Catalog Description

MATH 360 ENGINEERING STATISTICS (3-0-3) Calculus-based survey of statistical techniques used in engineering. Data collection and organization, basic probability distributions, sampling, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, process control, simple regression techniques, design of experiments. Emphasis on examples and applications to engineering, including product reliability, robust design and quality control. PREREQ: MATH 272 or MATH 275.

Prerequisites

Multivariable calculus.

Jurisdiction

The instructor has complete control over the teaching of this course, including the examinations, homework, and grading system, but works with Engineering faculty to ensure that the course meets their needs.

Learning Objectives

This course is designed to provide engineering students a sufficient background in statistics (and the requisite elements of probability theory) with emphasis on applications to, and terminology used in, the engineering field, notably design of experiments and process control. Further, a student completing the course should be able to obtain additional specific statistical tools on his/her own.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

1. solve traditional problems of elementary probability and statistics

2. choose and implement appropriate descriptive and inferential techniques in estimation, hypothesis testing, regression, experimental design, and statistical quality control, and interpret the results of the techniques employed

3. distinguish situations in which the assumptions for use of the normal and/or binomial distributions is justified from those for which the normal or binomial theory does not apply.

Assessment of Learning Objectives

Students will be evaluated by their ability to do problems based on the learning objectives. The problems will be presented in homework sets and formal exams. Exercises will be of three types:

to reinforce material from the text and class

to extend results and ideas to new situations

optional exercises to allow students to investigate probability and statistical theory not covered in class.

Topics and Approximate Timeline

The following table is a rough schedule for 45 class meeting of 50 minutes each. The actual topics and the amount of time spent on each topic will vary slightly from semester to semester.

Text

Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists, 6th ed., R. E. Walpole, R. H. Myers and S. L. Myers, Prentice Hall, 1998.

Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences, 5th ed., Jay L. Devore, Duxbury Press, 2000.

Format, Student Activities, and Grades

Class meetings involve a combination of lecture, questions and discussion. Homework is an important part of the course. The instructor chooses the exact grading scheme, but a typical distribution would be: