Stat200A Fall 2008 Main Page


Instructor: Nick Crawford        GSI: Richard Liang

Time: MWF 10-11am              Place: Gianni 141

Office: Evans 347                    OH: Teus. 3:30-5

Sections:     Monday: Evans 332, 2-4
                    Friday: Evans 330, 2-4

GSI Office: 385 Evans     OH: Mon. 4-5  
                                                  Teus. 12-1



Email: crawford at stat dot berkeley dot edu

Statistics and Probability in the News:
The Preeclampsia Puzzle,
Making sense of a mysterious pregnancy disorder.
 Jerome Groopman The New Yorker, July 24, 2006
You're Getting Warmer …
The new statistical rhetoric of climate change.
 Daniel Engber Slate.com, Feb. 6, 2007
The Myth, the Math, the Sex
 Gina Kolata
 The New York Times,  August 12, 2007
In Natures Casino
 Michael Lewis
 The New York Times,  August 26, 2007
Lifelong debunker takes on arbiter of neutral choices
 Esther Landhuis
 Stanford News Service June 7, 2004


MIDTERM:

Wednesday October 22 10-11----Place: Evans 60

Last Two Weeks Announcements:

In class Final W Dec. 10 IN EVANS ROOM #60.

Take Home Final will be given out in class Wednes. Dec. 10.  It is due Mon. Dec. 15 at  12 noon either in my office (I will hang around from 11:30-12:30) or in my mailbox if you finish prior to that.

You may use any class notes or the book for this Exam, but no outside sources and no collaboration.


Practice Midterm: #1

Practice Final: Here


Homework:  #1

Chapter 2: 8, 12, Prove the Inclusion-Exclusion formula, 14, 17, 20, 25.

Chapter 3:  4,10,11,13,17,21,23,25,35

Problems 32, 37 are due with Chapter 4.

Chapter 4: 1, 2, 5, 10, 14

Chapter 5:  Read 5.2.2, 5.4 (both fair game for exams) Richard will discuss 5.4 in section...  Problems: 6, 9, 12, 15, 20, 27, 28  Good Luck: I consider these to be a bit challenging.

Chapter 5/6: Gamma, Ch. 5: 30, 32, 37, 39 Ch. 6: 3, 6, 9

Due Wednesday, Nov.5:
Chapter 6:  13, 18,  26 (Beta RV's are defined on page 148) , 29, 33, 37, 38,  Give an example of a pair of normal random variables (Z_1, Z_2) which are dependent  (this amounts to choosing the matrix A correctly and then giving an event E={a< Z_1< b, c< Z_2< d} whose probability is not the product).

Also, Notes from Pitman's book on Bivariate Normals: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Chapter 7: 9, 15, 16, 17, 22, 24, 29,  31,  32

Chapter 7 Part B (This is VERY important stuff):

4, 18, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45.

Final HW:  Chapter 8

3, 4, 7-11. 19- 21.




Note:  I will be out of town next week on business.  There is NO class Monday Sept. 29.  Richard Liang will guest lecture Wednesday Oct. 1 and Emilia Huerta Sanchez will guest lecture Friday Oct. 3.

Exam Schedule (You must make these dates to pass the class):

Midterm 1:  Wednesday October 22 in class at 10

Final; Part A:  Wednesday December 10 in class at 10
         Part B: Take Home Exam

The Normal Approximation of the Binomial:
A link from class to Prof. West's Applet at Texas A &M.
Another Good Link (takes some patience to understand what is shown)

Course Description:  Students enrolled should start here.