Home

Online Learning

Degrees

FAQ

Schedule of Courses

Contact Us

Texts

Software

Other Resources

Catalog Description

Course Objectives

Prerequisites

Class Location

Grading

Assignments

Additional Information

Schedule of Assignments and Events

Contact Information/Office Hours

Texts

Think Stats (2nd ed.) by Allen B. Downey, O'Reilly Media/Green Tea Press (2014) ISBN 9781491907337 (Required).

Think Bayes (1st ed.) by Allen B. Downey, O'Reilly Media/Green Tea Press (2013) ISBN 9781449370787 (Required).

Software

• The Anaconda Python (version 3) distribution, including the following Python packages/frameworks:
• Spyder (Integrated Development Environment [IDE])
• IPython (interactive and collaborative computing)
• NumPy (math)
• SciPy (scientific and technical computing)
• Matplotlib (plotting/visualization)

• Warning: Do _NOT_ "mess with" any existing Python installation on your computer. If you do, expect your operating system to stop working, and for the "fix" to be a real pain, at best. You might have to reinstall your OS from scratch.

  You can install Anaconda without messing up the Python installation that came with your OS, and on which your OS is probably dependent.

Other Resources

The Python 3 tutorial at https://docs.python.org/3/

The Linear Algebra tutorial from the code download at https://github.com/ageron/handson-ml

You will need a suitable computer. The University's Computer Recommendations are appropriate for this course for Windows and OS X. If you use the Linux operating system this course, the recommendations for Windows computers will also be suitable for Linux.

Please see the Online Learning page for more information regarding expected student student access to the internet, and corresponding software.

Please see the Mercer's Distance Learning page for more information regarding expected student student access to the internet, and corresponding software.

Course Description

Special Topics. This course will emphasize statistics, probability, and linear algebra as used in data science using standard Python libraries.

This Online Learning course begins on August 21, 2018 at 12:00 am Eastern time. All assignments are due by the end (11:59:00 pm) of the specified calendar day in the Eastern time zone. This course ends at 11:59:00 pm on December 10, 2018, in the Eastern time zone.

Back to Top

Course Objectives

Breadth and Depth in Defining, Analyzing, and Solving Complex Problems:

• After successfully completing this course, you should be able to demonstrate a basic capability to apply statistics, probability, and linear algebra to solve complex problems.

Communicate Technical Aspects of the Solution for Complex Software Engineering Problems to a Technical Audience:

• After successfully completing this course, you should be able to demonstrate a basic ability to communicate regarding the application of statistics, probability, and linear algebra to a technical audience.

Back to Top

Prerequisite(s)

SSE 550 Object-Oriented Design I

This prerequisite provides one graduate-level 3 semester hour course in C++ or Java or C#.

Please see the Online Learning page for more information regarding expected student abilities and aptitudes.

Back to Top

Class Location

• This course is entirely online.
• Please see the Canvas page for information regarding access to Canvas, Mercer's online learning system. Please note that the Canvas contents for this course are in addition to this syllabus, and do not substitute for this syllabus.

Back to Top

Grading

Item	Percent of Term Grade
Direct Activity Report 1	3
Direct Activity Report 2	3
Direct Activity Report 3	4
Project 1 will be delivered twice, once provisionally, and in a final version. (See Assignments, below.) The grade for the provisional version will determine whether or not you are reported as being in academic trouble early in the semester. The grade of the final version will replace the grade of the provisional version. Please note that the final version includes more than the provisional version, and may well receive a different grade.	30
Project 2	30
Project 3	30

Credit will be given only for original work.

The Office of the Provost's "Academic Integrity page includes a link to the Graduate Honor Code, which covers issues such as plagiarim. Please take a good, careful look at the Graduate Honor Code. Plagiarism is not acceptable in this, or any, course.

Project reports are to be submitted complete, not as incremental partial submissions.

All course work time is categorized as either Direct or Non-Direct (but not both). More information about the Direct and Non-Direct categories is contained in the Direct and Non-Direct and Report Logs. Please read these pages very carefully.

Instruction Time

Federal and regional accreditation requirements stipulate that a 3-credit hour course must include 150 minutes of direct instruction time per week. For this course, that direct instruction time includes"

• Collaborative discussions with other students regarding the content of readings assigned for the course.
• Collaborative discussions with other students regarding the content that goes beyond readings assigned for the course, but is not part of work on the projects assigned on the syllabus.
• Collaborative development of generic technology that may be useful for your project(s), but is not, in its generic form, part of your project.

In addition to the 150 minutes of direct instruction time each week, students are expected to spend a minimum of 300 additional minutes per week completing reading and writing assignments:

• Doing the assigned reading.
• Working on the projects assigned on the syllabus.

More information about the Direct and Non-Direct categories is contained in the Direct and Non-Direct and Report Logs web pages. Please read these pages very carefully.

All deliverables (Activity Reports and Project Reports) are due on their assigned dates .

• Deliverables submitted no more than one day late may be graded, but with a 10 point penalty .
• Deliverables submitted more than one day (24 hours) late will receive a grade of zero.
• The Non-Direct Activity reports are part of the project reports. The Non-Direct Activity reports do not receive a separate grade, but are used to help in evaluating your project reports.

Use the Report Logs to help you to manage your time and keep on schedule. You should schedule your work evenly throughout the term.

More information about project grading is contained in the General Project Rubric .

• If you have a question about any of this, please ask.

