This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

EPM5002 - Mathematical background for biostatistics

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Postgraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Organisational Unit

Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Gary Glonek

Offered

Alfred Hospital

First semester 2016 (Off-campus)
Second semester 2016 (Off-campus)

Synopsis

Core topics in algebra and analysis, including polynomial and simultaneous equations, graphs, concepts of limits, continuity and series approximations, including Taylor series expansions. Calculus is used to describe techniques of integration and differentiation of vector expressions. Study of probability, concepts of probability laws, random variables, expectation and distributions. Essential topics in matrix algebra relevant to biostatistical methods. Essential numerical methods, including Newton-Raphson method for solution of simultaneous equations and concepts of numerical integration.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Demonstrate a broad understanding of the mathematics underlying key statistical methods.
Demonstrate an understanding of basic algebra and analysis, and the ability to manually differentiate and integrate algebraic expressions, and perform Taylor series expansions.
Understand the basic laws of probability, and the calculus basis of expectation and distribution theory.
Perform matrix manipulations manually.
Understand the numerical methods behind solutions of equations regularly encountered in methods in biostatistics.