BIOS601 AGENDA: Tuesday September 02, 2014

Agenda for Tuesday Sept 02, 2014

• Discussion of computing and statistical inference issues in the assignment on sampling of locations on Earth's surface
  
  answers to be handed in for Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5
  
  The first (general) computing issue is (if need be) to get up to speed in the use of R. See the R links on the main course page. If you run into problems, let JH know asap.
  
  A statistical/computing issue might be how to come up with a way to randomly sample locations on the surface of a sphere, using latitude and longitude co-ordinates. See the notes at the bottom of the file containing the 2 R functions inside the Oceanography link (on the height of the land and the depth of the ocean) inside the resources for surveys. JH thinks of the problem by visualizing the segments of a peeled orange!
  
  Remarks: The statistical issues raised by this assignment include the distinction between standard deviation and standard error; the concept of a margin of error; when it is appropriate to use the Normal (Gaussian) approximation to the binomial distribution; the (often under-appreciated) centrality of the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) in applied statistical work, not just for the sampling distribution of a sample proportion, but also for that of a sample mean.