SYLLABUS FOR STAT.UB.

0103
STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Course objectives:
The purpose of this course is to introduce the fundamentals of data analysis by examining the nature and
utility of data in business situations. Objectives include the control of statistical bias, data presentation,
appreciation of probability and randomness, random variables, statistical inference, and multiple linear
regression.
Instructor:
Lucius Riccio. Email: lriccio@stern.nyu.edu. Office: 8-171 KMC (44 West Fourth Street, 8
th
floor, New
York). Office hours: By appointment. Teaching Assistant: TBD
Course materials:
Statistics for Business and Economics, Custom edition [11
th
edition abbreviated], by McClave,
Benson, and Sincich. The publisher is Prentice-Hall.
Student's Solutions Manual, by Nancy Boudreau. This has worked-through solutions to the odd-
numbered problems.
Minitab16, which is a computer program for statistical analysis [available for free on apps@stern]
Pamphlets, by topic [see class schedule below], which are published by Prof. Gary Simon and are
available on Blackboard or at http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~gsimon/Pamphlets/
Data sets can be found on Gary Simons web site at http://people.stern.nyu.edu/gsimon/statdata/
and can also be found on NYU Classes or on the CD that comes with a new copy of the textbook
The first three items are available at the university bookstore and are bundled as a single package.
The text is required, and it may be available on the secondary book market. If you search the secondary
book market, please be aware that these authors have another book with a very similar title.
The Student's Solutions Manual is not required, but you are likely to find it useful.
Minitab adds about $10 to the cost of the bundle, so it's a genuine bargain. However, Minitab is also
available on Stern apps at no cost to you, which you may prefer! The Citrix technology that supports
Stern apps works well and should also be usable on Mac computers. The comparable full-feature
program sells at an academic price of about $105.

The full-feature Minitab is in release 16, and the student version is based on this release. Release
16 has many improved features, especially the graphics. Please do not try to use earlier releases of
Minitab.
The student version should not be thought of as inferior to the full-feature version. The only
material difference is that the student version is limited to five worksheets and 5,000 cells per
worksheet.
The spreadsheet program Excel has a number of statistical functions. We recommend that you avoid this
program for statistical applications. While Excel's statistical work is generally correct, there are a number
of annoying errors, and the program lacks the flexibility of a full-feature statistics package.
Course work will involve many instances of simple calculations, and for these a hand-held calculator will
be helpful. The only calculator features needed for this course are the four basic functions (+ - x /), along
with memory and square roots. Exponential and logarithm features are useful, but not critical. It is not
necessary (or even helpful) to have a calculator with statistical functions such as standard deviation or
regression.
Data files:
The disk with the textbook contains data files for the examples and exercises. Course data files are also
available from the Blackboard site and Gary Simons web site.

Course topics:
This course will not use calculus to any appreciable degree, though it certainly exploits algebra
manipulations. These manipulations will be frequent and will occasionally be messy.
The course will cover chapters 1-7, 9-11 of the textbook.
The important topics are these:
Overview of statistics (chapter 1)
Graphical descriptions such as bar and pie charts, histograms, and bivariate
plots; mean, median, mode, standard deviation (chapter 2)
Basic concepts of probability (chapter 3)
Discrete probability distributions, especially binomial and Poisson (chapter 4)
Continuous probability distributions, especially normal (chapter 4)
Sampling distributions, with particular attention to the sampling distribution of
the sample average, the Central Limit theorem (chapter 4)
The confidence interval methodology for a single sample (chapter 5)
The hypothesis testing paradigm for a single sample (chapter 6)
The two-sample problem, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests (chapter 7)
Simple (one-predictor) linear regression, including the model assumptions,
estimation, hypothesis tests, predictions, and prediction intervals (chapter 10)
Multiple regression, including the model assumptions, estimation, hypothesis tests, predictions,
prediction intervals, variable selection, model building, residual analysis, and the
checking of assumptions (chapter 11)

There may [time permitting] also be a course project consisting of a multiple regression done on
a data set of your choosing [I can give you an assignment if you do not have a data set you want
to use].

Grading Information:
Grades will be based on a combination of scores for homework, in-class examination,
and the final exam. The breakdown by item is as follows:

Midterm Exam 40%
Final exam 40%
Homework 20%

Homework 1 will include a problem that asks for a one-page summary of a single data column
using data of your choice.