IDS 270—Business Statistic I Instructor: Manjuri Talukdar

CRN 45430 Spring 2024 Classroom: SES 238

Class Hours: 11 – 12:15 TTh in person

Office Hours: 12:30 – 2 T and by appointment
Office location: Room 2418, University Hall, 601 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60607
Email Address: manjuri@uic.edu

(e-mail is the best way to contact me)

Evaluation:
Exam 1 25%
Exam 2 20%
Final 20%
Homework 10%
Computer Assignments 5%
Lab Assignments 5%
Quizzes 15%

Course Description
This is an introductory class to teach you the basics of the use of data and statistics for interpretation
& decision-making. You will learn about tools and vocabulary to describe data, acquire data, and to
use data for visualization and analysis. You will also learn about the principles of probability,
probability distributions, and statistical tests.

General Topics and Learning Objects

Understand, process, visualize and interpret business data using software (where appropriate).
Understand the principles of probability and their relationship to statistical tests and inference on
business data.
Apply, execute & interpret statistical tests and estimates on business data for decisioning. Use
software where appropriate.

IMPORTANT: Due dates for the assignments are listed on a separate course schedule document. If
you do not receive that document on the first day of class, then it is available on Blackboard. YOU
CANNOT NECESSARILY rely on Blackboard to notify you when assignments are due.

Required Text: The Practice of Business Statistics by Moore, McCabe, Duckworth & Sclove
I will teach from the 1ST edition. The 2nd edition is pretty similar to the 1st. You may buy it if the 1st ed. is
not available. These are cheaper, older editions and either book will do. You only need the book itself:
Excel guide, disks or other supplementary text/material are not needed.

Some Ground Rules

1. Honor Code. This course and its associated coursework are administered under the policies of
the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Business Administration Honor Code. Instances
of cheating will not be tolerated. As a student, you have an obligation to conduct your academic work
with honesty and integrity according to University standards. Likewise, it is reasonable for you to
expect that your fellow classmates will follow these standards. Not to do so is unfair to your fellow
students and is disrespectful to your instructor. The penalty for the first incident of cheating is a grade
of F for the assignment. The penalty for a second incident is an F for the course and an academic
misconduct report filed with the Office of the Dean of Students.
2. Homework. Homework will be turned in by selecting the correct answer on Blackboard—in a
similar manner to an online multiple-choice quiz. The opportunity to turn in homework will be turned
off after the deadline specified on the course schedule and you will receive a 0 if you have not
submitted your answers by that time. Note that ‘Save’ and ‘Submit’ are not the same thing on
Blackboard for turning in your homework. Your saved answers will NOT automatically be submitted
at the due date. Please remember to hit ‘Submit’ before the deadline.

3. Exams. There are two exams administered during the semester and a Final Exam. Details
regarding these exams will be made available before the scheduled exam times.

4. Disabled Students. Students who take their exams through the Office of Disability Services need
to make arrangements with me approximately one week in advance of the exam and in writing
[email]. Written notification is required for each exam.

5. Talking in Class. Students are to remember their responsibilities and obligations toward their
fellow students. An academic atmosphere must be maintained at all times. Students found to be
distracting other students or the instructor (for example by: talking, texting a lot…) may be asked to
leave the class. Please turn cell phone sound off and store them in your backpack for the duration of
class.

6. Blackboard. A Blackboard site exists for this class and contains a great deal of important
information. You will take your quizzes and turn in most of your homework using the Blackboard
system.

7. Quizzes. There are several quizzes, administered through Blackboard. The quizzes are not
intended to be extremely difficult, but they may be time consuming. The quizzes provide drill material
for more difficult material for the exams. Therefore, completing these quizzes in advance of the
exams will help you to study and is crucial. There are two versions of the quiz for each topic. We will
use the higher score across the two quizzes to calculate your letter grade for your class.

