Course Information for Stat 5101
Theory of Statistics I
Spring Semester, 2023
Lectures: MWF 09:05 AM - 09:55 AM
Room: Mechanical Engineering 108, TCEASTBANK


Course website: http://users.stat.umn.edu/~jiang040/235101_Spring.html
Instructor: Jiang, Tiefeng.
E-mail: jiang040@umn.edu.
Phone: 612-624-3850.
Office Hours: 5:00 pm-6:00 pm on Mon. at Ford Hall 365.
TA: Zhou, He
E-mail: zhou1354@umn.edu.
Online discussion at zoom.
Office Hours: 10:00-11:00 am Tue. and 9:00-10:00 am Thurs. at Ford Hall 495.
Credits: 4

Prerequisite: Calculus and Linear Algebra.

Contents : This course includes discrete and continuous probability distributions, and mathematical terms to characterize them. Some of these are mathematical expectations, variances, density functions and moments. Several special distributions such as Binomial distributions and Normal distributions will be introduced.

Textbook: Probability and Statistics, 4th Edition by Morris H. DeGroot and Mark J. Schervish.

Homework Assignments:

 Homework assignments will be due every Tuesday. Students will submit their HW papers through canvas. Students can view their graded homeworks in canvas, too. Homework will count 34% of your course grade. There is a 20% penalty per day for late homework before the solution is posted - unless you provide a written medical excuse for not handling in homework on time.
Grading Policies:

Exams: There will be a midterm and final in this course. These will be closed book but you will be allowed one sheet of paper (8.5 in x 11 in) for the midterm and two sheets of such papers for the final. You can write anything you like on both sides of the papers (no maginifier is allowed though).

Grading:Your course grade will be determined by a weighted average of homework and examination scores: the homework, the midterm and the final counts 34%, 33%, 33%, respectively.

Missing Exams: If you miss a midterm for a legitimately documented reason, such as illness confirmed with a written excuse, the midterm score will be replaced by your final score. If you can not attend the final for a legitimately verifiable reason, you must provide a written excuse to receive an incomplete. See the School of Statistics policy on incompletes below. Otherwise, if you miss the final, you will receive a zero for the exam. Note that social/vacation plans are not legitimate reasons for missing an exam.

Incompletes: According to U of M grading policies, ``The I shall be assigned at the direction of the instructor when, due to extraordinary circumstances, the student was prevented from completing the work of the course on time. The assignment of an I requires a written agreement between the instructor and student specifying the time and manner in which the student will complete the course requirements during the student's next period of enrollment.'' In this course an I grade will be given only in cases of extreme hardship. Poor performance in the course is not grounds for an incomplete.

Examination Dates:

  • Midterm: Fri, Mar 3, same meeting time and location as usual.

  • Final: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Mon, May 8, same location as usual.