Class Syllabus

Business Statistics (QMB 2100)

Fall 2010 – Ref #318194 (R 6:00-9:00, Kent C213)

Course Description

This course demonstrates how to apply selected statistical techniques to a wide variety of problems and situations arising in the areas of business, economics, finance and management. Prerequisite: MAC 1105 or MGF 1106.

This course is being offered in a "hybrid" format – half of the course will be conducted in class, and the other half you will pursue outside of class, primarily in problem-solving activities. In addition to the 21 hours we will meet in class, you will need to devote 7-10 hours per week outside of class to be successful in this course.

Instructor and Contact Information

Professor Steven DiFranco (sdifranc@fccj.edu, 904.381.3592). My office hours are Monday and Wednesday 8:30-9:30 and 12:30-2:30, Tuesday 9:00-11:00 and Thursday 4:00-6:00 in office D221 or classroom C213, Kent Campus. All materials for this class are available online at http://www.difranco.net.

Requirements

  • Text: Brightman, Harvey J., Statistics in Plain English, South-Western Publishing Co., 1986, ISBN 0-538-13210-8
  • Internet access (from home or school) and a FCCJ email account. If you don't yet have an account, apply for one at: https://artemis.fccj.edu/student/.
  • Calculator: Any calculator is fine for the simple calculations needed in this class. If you don't have a calculator, you can use the one in Windows.

Class Policies and Procedures

  • Attendance. Regular attendance is expected – this means arriving for class on time and prepared. Although not directly part of your grade, excessive absences will definitely affect your performance in the class. Office hours are not tutoring sessions for missed classes. Because this is a hybrid class, we will meet only seven times, so your attendance and opportunity to ask questions is critical to your success
  • Academic Integrity. Discussion of ideas is healthy and essential for education. Feel free to discuss approaches to assignments and to help fellow students. But be sure that what you turn in represents your own work. Work similar beyond coincidence will be considered plagiarism, and, at a minimum, a grade of zero will be given all parties for the assignment or quiz.
  • Homework. Exercise sets are provided in the text for many sections, and are listed in the class schedule. Do all the problems in each exercise set. It is very important that you apply yourself to these problems and check your results with the answers provided at the end of the text. It will take you 4-6 hours per week, at least, to complete the homework, in addition to the 3-4 it will take you to read and study the material. Do not plan to accomplish all this one or even two sittings. Read and study a section, then do the the exercise set for that section. If you do not understand the material (because you cannot work a problem successfully) you should come see me during office hours or seek help in the Learning Center or elsewhere before you go to the next section. Homework is collected every class with the quiz you take. Late homework is not accepted.
  • Class meetings. Our classes will be conducted as close to this schedule as possible:
    • 6:00-6:20: General Q&A
    • 6:20-6:50: Quiz
    • 6:50-7:00: Break
    • 7:00-8:00: Lecture/discussion, part 1
    • 8:00-8:10: Break
    • 8:10-9:00: Lecture/discussion, part 2

Evaluation and Grades

  • Quizzes. A quiz will be given at the beginning of each class, covering the material assigned the previous week. Questions on each quiz will be very similar to (some of) the problems from the exercise sets you should have done as homework, which will count as 20% of your quiz grade (see below). If you miss a quiz, you can make it up on May 6 after you have taken Quiz #6.
  • Homework. Turn in your homework along with your quiz in class. Late homework is not accepted. Individual problems will not be graded (the answers are in the book), but rather up to 20 points will be awarded towards that class's quiz, based on my overall impression of your effort in solving the problems posed in each exercise set. The completeness of your solutions and neatness are two major factors in your grade.
  • Grading scale. Your final grade will be based on the average of your quiz grades, on the scale: A (>= 90), B (80-89), C (70-79), D (60-69), and F (< 60).
  • Other possible grades:
    • W (Withdrawal) – if you submit a student-initiated withdrawal by April 15.
    • I (Incomplete) – if you have completed at least 75% of the coursework with a passing grade and extenuating non-academic circumstances preclude you from completing the class during the regular term; requires an "I Grade Contract" and completion of all work within the first eight weeks of the subsequent term
    • FN (Failure for Non-Attendance) – may be assigned anytime after the withdrawal deadline if you have stopped attending attending class

Expected Learning Outcomes

When you successfully complete this course, you will:

  • Be able to display quantitative information visually
  • Understand basic probability theory and be able to estimate the probability of an event
  • Be able to determine statistics for describing, exploring, and comparing data
  • Understand the Binomial and Normal probability distributions
  • Be able to estimate population proportions, means, and variances
  • Understand hypothesis testing and how to test claims about proportions and means
  • Understand and construct experiments for analysis of variance (ANOVA) study
  • Understand and apply correlation and simple regression techniques

Schedule (tentative)

The class schedule is available here. This schedule may change, depending on our progress. Changes will be announced in class and posted to our web site.

Updated 2010-03-11