8. Computer Assignments. There are 7 computer assignments that you can complete (mostly) in
Excel. For Computer Assignment 1 you will need to submit a written summary to Blackboard.
For the others you will answer a set of multiple-choice questions on Blackboard regarding the
assignment. Nothing other than answering the quiz questions on Blackboard is required to earn
credit for computer assignments 2 through 7. Web videos are available on Blackboard for all these
computer assignments, as well as detailed written instructions. Except for the first computer
assignment, you may complete these computer assignments using the material available on
Blackboard and answer the quiz questions on Blackboard.

9. Email. I occasionally send out email to the class that is very important. I will send email from the
Blackboard system. You can alter your email address that that system sends to, but the default is
your regular university email. You are responsible for changing your email address in Blackboard if
you wish to.

Note: I try to answer all email promptly and completely. You can expect a response from me in less
than 24 hours, except on weekends.

10. Getting Help. Do not hesitate to see me or the teaching assistant(s) if you need help, and do not
wait until it is too late. A steady effort to review material and work out all the assigned problems is
your best chance to succeed in this course. Always keep up with the course because every piece of
material is built upon the previously covered concepts. If you do not do well on the first two homework
assignments, then you probably need to get help before the first exam. The material for the final is
generally more difficult than the material for the first exam, so you will need to apply more effort
towards this class in preparation for the final. A tutor is also available from the college and the
availability of the tutor will be communicated early in the semester. THE FIRST, BEST WAY TO GET
HELP IS TO ASK ME QUESTIONS via email. If I get the same question from an adequate number of
students then I will add to an FAQ or some other common document.

11. Grading. Your grade for the course will be based on the weighted percent of total points
possible. I will use a straight scale with 100% to 90% receiving an “A”, etc. If your overall weighted
percentage for the class is below 60% then you will fail. There will be no curve for the course. There
will be no extra credit assignments for the course. So, study hard for the exams and the final. There
is a spreadsheet on Blackboard in the Syllabus & Schedule folder for you to track your course grade.
Please do not attempt to track your course grade using the Total Points columns displayed on
Blackboard. Those points are unweighted so inaccurate.

12. Checking Your Grades. Each time you complete an assignment, make sure that you have
received the appropriate credit for that assignment. YOU are responsible for checking these figures
so that your grades are all recorded correctly before the due date for the assignment has passed.
You have one week from the due date to bring any technical problems with your assignment to my
attention. After that, I will not make any adjustments to your score. After the one-week period has
passed, if Blackboard does not have a recorded grade for your assignment then as far as I am
concerned you did not submit your work for grading. If you contact me at the end of the semester
saying, “I did the assignment, there must have been a glitch with Blackboard” then your argument will
not be considered. Please be aware that if you do not complete an assignment it will show on
Blackboard as ‘Blank’, or not show at all, not as a zero. If you only go looking for zeros on Blackboard
then you will not be aware that you have missed submitting an assignment.

13. Labs / Discussion Sections. Labs WILL NOT meet during the first week of classes. Labs will not
meet every single week—check the class schedule. Approximately every other week there will be a
lab assignment taught in the lab session and the other week will cover a computer assignment. The
TA will execute the lab session in person and be available to answer questions regarding these
assignments and you are encouraged to complete the assignments and ask the TA any questions.
For the lab assignments, your TA will discuss an example problem or show some other material. In
order to receive credit for the lab assignment you must turn in your work to Blackboard by the
due date and time listed on the course schedule.

In summary, the assignments that you must submit work to Blackboard are: Computer
Assignment 1, all Lab Assignments. All other homework, assignments, quiz material, etc. are to
be completed using a multiple-choice type quiz through Blackboard by the due date on the class
schedule.

14. Grade of Incomplete. If you take the final exam, then you have completed the course and may
not receive a grade of Incomplete for the course. Arrangements for Incomplete must be agreed upon
in writing (email) before the final exam.

15. I will take attendance on the Acadly app. You are allowed to have 5 unexcused absences. After
that you will lose 5 points for every unexcused absence. You are responsible for the content of the
class whether you attend the class or not.