Instructor: Gary
F. Andrus
Office: 474 CTI (Loop), Phone: (312) 362-8719
E-mail:
gandrus@cti.depaul.edu
Web: http://condor.depaul.edu/~gandrus
Office Hours
CTI Lab equipment problems: 312-362-8404
In this course, students will continue the study of issues in the sciences, social sciences, and management in which quantitative data plays a significant role. A variety of analytical approaches will be explored, including numerical, graphical, verbal/logical, and algebraic. Extensive use will be made of computer tools such as Access, SPSS, programming environments, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the Internet.
If you feel you already know the materials presented in this course, there is a placement exam you may take. If you pass this exam, you will be waived from taking this course. Consult the qrc.depaul.edu website for more details.
The Quantitative Reasoning course is designed to help you to become a more confident, critical, and capable user of quantitative information of all kinds. In particular, it will help you to
The grade breakdown will be as follows:
| Activities / Homework | 40% |
| Midterm Exam | 25% |
| Final Project / Final Exam * | 35% |
| Points | Grade | Points | Grade |
| 93 - 100 | A | 73 - 76 | C |
| 90 - 92 | A - | 70 - 72 | C - |
| 87 - 89 | B + | 67 - 69 | D + |
| 83 - 86 | B | 60 - 66 | D |
| 80 - 82 | B - | < 60 | F |
| 77 - 79 | C + |
An expanded description of each follows:
Final Exam
– An in-class exam covering all material discussed in the course. If you cannot
take the exam due to illness or family
emergency, you must inform me in advance by phone or email.
Final Project – A project covering in more detail one of the topics studied during the course.
Midterm Exam
– An in-class midterm examination will be given during class. There are no
makeup exams in this course. If you cannot take an
exam due to illness or family emergency, you must inform me in advance by phone
or email.
Homework Assignments -
Many weeks there will be an assignment to be done outside of class. Their
purpose is to give you individual out of class
practice on the skills we are learning and to explore some ideas more
thoughtfully and deeply. The assignments are posted on the course web page
and on CTI’s CourseOnLine (COLweb) grading system. Homework assignments must be
done individually.
In-class Activities
- Class attendance and participation are important. Much of the class time will
be spent working either individually or in groups
doing exploratory activities that embody a collaborative "learn by doing"
approach. These activities must be submitted on COLweb by the end of the
class period in which they are assigned. Your entire group will receive the same
grade for the activity, therefore you must be present to receive a grade.
| Week | Topic | Comments |
| 1 | Course Introduction Simple databases; finding and filtering; importing a spreadsheet into a database |
|
| 2 | Relational databases, normalization, database queries | |
| 3 | Database forms, database reports | |
| 4 | Introduction to descriptive statistics; using Excel or SPSS | |
| 5 | Correlation ; How statistics can deceive (Simpson’s Paradox and false
positives). Midterm |
Midterm date: 5-5-08 |
| 6 | Number systems and logarithms | |
| 7 | Probability and risk | |
| 8 | Introduction to algorithms | |
| 9 | Programming with Alice | |
| 10 | Stuff | Last class: Wed 6-4-08 |
Email is the primary means of communication between faculty and students enrolled in this course outside of class time. Students should be sure their email listed under "demographic information" at http://campusconnect.depaul.edu/ is correct.
Each student in this course is expected to abide by the DePaul University Code of Academic Integrity. Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work.
You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lecture and the textbook with other students. You can give "consulting" help to or receive "consulting" help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation should never involve one student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an e-mail, an e-mail attachment file, a diskette, flash drive, or a hard copy. Unless an assignment is designated as a group project, one student should never submit a copy (or near copy) of another student's work.
Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from another student and the student who gave material to be copied will both automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for violation of this Code can also be extended to include failure of the course and University disciplinary action.
If you have any questions or doubts about what plagiarism entails or how to properly acknowledge source materials be sure to consult with your instructor.
The following paragraphs summarize university and
school policy on incompletes: An incomplete is given only for an exceptional
reason for not completing the course (e.g., death in the family, serious
illness). Any such reason must be fully documented before an incomplete can be
given. Any incomplete request must be approved by the Dean of Computer Science.
In particular, an incomplete is not given for any of the following
reasons:
The company won't pay for the course if I get _____.My grade point average will suffer if I get _____.
It's past the drop date and I'll have to pay for the course if I withdraw now.
In the unlikely case that an incomplete is given, it must be made up with the original instructor of the class. It is not possible to "sit in" on another faculty member's course and have that person give the grade to turn in. As a result of university and school rules concerning incompletes, incompletes in the School of Computer Science are rarely given.