This site provides general information to students considering majors in Statistics or Actuarial Science.
This site provides general information to students considering majors in Statistics or Actuarial Science.
This 6 minute 39 second video can be used to teach the difference between correlation and causation. For example, that a relationship between X and Y might be explained by X causing Y, Y causing X, or a third factor that drives them both. The video is episode #109 (Nov 10, 2009) in the Psych Files podcast series produced and hosted by Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. at www.thepsychfiles.com. Video is free to use in the classroom or on course websites under a non-commercial ShareAlike creative commons license.
A joke to teach the meaning of "significance" written in 2011 by University of Texas at El Paso professor of Mathematical Sciences, Lawrence Mark Lesser (1964-).
A song lyric by Dennis Pearl of The Ohio State University written as a parody of the 1960 tune "Hit the Road Jack" by Percy Mayfield; made popular by Ray Charles in his 1961 recording. What to say in class before song: There are times when the mode may be preferred to the mean - especially if the concept of interest is tied to understanding the most likely situation. You might remember that Ray Charles used to sing a song about this... In a class where Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methodology has been introduced you might add the following after the first sentence "For example when you assume a uniform non-informative prior for a parameter, then the m.l.e. coincides with the mode of the posterior distribution - and the mean of the posterior distribution may not be a good estimate." Tip for Teaching: The song takes up a bit too much class time for delivering its message. Thus, for in-class use, it is recommended to play only the first verse or three. Musical accompaniment realization and male vocals are by Joshua Lintz, female vocals are by Mariana Sandoval from University of Texas at El Paso.
This simulation allows you to roll two dice and compare empirical and probability histograms for the sum or product of the two outcomes.
This applet shows the normal or Gaussian distribution. The distribution has two parameters, the mean and the standard deviation. Click the draw button after filling in new values for the mean and the standard deviation to obtain a new diagram of the normal distribution.
A collection of applets addressing data analysis, sampling distribution simulations, and probability and inference. Some can be used individually, though others require context from the textbook.
This applet performs the Student's t test on two sets of data, and reports the average and variance for both sets of data, the t score, degrees of freedom, and one and two tailed P values.
This java applet can be used to determine whether or not the means in two sample populations are significantly different.
DataFerrett is a unique data analysis and extraction tool -- with recoding capabilities -- to customize federal, state, and local data to suit your requirements. Using DataFerrett, you can develop an unlimited array of customized spreadsheets that are as versatile and complex as your usage demands. The DataFerrett helps you locate and retrieve the data you need across the Internet to your desktop or system, regardless of where the data resides. You can then develop and customize tables. Selecting your results in your table you can create a chart or graph for a visual presentation into an html page. Save your data in the databasket and save your table for continued reuse. The DataFerrett is a Beta testing version that will incorporate the latest bug fixes, enhancements, and new functionality that will be rolled into the DataFerrett after testing has been completed.