STATISTICS 3N03

Statistical Methods for Engineering

Course Outline 1999-00

INSTRUCTOR

Dr P. D. M. Macdonald

Office:

BSB-202G

Telephone:

525-9140 x 23423 (24-hour Voice Mail)

e-mail:

pdmmac@mcmaster.ca

OFFICE HOURS

Monday 9:30, Wednesday 9:30, Friday 14:30.

Please come at the start of the hour. Other times by appointment.

Don't hesitate to contact me by telephone, voice mail, or e-mail any time you need help. If you need to see me at any time and my office door is open, I will see you then if I can, or arrange a time to meet later.

OBJECTIVES

Learn how to apply statistical methods and the principles of experimental design to problems of practical interest, with emphasis on engineering applications. Learn enough about the underlying theory that you can appreciate when a given method may or may not be applicable.

Learn how to use statistical software packages and spreadsheets for statistical analysis. Learn how to display data graphically and organize your results into reports.

Lay the foundations for learning more advanced statistical methods after you complete this course.

TEXT

Montgomery, D.C. & Runger, G.C. (1999) Applied statistics and probability for engineers, Second Edition, Wiley.

This book will be useful as a statistics and experimental design handbook in later courses and after you graduate. The data sets from Chapters 1-8 of the text are available online at http://www.wiley.com/college/engin/montgomery170275/students.html.

TOPICS

After studying the role of statistics in engineering (Chapter 1) and graphical methods for data exploration (Chapter 2), we will work fairly quickly through Chapters 3-7, touching only on selected topics and summarizing the important theoretical results on which statistical methods are based.We will then look at selected methods from Chapters 8 and 9 to illustrate the logic of statistical inference. The final weeks will be spent on simple linear regression (Chapter 10) and the design and analysis of single-factor (Chapter 12) and some multi-factor (Chapter 13) experiments.

LECTURE NOTES

Copies of the lecture notes will be available in the Thode Library.

COURSE WEB SITE

Check the course web site at http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/peter/s3n03/s3n03.html regularly for announcements, assignments, course notes, and answers to frequently-asked questions.

COMPUTERS

Students are expected to use computers in this course. Students should become familiar with the statistical packages MINITAB and SPSS and a spreadsheet such as Excel, Quattro Pro or AppleWorks.

ASSIGNMENTS

It is each student's responsibility to keep up to date with the course by working ahead in the text. Each chapter of the text has worked examples and lots of problems. I will give you some exercises to work on but not hand in, and I will provide solutions to these exercises.

Three assignments will be handed in for grading.

TESTS

Thursday, September 30, 1999

19:30 - 20:45

BSB-241, 242 [Computer lab]

Friday, October 29, 1999

10:30 - 11:25

BSB-B154

Friday, November 26, 1999

10:30 - 11:25

BSB-B154

Aids permitted: Any calculators; one sheet of notes (8.5" x 11", one side only).

EXAMINATION

There will be a formal 3-hour examination scheduled by the Registrar in December.

Aids permitted: Any calculators; one sheet of notes (8.5" x 11", both sides); any mathematical or statistical tables. If the tables are in a textbook, elastic bands must be drawn around the remaining pages so that only the tables can be used.

GRADING SCHEME

All assignments will be counted, weighted in proportion to total marks. All tests will be counted, weighted equally. The final mark will be the best of the following four calculations:

   (A) 100% Exam;
   (B) 80% Exam + 20% Assignments;
   (C) 80% Exam + 20% Tests;
   (D) 60% Exam + 20% Assignments + 20% Tests.
 

I will review all "borderline" marks and possibly make further adjustments.

ACADEMIC ETHICS AND DISHONESTY

We remind you of the Statement on Academic Ethics and the Senate Resolutions on Academic Dishonesty found in the Senate Policy Statements distributed at registration and available in the Senate Office. Any student who infringes one of these resolutions will be treated according to published policy.


Back to Statistics 3N03

Last updated 1999-12-01