. Topics may be added, deleted, or rearranged during the course of the semester. Any changes will be announced in class and here. Note: In the readings below, FPP = Freedman-Pisani-Purves, Statistics, 4th ed. MDW = Mlodinow, The Drunkard's Walk, dWPP = de Waal, Primates and Philosophers.

Date Class Topic Readings
1/20 Course Introduction FPP Chapter 16
1/22 Chance processes and ``box models'' FPP Chapter 16
1/25 ``Laws'' of large and small numbers MDW Chapters 1 - 5
1/27 Bayes' Rule and conditional probabilities MDW Chapters 6, 7
1/29 Randomness and our lives MDW Chapters 8, 9, 10
2/1 Expected value and standard error of a box model FPP Chapter 17
2/3 More on the standard error of a box model FPP Chapter 17
2/5 Probability histograms Problem Set 1 due FPP Chapter 18
2/8 Central Limit Theorem (computer lab/demo) FPP Chapter 18
2/10 Sampling FPP Chapter 19
2/12 EV and SE for estimating a percentage Problem Set 2 due FPP Chapter 20
2/15 More on estimating percentages FPP Chapter 20
2/17 Accuracy of percentages FPP Chapter 21
2/19 Accuracy of percentages -- Paper 1 due FPP Chapter 21
2/22 Confidence intervals FPP Chapter 21
2/24 Confidence intervals (computer lab/demo) FPP Chapter 21
2/26 Spare day Problem Set 3 due FPP Chapter 21
3/1,3,5 Spring Break -- no class dWPP
3/8 Is our moral sense a ``veneer?'' dWPP, Part I -- pp. 1 - 82
3/10 How different are humans and animals? dWPP, Part II -- pp. 83 - 160
3/12 Can animals have ``rights?'' dWPP, Part III -- pp. 161 - 182
3/15 Accuracy of estimates for averages FPP Chapter 23
3/17 More on accuracy of averages FPP Chapter 23
3/19 Midterm Exam FPP Chapters 16 - 21
3/22 Hypothesis testing FPP Chapter 26
3/24 Test statistics, rejection regions, significance FPP Chapter 26
3/26 z-tests for percentages, averages FPP Chapter 26
3/29 t-tests in the small sample case FPP Chapter 26
3/31 More on small-sample tests FPP Chapter 26
4/2,5 Easter break -- no class FPP Chapter 27
4/7 Tests for differences of averages FPP Chapter 27
4/9 More on tests for differences of averages -- Problem Set 4 due FPP Chapter 27
4/12 χ2 distributions and tables FPP Chapter 28
4/14 χ2 tests FPP Chapter 28
4/16 Finish χ2 tests (Readings to be posted)
4/19 Mendel and chance models in genetics FPP Chapter 25
4/21 Did Mendel ``fudge'' his data? FPP Chapter 25 and 28
4/23 Mendel and Fisher FPP Chapter 25 and 28
4/26, 28, 30 Final project presentations -- Paper due 4/30
5/3 Course wrap-up
The Final Exam for this course will be given at 8:30 am on Tuesday, May 11, 2010.

Last modified: January 8, 2010