Assignment for Wednesday, March 8, 2006 (M 358K, Smith)
Be sure to review any reading and exercises from Monday that were not discussed in class Monday.
I. Read Section 6.2.
- As with Section 6.1, read slowly, carefully, and think about
the ideas, since techniques in later chapters will depend on them. Be
careful not to oversimplify.
- Be sure to learn the meaning of the terminology "Null Hypothesis"
and "Alternate Hypothesis". Note: "Hypothesis" is used differently in
statistics and in mathematics. However, the statistics use and the
everyday use are quite similar.
- Be sure to heed the two "cautions" on p. 403.
- Be sure to learn the meaning of the terminology "test
statistic" (p. 404). Note that this is a special case of the technical
meaning of "statistic" in Chapter 3 (p. 232).
- Be sure to learn the meaning of the terminology "p-value" (pp. 404 - 405).
- In Chapter 3 (p. 203) you encounter the phrase "statistical
significance." I told you then that we would make this concept more
precise later. The more precise definition is on p. 407. Be sure to
update your understanding of this phrase accordingly. Be sure to
understand the related concept of "significance level."
- Note carefully (p. 407) the distinction between statistical
significance and the ordinary meaning of significant (i.e., important).
- Be sure you can relate the diagrams (pp. 406, 408, 410, 411, 412) to the concepts of p-values and statistical significance.
II. Do the following exercises to reinforce reading and for possible class discussion: 6.33, 6.35, 6.39, 6.41, 6.43
III. Problems to turn in: pp. 375 - 378, # 5.54 (Be sure to note part (c) on the next page.), 5.58, 5.64, 5.66