Required Textbook

1. Prerequisite Skills:
See the Detailed Course Information
2. Catalog Description
The goal is to introduce students to modern and extremely useful topics in computational statistics. It focuses on computational aspects and provides a hands-on introduction to fundamental concepts of data analysis. The course is composed of 3 hours lecture and 2 hours lab with programming assignments in Matlab. Consequently, the students will be able to immediately see their results with programming assignments in Matlab. No prior Matlab knowledge is required. The course offers a solid foundation for further courses in data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, computer vision, and in general in computational statistics and scientific computing.



 

3. Tentative list of topics
Tentative List of Topics and Assigments
4. Grading Policy


There will be one mid-term examination and a final examination.  The midterm examinations will be closed book but you may bring one page of notes. The Final will be a common final with the other sections of the course. There will be a series of exercise sets, roughly one per week. These will be due on the Wendsday after they are assigned. The grade for each assignment will be lowered if it is turned in late. These are a required part of the course. There is a two hour recitation section each week. During this time you are expected to be prepared to discuss and answer questions about course material, discuss and perhaps present your lab assignments, and solve problems. Performance during recitation will also be graded. Clearly attendance is important. There will be weekly in class quizzes. Your final grade will be determined by a combination of your performance on the mid-terms, the final, your assignments, weekly quiz scores, and my impression of your in-class performance, weighted roughly equally.

Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated.  The following web page discusses the University policy on plagairism and a number of other responsibilties of undergraduate students. It is worth visiting. Undergraduate Responsibilities.    The grade of I (Incomplete) will be given only under exceptional circumstances.

I would like to point out that completing the laboratory assignments is of particular importance for several reasons.  First of all, it contributes directly to your final grade. Secondly, it contributes indirectly to your final grade, because doing programming exercises is the best, perhaps the only way to master this material.  If you don't do the labs,  you will not do as well on the exams.

Disability Disclosure Statement

Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities

Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has a policy on Student and Faculty and Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy #03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link