Statistics

Statistics (STAT) was a CTY mathematics course used to promote analysis and understanding data tables. This course prepared students for the Advanced Placement course and they could have taken the exam that next school year. This course was offered at Clinton and Lancaster.

Course Description

From the CTY Course Catalog (1997):

Statistics is an integral part of research activities in many areas including agriculture, science, business, industry, psychology, and sociology. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major concepts and techniques that are employed in the collection, organization, analysis and interpretation of data.

Students pursue the four broad themes that make up the Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics curriculum: exploratory analysis, planning a study, producing models using probability and simulation, and confirming models using statistical inference. They analyze data by making use of graphical and numerical techniques to study patterns. Distributions of data are summarized using tools such as median, mean, range, standard deviation, quartiles, and z-scores. Students learn how to plan and conduct surveys and to draw inferences through observations of random samplings. Probability is used as a tool for anticipating what the distribution of data should look like. Specific tests of significance such as the t-distribution and the Chi-Square test for goodness of fit and homogeneity of proportions are investigated. Students have ample opportunities to think through problems, make decisions, and share questions and conclusions with other students and the instructor. The course will cover the entire AP Statistics curriculum. With appropriate review, students should be prepared to take the AP Statistics exam in May, 1998.