MAT 221 is the first in a two-course sequence in statistics for students in most academic majors which emphasize quantitative methods. The primary objective of this course is to provide students with knowledge of elementary probability and statistics. Students will learn basic concepts of descriptive statistics, data collection, probability, and random variables in preparation for learning how to use statistical inferences, which will be covered in MAT 222.

Course Outline

  1. Distributions – Displaying with graphs, describing with numbers, and normal distributions
  2. Relationships – Scatterplots, correlation, and least squares regression
  3. Data Collection – Data sources, experimental design, and sampling design
  4. Probability – Randomness, probability models, random variables, means and variances, probability rules
  5. The Relationship between Probability and Inference – Sampling distributions for counts and proportions, the sampling distribution of a sample mean

Course Prerequisite: Algebra competency