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I need to learn the fundamentals of statistics

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  • #46
    A recent survey indicates that 9 out of 10 statistical analyses are worthess.
    Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
    "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
    He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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    • #47
      Originally posted by KrazyHorse
      Physicists don't have to take a statistics class where I went to school. We were expected to pick it up as we went...
      Really? At my school it was required for all science and engineering students. Usually you'd take Calc and basic college physics your freshman year then take stats at the same time as you start dif. eq.. It was considered background skills you'd need before going on to actual course work in your major.
      Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

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      • #48
        It wasn't required at my school for physics majors (but it was required for math majors). And it was the most boring math class I took. Absolutely worthless...
        "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "
        -Bokonon

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        • #49
          Originally posted by Oerdin


          Really? At my school it was required for all science and engineering students. Usually you'd take Calc and basic college physics your freshman year then take stats at the same time as you start dif. eq.. It was considered background skills you'd need before going on to actual course work in your major.
          It's fairly easy for physicists to pick up.
          12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
          Stadtluft Macht Frei
          Killing it is the new killing it
          Ultima Ratio Regum

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          • #50
            My wife took an intro stats class to pad her average and avoid work.

            Half the class failed, she didn't go to a single class, did not read the book and aced the final.
            12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
            Stadtluft Macht Frei
            Killing it is the new killing it
            Ultima Ratio Regum

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            • #51
              Yeah, we sort of picked it up. Also, Math majors had the option of skipping the Intro Stats class and taking an advanced one, which I did.

              JM
              Jon Miller-
              I AM.CANADIAN
              GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

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              • #52
                Originally posted by SlowwHand
                A recent survey indicates that 9 out of 10 statistical analyses are worthess.
                Was that result statistically significant?
                The enemy cannot push a button if you disable his hand.

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                • #53
                  Originally posted by Kuciwalker
                  I have two math electives to fill. Which of these (the ones that look vaguely interesting) should I pick?

                  Combinatorics
                  Algebraic Structures
                  Field Theory (reqs Algebraic Structures)
                  Introduction to Mathematical Finance
                  Continuous-Time Finance (reqs Intro to Math Finance)
                  Graph Theory
                  Algebraic Structures is great.
                  You can't really say you even have done math if you havn't done some abstract algebra.

                  I do graph theory so I'm kinda biased towards that, but usually intro combinatorics and graph theory class tend to be very basic (more so than algebra classes for example, for some reason..).

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                  • #54
                    Originally posted by Kuciwalker
                    Hm. My statistics textbooks is "Mathematical Statistics with Applications" by Wckerly, Mendenhall and Scheaffer. I have no idea how good it is comparitively. It's certainly a different focus than the text KH mentioned.
                    I used to teach from that - it's a solid book but I wouldn't recommend to anyone with no prior exposure to basic stats.

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                    • #55
                      Originally posted by KrazyHorse
                      My wife took an intro stats class to pad her average and avoid work.

                      Half the class failed, she didn't go to a single class, did not read the book and aced the final.
                      I think stats is an interesting class -- lots of interesting concepts. For me, it was definitely worth attending class to pick the brain of the professor.
                      I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                      • #56
                        In my stats course we are using this book:

                         shenfelter O., P.B. Levine , et D.J. Zimmerman, S

                        Statistics and Econometrics. Methods and application. Wiley 2003 [ISBN: 0471107875]

                        You could also look at this website:
                        Discover Spotfire, the leading visual data science platform for businesses. From in-line data preparation to point-and-click data science, we empower the most complex organizations to make data-informed decisions.


                        "The Electronic Textbook begins with an overview of the relevant elementary (pivotal) concepts and continues with a more in depth exploration of specific areas of statistics, organized by "modules," accessible by buttons, representing classes of analytic techniques. A glossary of statistical terms and a list of references for further study are included."
                        bleh

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                        • #57
                          Originally posted by DanS


                          I think stats is an interesting class -- lots of interesting concepts
                          Eh. Most intro statistics is self evident after a few key concepts are introduced.
                          12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                          Stadtluft Macht Frei
                          Killing it is the new killing it
                          Ultima Ratio Regum

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                          • #58
                            Seriously, everybody in physics knows everything taught in any intro stats class, but most never actually took the class.

                            Any physicist or mathematician can teach himself the entirety of that class in a day or two.
                            12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                            Stadtluft Macht Frei
                            Killing it is the new killing it
                            Ultima Ratio Regum

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                            • #59
                              I took an intermediate statistics course that started at 6am. OMG I'll never take another class at 6am.
                              I drank beer. I like beer. I still like beer. ... Do you like beer Senator?
                              - Justice Brett Kavanaugh

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                              • #60
                                I had Taylor with some physics classes. I had Rice with my more advanced class (Which was actually mostly probability).

                                JM
                                Jon Miller-
                                I AM.CANADIAN
                                GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

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