Statistics

[Ro]

..just kidding of course, but this intro stats course I'm taking is killing me. About 4 times as much studying as my other courses.

And it's been about 7 years since my last math course in high school, so even my basic math skills are a little rusty.

I mean, I thought high school calculus was gibberish, but c'mon. This is ridiculous. Theta, chi-square, H-nought, whattheuffisgoingonhere. I sit in class bewildered, and the homework is seriously stressing me out. A daily struggle.

And I sitting here tonight frustrated to my wit's end studying for a test I ghave to write tomorrow morning. Christ, even the test time (sat. morn.) is sh*tty.

It is easily the most difficult course i've ever taken in university, and I am seriously considering dropping it and taking it in the spring.

Anyone else go through the same thing? Any advice? Horror stories? Insight?

[HelloHockeyFans]

Imagine stressing yourself out to learn how to perform convolution in both the continuous time domain and discrete time domain, only to learn 3 weeks later that once you know Fourier Transforms, you pretty much don't have to perform convolution by the first method, because the convolution turns into a multiplication once you do the transform!! :angry:

Seriously though, don't drop it bud. I think you should stick with it. Good luck!

[snowdude]

I'm taking into to Stats (141) up here and i'm not liking it either. It's a pain in the ass and my prof. isn't exactly fluent in either of our offical languages.

As for the material *shrug* its annoying to learn but it's not too bad compared to a couple other classes i've taken and that haunt me in my sleep

[FlamesAddiction]

I can relate Ro. I took intro to stats at the university level a couple of years ago and found it pretty hard. It was years since my last math course, and I wasn't a very mathematically inclined person to begin with. Some how I managed, and since then I have taken another stats course, and a couple of classes where we use a lot of stats. All I can say is that it gets easier. The intro is the hardest, after that, it's not so bad.

[lucid]

Practice, practice, practice!
Perms & combs are hellish (not sure if you're doing that). But once you get past those and go on to others things (chi-square, etc), it's a lot better. At the end of it all, I really eneded up liking Stats! (It's a much appreciated break from term papers, that's for sure.) I'd say that the more examples you do, the easier it gets... the procedures stay the same, and only the numbers differ.
I hated Stats to start with, but ended up liking it enough in the end. I was lucky in that I could understand all my profs, and while the textbook was the most useless thing in the world, the practice questions & answer sheets prepared by profs were really helpful.

Good luck!

[Pagal4321]

Well I'm in Actuarial Science so really stats shouldn't be a problem for me. But the real key is to just do problem after problem after problem. You will see there is usually a certain algorythm to follow to do any type of question.
With a class I'm in right now, don't understand the prof at all, but to do good in the assignments and tests I just had to keep doing exapmle problems and that's really the only way I got through it.

Good luck tho Ro....hey that rhymes...

[Clarkey]

Well I squeaked out with a D.

I would say just keep given-er and then try to do really well on the final. I think if you show that you've worked at it they will at least give you a D.

I remember looking at that stuff and just slamming the book against the floor. I got someone to give me a rundown on everything a day or two before the final and I was able to pass somehow.

Are you taking it at UofC?

Final advice, keep at it, even if there is a threat of an F. You don't want to have to take it again trust me!

[Daradon]

Sucker, my sales job starts at 40,000 and after a six+ months learning curve peaks in 6 digits!!! (outside sales B2B)

Let's hear it for real world experiance! :tup: (even though we are having trouble spelling it apparently...)

And before you go on about me building for the future, I already am. I have a background in finance...

Real world anyway...

Oops.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

yep

it's an intro/intermediate level I'm taking, and I'm ready to kill myself as well. That and all the forumlas for micoeconomics

stick with it, just study the notes, memorize if need be, and forget afterwards... that got me this far

[Cain]

Taking stats 141 up in edmonton right now as well...not really doing the work so its tough in that regard, but the midterm we had was pretty decent...Only messed up on one question (unfortunately out of 6, so it was worth a lot), so I am hoping the final is similar...

Going to class is impossible though...all she does are examples from the text, which I can just as well do myself...

