units

STA1010

Faculty of Science

18 September 2017 26 April 2024

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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.

Monash University

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

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

Faculty

Science

Organisational Unit

School of Mathematical Sciences

Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Jonathan Keith and Dr Daniel McInnes (Clayton); Dr. Chen Won Sun (Malaysia)

Offered

Clayton

  • First semester 2016 (Day)
  • Second semester 2016 (Day)

Malaysia

  • First semester 2016 (Day)

Synopsis

Descriptive statistics, scatter plots, correlation, line of best fit. Elementary probability theory. Confidence intervals and hypothesis tests using normal, t and binomial distributions. Use of computer software. Formal treatment of statistical analyses and the role of probability in statistical inference.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

  1. Understand the key steps of the scientific method and how it can be applied to real problems that involve data analysis and interpretation;

  1. Appreciate how statistical data is collected, analysed and stored;

  1. Understand the meaning of population parameters such as mean, standard deviation, and median;

  1. Understand the importance of statistical techniques in the analysis of data;

  1. Present and interpret data graphically;

  1. Determine confidence intervals for population parameters, and distinguish between a population parameter and a sample statistic;

  1. Determine the appropriate statistical technique for a given context;

  1. Perform simple statistical operations using Excel;

  1. Take a random sample from a population and determine whether data fits a statistical hypothesis;

  1. Prepare and write a scientific report.

Assessment

Final examination (3 hours): 70%
Assignments, laboratory exercises and tests: 30%.

Workload requirements

Three 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour support class per week

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Jonathan Keith

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Applied mathematics
Financial and insurance mathematics
Mathematical statistics
Mathematics

Prerequisites

SCI1020, VCE Mathematical methods 3 and 4, or equivalent international qualifications listed in the Unit Guide.

Prohibitions

ETC1000, ETW1000, ETW1102, ETX1100, FIT1006 and MAT1097.
Note: students who have completed STA1010 cannot subsequently undertake SCI1020.