Math 160 - Statistical Concepts

Math 118 Intermediate Algebra, or a placement score of 86 or higher and three years of college-prep math, which usually means two years of high school algebra plus geometry. Students without Math 118 or college transfer credits should have both the three years of college-prep math and a combined placement score of 86 or higher. Those with the proper high school background but a lower placement score should talk to a math faculty member or take a lower level algebra course first.

See also success factors for relevant placement information.

Statistical Concepts is a Transfer Module course and satisfies part of the math and science requirements for the A.A. degree. Thus it serves these majors very well: B.S.N. nursing, psychology, sociology, and pharmacy. Because of its broader treatment of statistical topics this is also an excellent course for math majors, or science majors wanting an introduction to statistical analysis.

Students who may work in an environment where statistics is produced are generally better served by taking Math 281 Introductory Statistics. This would include business, accounting, and engineering majors. The Franklin University online program, however, accepts this course as one of its bridge courses for certain majors.

Statistical Concepts was originally designed to satisfy the B.S.N. program of Wright State University offered on Central Campus. It is a clone of WSU's STS 160, with the exception that WSU's course runs five hours with a lab component.

This emphasis of this course is to serve students who have a need to read and interpret statistics, especially published statistics which appear in academic publications. Some computation is necessary in order to better grasp the statistical concepts, but computation is de-emphasized over interpretation.

This course transfers well to just about any four-year institution we know of as long as the student earns a C or higher. It is important, however, to make sure this is the sort of statistics that the transfer institution is looking for.

This is a true college-level math course. This means that the emphasis is strong on learning how to reason or analyze, on creative problem-solving, and applying what you know to new situations. This type of learning demands a level of learning and communication maturity and is best taken after at least a year of college experience. Most problems involve reading situations with data, identifying the proper analytical approach, then interpreting and communicating the results. There is a lot of writing for a math class because you must explain what your outcome means.

Like most math courses in college this course will seem to go too fast--regardless of who you take it from. Those teaching it, in fact, go the same average speed because they cover the same number of sections in the same ten weeks. The reason so much material is covered in this course is so that it will readily transfer to universities. Your math professors are also dedicated to preparing you to be successful in your next math course whether you will be taking one or not. It is your responsibility to keep up. If you are starting to fall behind get help by talking to your professor right away.

There are two halves to this course: single variable statistics and bi-variate statistics.

Single variable statistics is concerned with measurements of a single type of item. Primarily you learn about the Normal Distribution ("bell curve") and the Student's t Distribution as they are applied to estimating population means with confidence intervals and testing significance of data results by hypothesis testing.

Bi-variate statistics is concerned with measurements of two types of items in order to test the strength of their relationship or how one influences the other. For this we compare different types of measurements by linear regression methods, or analysis of variance (ANOVA).

For more information about what statistics is all about please read this article: What is Statistics?

Students recently earning an A or B in Math 118 are likely to succeed. Those recently earning a middle to high C in Math 118 are likely to have difficulty but a determined student can succeed. Those who earned a D or a low C in Math 118 have a chance for success but should consider repeating Math 118 first.

More than most math courses, this course requires significant reading, interpretation and communication skills. One cannot pass this course by trying to memorize mathematical skills or patterns. It is especially difficult for young college students with little college experience. Mature or experienced learners seem to do much better

As with all math classes, attendance and willingness to read and practice are serious factors determining success.

Workload varies somewhat in this course based on many individual factors, but a student who wants to earn an A or a B can expect an average workload of eight to twelve hours per week outside of class.

A scientific calculator is required. These are generally cheap, $10 - $20 range. Most scientific calculators have statistical functions built in but it is not necessary to learn their operation for this course.

This page is a good faith effort to provide advising information related to this course. Some information is subject to change without notice. No commitments are implied by this page. For further information or clarification please contact a member of the Mathematics Department.