Statistics can be viewed as the art (science?) of turning data into information. Real world decision making, whether in business or science is often based on data and the perceived information it contains. Sherlock Holmes, when prematurely asked the merits of a case by Dr. Watson, snapped back, "Data, data, data! I can't make bricks without clay". In this course we will study the basic methods by which statisticians attempt to extract information from data. These will include many of the standard tools of statistical inference such as the t-test, analysis of variance and linear regression as well as exploratory and graphical data analysis techniques.
Spring semester