You can print these gif images directly through most Web browsers, load them into a photo processing program and print them from there, or even incorporate multiple of them into Word or a similar text processing program. (2/4/99)
As you hopefully recall, the first quiz will be on Wed 2/17/99 in class from 6:10pm to 7:10pm. During the quiz you are allowed to use a regular size two-sided note sheet and a calculator. Whatever formula, solution to a homework assignment, or segment from the textbook you want to put on your note sheet or program into your calculator - go ahead. Everything is permitted. Also no restriction what type of calculator you use. However, the use of the entire textbook and your complete set of lecture notes is NOT permitted during this and all future quizzes. Everything we have done in class until the end of yesterdays' lecture can be port of the quiz. It clearly does not suffice if you only study the textbook. The extra material on graphics will be a major component of this quiz. As promised, one question of the quiz will be taken from our previous homework assignments - so look at these assignments and solutions before the quiz.
Several micromaps are available now. If you missed the link to the Graphics Production Library, here it is: http://www.monumental.com/dan_rope/gpl/
Finally, the Statistical Computing and Statistical Graphics Newsletter which contains additional articles with respect to micromaps and the Graphics Production Library is available here (just check the on-line index to find the corresponding issues): http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/who/cocteau/newsletter/index.html
If you are interested to collect your Homework 2 assignments, you can do so on Tuesday 2/16 after 12noon (unfortunately I don't have them back by Monday - sorry). They will be piled in front of my office (142 Science & Tech II). If you want to, you can also turn in your Homework 3 assignments on Monday during my office hours or during our help session on Tuesday and you can get the solutions at that time. I still have to arrange for a room for the help session so please check back this page early next week. (2/11/99)
(2/19/99)
The interesting facts in short: a 16-Seed obviously has a chance to beat a 1-Seed, but this chance is only about 1%. With 4 pairings of 16-Seed vs 1-Seed per tournament, you can expect that such an upset happens in average every 25 years. The chances that a 14-Seed (GMU) beats a 3-Seed (Cincinnati) are about 20% - good luck, Patriots! (3/11/99)
If you missed this quiz and already talked to me (or haven't been able to contact me yet but have some official documents that prove why you couldn't participate in this quiz), please send me an e-mail and indicate which of the days and times listed below work for you for the make-up-quiz:
- (1) Tuesday 3/23, 8pm to 9pm,
- (2) Wednesday 3/24, 10am to 11am,
- (3) Wednesday 3/24, 3pm to 4pm.
There will be no possibility for a make-up-quiz after our next lecture. I do not post the solutions to our last homework assignment 6 on the Web since in some of your cases it also makes sense to allow a late homework submission (and everybody who took the quiz should have gotten the solutions in class).
Please check the Web page and your e-mails on 3/23 and be prepared to take the quiz on one of the days/times indicated above. I will provide this information on 3/23 before 4pm so you should have adequate time to get ready for the make-up-quiz even if it is on Tuesday night. (3/11/99)
We have two help sessions this time. The first help session takes place on Sunday 4/11/99 from 5pm to 7pm in S&T II, Room 150. The second help session takes place on Monday 4/12/99 from 6pm to 8pm in (to be specified on Monday). Please note that I will be only available from 2pm to 3pm during my Monday office hour. (4/9/99)
The help session today will be in the Fine Arts Building B212 from 6pm to 8pm. This is the same room as for our help session before Quiz 2. (4/12/99)
Final: The final is on Wednesday 5/12 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm in ENT 178. Dr. Wegman will monitor the exam. I will do the grading once I am back.
You may bring a 2-sided note sheet, a calculator, a ruler, etc. but you may NOT bring your textbook, your lecture notes, etc. You must bring your ID (student ID, drivers license) to verify that you are the person that signed the final (and not your best friend, brother/sister, spouse, etc.).
Contents of the Final: It is comprehensive. You may want to work on the following material in this order:
(i) look at our old quizzes/solutions first (1 question guaranteed)
(ii) look at last years old quizzes and final
(iii) look at our homework assignments and solutions
(iv) look at our lecture notes
(v) look at additional textbooks (and exercises) or some of the books I have cited in class
Due Dates: On Wednesday 5/5 several things are due:
Homework Assignment 12, part II, Homework Assignment 13, and the Extra Credit questions.
Graded assignments 12 and 13 can be collected from a box outside my office on Tuesday 5/11 in the afternoon. Extra handouts and graded homework assignments and exams are also available in this box as of today. You should check this box if you miss some of your materials.
Office Hours: No office hours Friday 4/30. Extended Office hours Monday 5/3 from 2pm to 6pm. I am planning on an extended help session on Tuesday 5/4 from 7pm to 10pm. I will post the room number as soon as I know it myself.
I plan to spend the last hour of our Wednesday 5/5 lecture for in-class questions if you can't make it to the help session or the Monday office hours.
Unfortunately, I don't have e-mail access after our 5/5 lecture. However, you can still contact Amanda.
Grades: I did some calculations with minimum point requirements to achieve a certain letter grade. Eventually, the final lower cutoff limits may go slightly down based on the outcome of the final but I won't raise them. Extra credit points will be added to your scores only after the original grades have been fixed. If you feel comfortable with your grade, there is no need to work on any of the extra credit questions at all.
I also created an overview of points awarded so far. This list is not ordered at all. You have to know about the outcome of one or two of your exams to identify your full score. Please let me know if something is incorrect. This list does not include the grades of homework assignment 11 or the last two make-up-quizzes.
(4/29/99)
The final turned out much worse than what I expected. The summary statistics are 40 for the minimum, 97.5 for the first quartile (in fact, 16 people had less than 100 points - which is 1/3 of the total possible number of points), 134 for the median, 140.6 for the mean, 185.5 for the third quartile, and 258 for the maximum.
Accordingly, I lowered my grade expectations for the final to 192 for an A (instead of 260), 162 for a B (instead of 220), 132 for a C (instead of 180), and 102 for a D (instead of 140).
Overall cutoffs were then 437 (D), 547 (C), 657 (B-), and 767 (A-). I further split these 110 point ranges into 35 points for a "-", 40 points for the full letter grade, and 35 points for a "+". Impressed by the efforts of 4 people in the non-existing "D+" category, I decided to call everything above 520 points still a "C".
This resulted in the following final cutoffs: 437 (D), 520 (C), 622 (C+), 657 (B-), 692 (B), 732 (B+), 767 (A-), and 802 (A). If you are asking why you got an "F", I am asking why you didn't do the work. Look at the points you lost by not turning in your homework assignments and by not working at all (with one exception) on the extra credit questions. Also the "D"s are still very weak in these two fields. It should have been very easy to get a "C" by just doing the work! Fortunately, the extra credit questions allowed many of you that turned in this assignment to obtain a better grade.
Once again, I prepared a point overview that is ordered from highest to lowest but does not contain any name or other identifier. You have to know about the outcome of some of your previous quizzes and homework assignments to identify yourself. Please check the scores and contact me in case of any question or problem with the reported grade.
I plan to scan in the solutions of the final later this week. Please check this page again on Friday or on Monday if you are still interested in answers to particular questions. You can also reach me during my official office hours this Friday and Monday from 2pm to 4pm and look at the solutions then. (5/19/99)