Probability & Statistics at ALHGS
R Studio, an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), will be used along with R. Thus the installation of software required for the course is a two step one: one must first install R then install R Studio.
R: R may be downloaded here. Versions are available for windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Once the R file is downloaded, double-click on the file name for installation, accepting defaults.
R Studio:: Having first downloaded and installed R, download and install R Studio desktop, the open source edition. The software is available here. (From the menu at page top, select Products > R Studio, then go down the page and select the RStudio Desktop version, which will then take you to the page area where one may download the Open Source Edition of RStudio Desktop. Download RStudio Desktop installer, double click on the file name, then accept the default settings, if any, during setup.
Having installed both R and R Studio, you are now ready to use R. Always run R Studio to use R. (R Studio will run R, the first software package you installed, automatically).
Piazza will be used as the only throughout the course for a Q&A forum. Enrollment in Piazza is mandatory. If you have questions about anything related to the course, please post them on Piazza rather than emailing the instructor. Please do not post anything resembling a solution to a homework problem before it's due. If in doubt, you should make your post private (visible to instructors only). We always welcome any feedback on what we could be doing better. See the Piazza Etiquette section for more on using Piazza. To join the class on Piazza, follow this link.
Student participation on Piazza is encouraged and required. Thus, rather than answering a question right away, we will wait until other students answer the question(s).
We will still provide clarifications on logistics, typos, subtle points, etc. after a student answers.
In order to make Piazza a better resource for everyone, we've outlined some guidelines/rules for you to follow when posting your question(s). Questions which follow these guidelines will have a higher chance of being answered. Not following some of the rules will result in the question being deleted and, hence, unanswered.
We've created individual posts for each problem assignment. Please ask questions, discuss problems, or help out in those posts only. Before asking a question, read through (or search) the whole post to see if your question has been answered.
Do not post one line saying:
At step n, I get XYZ, and I'm now confused.
This forces the responder to guess:
What happened in steps 1, 2, ..., n - 1?
Most likely, the responder will guess wrong, and then there will a lot of wasted time with follow-up questions trying to understand what steps 1, 2, ..., n - 1 were.
Instead, post:
Starting out, we have: .... Then, I do ..., and I get ... Next, I do ..., and I get ... Next, I do ..., and I get ... Now, I get $&%&#(, and this makes no sense.
Then, someone can respond:
The mistake is at step 3, you're not allowed to apply ABC to XYZ because ...
A question of the form "Can someone please explain hypothesis tests to me?" is not helpful.
Ask focused questions...for example:
Can someone please explain this step in working a right-tail test problem? [Clear Sharp Image of Your Work on Paper (with an arrow draw in)] In finding the critical value, I get that we have:However, I don't get how we get:
- fact 1 in your own words
- fact 2 in your own words
- fact 3 in your own words
- fact 4 in your own words