Stat 321  Fall 2004  Exam 3 Preparation

  • Thursday, November 18, 1:10-2:00
  • Covers chapters 4 (sections 3-5), 5, and 1; handouts from days 23-33, investigations 12-16, suggested homework problems from weeks 6-9
  • You may use book, handouts, three other sheets of notes
  • Technology
    • Bring calculator
    • No use of Minitab
    • Minitab and/or applet output may be included
  • Interpretations, explanations as important as calculations
  • Comparable to in-class, investigation, homework questions

Big Ideas

  • Continuous random variables
    • Normal
      • Shape, parameters
      • Standardization, z-scores
      • Calculations
        • From table, Minitab, applet
        • Probabilities, percentiles
      • Empirical rule
      • Approximation to binomial
        • Continuity correction
    • Other classes of continuous distributions
      • Gamma
      • Exponential
      • Weibull
  • Joint probability distributions
    • Simulation for approximation
    • Discrete case: joint pmf
    • Continuous case: joint pdf
    • Marginal distribution
    • Independence
    • Expected values of functions of two r.v.'s
      • Covariance
      • Correlation
    • Linear combinations
      • Of normal distributions
  • Descriptive statistics
    • Graphical displays
      • Dotplot, stemplot, histogram, boxplot
    • Numerical summaries
      • Measures of center
        • Mean, median
      • Measures of spread
        • Standard deviation, IQR (fourth spread)
      • Five-number summary
      • Resistance
    • Features
      • Shape, center, spread
        • Symmetry, skewness
      • Clusters, outliers
        • Outlier test
    • Comparing distributions
      • Side-by-side stemplot
      • Comparative boxplots
      • Shape, center, spread, unusual observations
  • Sampling distributions of statistics
    • Exact analysis by enumeration
    • Approximation by simulation
    • Effect of sample size
    • Central Limit Theorem
      • Result
      • Applicability
      • Calculations

Some Advice

  • Be prepared to think/explain/interpret
    • Do not just plug into formulas from text
  • Organize note sheet for efficient retrieval of information
  • Don’t plan to use text, handouts too much
    • Prepare as if exam were closed book/notes
    • Understand, don’t memorize
    • Time may be a concern
  • Take advantage of partial information provided
    • Don’t waste time re-calculating what’s already given
  • Re-read
    • Handouts
      • Especially expository passages, “boxed” paragraphs
    • Chapter from text
  • Review problems
    • Re-work examples from handouts
    • Re-work investigations
    • Work suggested homework problems
    • Re-work examples from text
    • Work additional exercises from text