Course Code: STA 1302 Course Title: PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS II

Pre-requisite: STA 1201:

Probability and Statistics I

Course Purpose This module develops the techniques introduced in probability and statistics I.

The probability component of the module is mainly concerned with how to find probability distributions
functions of random variables, an essential skill in proving standard statistical results and in applying
probability and statistics in novel situations.

Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand the concept of both discrete and continuous random variables.

2. Calculate the expected value and variance of a random variable.

3. Understand the concepts generating distribution functions.

4. Calculate the mean and the variance of a probability distribution function.

5. Calculate marginal and conditional probability distributions from joint probability distributions. 52 |
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6. Use the multinomial distribution to determine probabilities.

7. Interpret and calculate covariances and correlations between random variables.

8. Calculate means and variance for linear combinations of random variables and calculate probabilities
for linear combinations of normally distributed random variables.

9. Determine the distribution of a function of more random variables

10. Calculate moment generating functions and use them to determine moments for random variables
and use the uniqueness property to determine the distribution of a random variable.

Course Contents

Random variables: discrete and continuous type, expectation, variance, quantiles, probability mass
function, and cumulative distributions of discrete and continuous cases. Moment generating function,
probability generating functions, characteristic functions and cumulant functions. Probability
distributions: Discrete probability distribution functions: Uniform, Bernoulli, Binomial, Geometric,
Hyper-geometric, Poisson and Negative binomial. Continuous probability distribution functions:
Exponential, Uniform, Normal, Beta, Gamma, Pareto and Burr distributions. Random and mean vectors.
Covariance matrix and its properties. Linear combination of random variables. Multivariate normal
distribution, Moment generating and characteristic functions of multivariate normal variables. Marginal
and conditional distributions of subsets, Multinomial distribution Probability generating functions
distributions. Teaching Methodology: Lectures, tutorials and discussion; case analysis. Instructional
Materials/Equipment Class with visual aids Course Assessment/Student Performance Continuous
Assessment: 30% Examination: 70%

Recommended Readings 53 | Page 1. Hogg, R.V.; McKean, J.W.; and Craig, A.T. (2004). Introduction to
Mathematical Statistics, 6th ed. Prentice Hall. 2. Rohatgi, V. K., & Saleh, A. M. E. (2015). An introduction
to probability and statistics. John Wiley & Sons. 3. 4. Hogg, R.V. and Tanis, E. (2010). Probability and
Statistical Inference, 8th ed., Prentice Hall. 5. Hocking, R. R. (2013). Methods and applications of linear
models: regression and the analysis of variance. John Wiley & Sons. 6. Larsen, R.J. and Marx, M.L. (2006).
An Introduction to Mathematical Statistics and It