STAT 440 - Forecasting
Lecture Review #1 - Course Introduction

Remember that these questions are intended to provide you with timely reinforcement of material covered in the lecture, as an aid to your learning. Typically, review questions can be answered with a sentence, or at most a short paragraph. Computational exercises are generally straightforward, mechanical review of basic computational issues covered in class (although sometimes they extend to issues of concept or interpretation). They are due at the beginning of the next class period. Hold on to them after they have been returned — further review of these questions and answers will help you retain what you have learned.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1) What are do the variance and standard deviation measure? How are they computed?

2) What two computational procedures do we have, for obtaining the variance? How are they related to one another? How do they differ? Why do we have two procedures?

3) For the normal distribution, approximately how much of the data lies within one standard deviation of the mean? Two standard deviations? Three?

COMPUTATIONAL EXERCISES:

Find the (sample) standard deviation for the following sets of data:

a) 8, 3, 4, 1

b) 3745.29, 9583.15, 8436.15, 9538.68, 9227.04, 6523.69 (use calculator/computer)

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CLASS:

These are to encourage you to read the syllabus, and (more importantly) to underscore some key class philosophies and policies.

1) What is the primary goal for the class?

2) What should be brought to class every day?

3) May you work together with others in the class on homework? Why/why not?

4) How much time should you expect to invest in this course?

5) Does the instructor think you should "study for exams"? Why/why not?

6) Under what circumstances will makeup quizzes and exams be given?

7) (VERY IMPORTANT) What is the attendance policy for the class?

HONOR SYSTEM:

Read the accompanying page on the Stetson University Honor System. If you can conscientiously affirm the Honor Pledge, then please sign the sheet and bring it to our next class.

Solutions:

a) 2.94
b) 2310.96