[kermitology]

Originally posted by HelloHockeyFans@Nov 12 2004, 11:35 PM
Imagine stressing yourself out to learn how to perform convolution in both the continuous time domain and discrete time domain, only to learn 3 weeks later that once you know Fourier Transforms, you pretty much don't have to perform convolution by the first method, because the convolution turns into a multiplication once you do the transform!! :angry:

Seriously though, don't drop it bud. I think you should stick with it. Good luck!

Aaahhh.. signal analysis..

Laplace and Fourier transforms are easy, frequency domain is where it's at yo! Get used to it, frequency is your friend.

[albertGQ]

I didn't find Stats 213 too hard but man did I have trouble with Stats 217. I ended up with a C- in 217, but it should've been alot lower. The prof knew I put alot of effort in that course and would go to every lecture and lab. I even went for extra help during office hours and it did me no good.

[peter12]

I am holding off taking Stats 213 for as long as I can. Math gives me nightmares too Ro. But I know eventually it's going to have to be taken.

[calf]

Originally posted by albertGQ@Nov 13 2004, 12:10 PM
I didn't find Stats 213 too hard but man did I have trouble with Stats 217. I ended up with a C- in 217, but it should've been alot lower. The prof knew I put alot of effort in that course and would go to every lecture and lab. I even went for extra help during office hours and it did me no good.

Stats 217 was a major pain in the ass! The prof I had was pretty good in class, the quizzes and labs weren't too hard, but on the midterm and final, she made it so that no one would be able to finish. That course sucked.

[snowdude]

Originally posted by Maritime Q-Scout@Nov 13 2004, 10:14 AM
That and all the forumlas for micoeconomics

I have to agree that micro is less intresting then macro and if you can get through it then you can find out the beatuy that is Econ*








*yes i'm an econ major, sad isn't it?

[JayP]

You guys are just lucky you guys aren't in engineering. We have to take the intro probability and statistics courses in one course (ENGG 319). It's brutal. I have about zero clue what's going on during the lectures.

Although I did squeeze out a solid 50% on the first midterm (which was worth 45% of our mark). Class average was 44%. Boo-ya!

[albertGQ]

Originally posted by snowdude+Nov 13 2004, 11:47 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (snowdude @ Nov 13 2004, 11:47 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Maritime Q-Scout@Nov 13 2004, 10:14 AM
That and all the forumlas for micoeconomics

I have to agree that micro is less intresting then macro and if you can get through it then you can find out the beatuy that is Econ*








*yes i'm an econ major, sad isn't it? [/b][/quote]
Hey snowdude. I didn't know you are an Econ major. How many years do you have left? what courses have you done and which ones do you plan on doing? I got my BA in Econ from the UofC in 2002 (along with a minor in Management). I liked Econ and found it very interesting

[snowdude]

I've got 1.5 if I stay at a full course load but it's not going to happen, so my guess is from 1.5-6 years really

I've done intro/intermediate micro and maco, money and banking.

Next semester I have the fun of econometrics and a couple other classes......mostly I’ve filled up my history minor and worked on my other BA requirements

[albertGQ]

Originally posted by snowdude@Nov 13 2004, 11:58 AM
I've got 1.5 if I stay at a full course load but it's not going to happen, so my guess is from 1.5-6 years really

I've done intro/intermediate micro and maco, money and banking.

Next semester I have the fun of econometrics and a couple other classes......mostly I’ve filled up my history minor and worked on my other BA requirements

As hard a course Stats 217 was, Econometrics is way way harder. That course is one of the reasons I didnt' go for my Masters. Econometrics is impossible and I wouldn't have passed it if it wasn't for my group project (one that I wasn't able to contribute because I just didn't get it). I don't want to scare you but you better put alot of hours of studying in Econometrics or you are doomed.

Money and Banking is interesting. If you get a chance, take the 400 level Taxation course.

[peter12]

I like econ too, its kind of normal practical math. It's my minor right now, but I kind of want to do a double major in Poli Sci and Econ.