The University of Massachusetts Boston

Department of Mathematics

MA346 Probability & Statistics II, Fall 2008

Instructor: Prof. Alfred Noël

Office : 3-175 Science Building

Phone : (617)-287-6458

Email : anoel@math.umb.edu

Url : http://www.math.umb.edu/~anoel

Class hours : Tuesday, Thursday 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM, Room M-2-206

Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Text : Introduction to Mathematical Statistics and Its Applications, 4/E by Richard J. Larsen, Morris L. Marx ISBN 0-13-186793-8 Publisher Pearson Prentice Hall

THIS WILL BE A VERY CHALLENGING COURSE. YOU WILL HAVE TO SPEND AT LEAST 12 HOURS A WEEK WORKING ON HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS IN ORDER TO BE READY FOR THE EXAMS. ATTENDANCE IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED BECAUSE THE PACE WILL BE FAST.

This is a statistics course for students with a firm mastery of calculus, emphasizing the mathematical and conceptual bases of statistics, with a view to understanding the proper application of standard methods. The course includes thorough treatments of the Central Limit Theorem, the theory of estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression. We may also use the package R for computation at http://www.r-project.org/. Please download before the start of the semester.

Prerequisite: MA345 or equivalent.

Material to be covered:

Chapters 5 – 10. We may have to omit a few sections due to time constraint.

If time permits we will cover some sections in Chapters 11 and 12.

Homework assignments will be given at the end of each class. However, they will not be collected but will be discussed in class. PLEASE READ THE BOOK.

Exams: There will be 3 one-hour exams and a cumulative final exam:

Exam I : Thursday, September 25

Exam II : Thursday, October 30

Exam III: Tuesday, November 25

Grading Procedures: Each exam is worth 20% of your final grade. High Attendance & Class Participation 10%. The Final exam will count for 30%.

THERE WILL BE NO MAKEUP EXAMS.

STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MATERIAL COVERED IN CLASS.