ORF 245:  Statistics for Engineering and Scientists

MWF 10:00 - 10:50 in Frist 302
Home page: http://orfe.princeton.edu/~jqfan/

  

 Instructor. Jianqing Fan, Frederick L. Moore'18 Professor of Finance. Office: 225 Sherred Hall. Phone: 258-7924. E-mail: jqfan@princeton.edu

Office Hours: Monday: 11:00am -- 11:55am, Wednesday 3:30pm - 4:25pm, or by appointments.

Precept: Monday - Thursday, 7:30pm - 8:20 pm.   The four sessions are identical and students are free to choose one.  The Precept locations are: 
          Monday    --- Friend 109
          Tuesday      ---  E-quad: E225
          Wednesday ---  E-quad: E-225
          Thursday     ---  Friend: 004

Assistants in Instruction (AIs):

• Ahmet Emre Barut, abarut@princeton.edu,  609-258-4688. Office:  Sherrerd Hall-323.  Office Hours: Thursday: 1:00-3:00pm
• Percy Wong, pakwong@princeton.edu, 609-258-2833. Office:  Fine Hall-211. Office Hours: Monday: 5:00-7:00pm
• Jelena Bradic, jbradic@princeton.edu, 609-258-4660. Office: Sherrerd Hall-220. Office Hours: Wednesday: 12:30-2:30pm
• Xin Tong, xtong@princeton.edu,  609-258-4660, Office: Sherrerd Hall-220.  Office Hours:  Tuesday, 2:00-3:00pm and 5:00-6:00pm
• Statistics Lab, 609-258-9433
• Econometrics Lab, 609-258-8787

 Text and Reference Books:

• William Navidi, Statistics for Engineers and Scientists, 2nd edition (2008), McGrawHill.
• David Freedman, Robert Pisani, Roger Purves (1998). Statistics, 3rd edition. W.W.Norton& Company, New York. (Reference book where extra readings will be assigned)

Syllabus: Course material will be covered the following topics (in order):

1. Overview and descriptive statistics
2. Probability
3. Random variables, probability distributions, and expectation
4. Commonly used distributions
5. Estimation and Confidence Intervals
6. Tests of hypotheses
7. Correlation and Simple linear regression
8. Multiple regression

Computation: It will be very useful to have a pocket calculator with a memory and a square root key and a statistics key. The calculators will be used during the exams. The software package for this class is flexible. It can be either R, S-plus or excel or any other packages. For those who will take ORF 405 (required for ORFE major), you are encouraged to use R, S-plus.

Attendance: Attendance of the class is required. The class covers many conceptual issues and statistical thinking that are not covered in the text book. They will appear in the midterm and final exams.

 Homework: Problems will be assigned on Wednesdays and posted on the web. They will be due in 6:30pm Wednesdays of following weeks (placed in the ``IN-OUT'' box for the course at Room 123, Sherred Hall). No late homework will be accepted. Missed homework will receive a grade of zero. The lowest one score will be dropped. The homework will be graded, and each assignment carries equal weight. You are allowed to work with other students on the homework problems, however, verbatim copying of homework is absolutely forbidden. Therefore each student must ultimately produce his or her own homework to be handed in and graded. You are also encouraged to ask the AIs and the instructor for help on homework problems, after you have attempted to solve the problems on your own. Any questions regarding homework grades should first be taken up with the AI; if these questions cannot be resolved with the AI, then feel free to discuss them with the instructor.

Exams: There will be two in-class midterm exams, and a final exam. All exams are required and there will be no make-up exams. Missed exams will receive a grade of zero. All exams are open-book and open-notes. Calculators may be used during the exams.


Schedules and Grading Policy:
Homework (20%)   ..........................................................................................  6:30pm of due dates
Midterm Exam I (15%) .................................................................................... Wednesday (10:00--10:50), October 21, 2009
Midterm Exam II (15%) ...................................................................................  Monday (10:00-10:50), December 2, 2009
FINAL EXAM (50%)........................................................................................ Sat, Jan 16 7:30 p.m. Friend Center 101.

 

 R or S-Plus labs: The following files intend to help you familiar with the use of S-Plus commands.

 

• Some handouts for basic in R with graphics displays.  They are closely related to the materials taught in the class.
         Handout 1 and Handout 2.
• Labs 1-5: Basic skills and their associated data set (Boston housing data).  The materials cover basic skills for S-plus or R. 

The following extended skills are not used in the class, but is provided here for your convenience.

• Extended Skills: ANOVA and their associated data set (labor data).
• Extended Skills: GLIM and their associated data set (burn data). Description of the data set