Back to Top

Assignments

• Purpose of projects:
• Use the projects to develop your capabilities, and
• Use the projects to demonstrate your capabilities.
• Deliverables for all projects:

  All course work time is categorized as either Direct or Non-Direct (but not both). Read Direct and Non-Direct and Report Logs before continuing. Please read these pages very carefully.

  • All Direct Activity Reports include a Direct Activity Log, and may include additional supporting material at your discretion.

  • All Project Reports include a Non-Direct Activity Log, in addition to your work on the project.

  • Projects shall be delivered via Canvas.
  • Project reports should each be a single, standalone .pdf document, with the Bookmark feature used to support easy document navigation. Note that both MS Word and LibreOffice (which is free open-source software) support bookmarks, and will carry the bookmarks over into the pdf document when they convert your .docx, .odf, or whatever file type to PDF.
  • Project reports should focus on the development and/or maintenance that you actually do. Reports should not focus on summarizing or explaining the text or other materials.
  • Inclusion of screenshots demonstrating your work, and code you actually wrote for the project, are appropriate. Long code listings can be placed in appendices if doing so does not interfere with you presenting your work on that code in the body of the text.
  • Your report should be organized in such a way as to make the topics that you want credit for covering easy to find, and demonstrate your capabilities clearly and convincingly. Everything you want considered for credit, including code and tests (including test results), should be included in the report.
  • Each project can be a single, integrated project that tries to actually do something, or a collection of exercises that demonstrate your capabilities but don't accomplish anything else, or any combination of these two alternatives that you find convenient, unless otherwise specified in the assignment.
  • You may include other material outside of the report, if you wish, but this material may or _may not_ be considered in evaluating your work.
  • For each capability that you demonstrate within a report or major section of that report, you may present only the final result of your work; you need not demonstrate every step in the development of that result.
  • Use IEEE standards to cite references How to Cite References: IEEE Documentation Style. Careful attention to this will help you to avoid plagiarism.
• Some suggestions for doing a project are contained in the One Way to Do a Project page.
• You may arrange the teamwork pretty much as you please. The team members may develop a single deliverable (code, report, etc.), or multiple deliverables, one per member. In this latter case, team members should perform substantive peer reviews of each others's work as that work progresses, to help their team mates to do better work. Persuasive evidence of these reviews should be included in the reports.
• Project 1(Team)
  • Learn to do basic programming in Python (see "Other Resources", above). Your demonstration of this capability will be in the probably work, immediately below.
  • Demonstrate your capabilities in probability using standard Python libraries (rather than the libraries in your probability text [Think Bayes]).
• Project 2 (Team)
  • Demonstrate your capabilities in statistics using standard Python libraries (rather than the libraries in your statistics text [Think Stats (2nd ed.)].
• Project 3 (Team)
  • Demonstrate your capabilities in linear algebra based on the linear algebra tutorial (see "Other Resources", above).
• Please raise questions and issues via the course course contact group.

Back to Top

Additional Information

• Asynchronous Learning Nets (ALNs)
• • Self Study: You study the texts and any other course study material on your own.
  • Collaborative Projects: After your self-study, you collaborate (communicating via whatever means the team members find acceptable) with your partner(s) to produce a team product. Your collaborative work is substantial, asynchronous, and rapid.
  • This course is an online learning course. Please read this Online Learning web page regarding online learning in this course and this program.

Back to Top

• What Do I Do?

• Study the assigned material.
• Write and read email messages about ideas, problems and solutions to do with the assigned study material.
• Do the assigned work, deliver the assigned deliverables.
• Write and read email messages (to/from the course contact group [email]) about ideas, problems, projects, and solutions to do with the assigned homework.
• Review the deliverables produced by other people.

Changes to this Syllabus:

There will be changes to this syllabus, so check back frequently, and don't forget to hit "Reload" or "Refresh".

Schedule of Assignments and Events (tentative)

Start Date	End Date	Activity/Event
August 21, 2018	December 10, 2018	Course in Progress
	August 21, 2018	Login in to the course on Canvas.
Aug. 21, 2018	Sept. 10, 2018	Work on Project 1 Provisional
	Sept. 10, 2018	Project 1 Provisional due
	Sept.17, 2018	Direct Activity Report 1 due
	Sept. 24, 2018	Project 1 Final due
	Oct. 29, 2018	Direct Activity Report 2 due Project 2 due
	December 10, 2018	Direct Activity Report 3 due Project 3 due Course ends

Notes: The course begins at midnight (12:00 am) on the first day of class (see schedule above), and ends at 11:59:00 pm on the last day of class. Assignments are due at any time during the day specified on the schedule, that is, before 11:59:00 pm on that day. All times are Macon, Georgia (Eastern time zone) times.

Back to Top

---

Contact Information

• My Name: Dr. Paul E. MacNeil
• My E-mail: macneil_pe@mercer.edu .
• OfficeHours
• My Office Phone: 478 301-2185
• US Mail:
 
• Dr. Paul E. MacNeil
• School of Engineering
• Mercer University
• 1501 Mercer University Drive
• Macon, GA 31207

Back to Top

Important Additional Information:

"Firearms/weapons are not allowed in Mercer University campus or Regional Academic Center (RAC) facilities except when required for students who are in uniform (police, law enforcement officers, etc.) in an official duty status. All other weapons are prohibited including, but not limited to, hunting weapons, BB guns, stun guns, air rifles, air pistols, paintball guns, bowie knives, daggers, dirks, slingshots, leaded canes, metal knife sharpeners, switchblade knives, blackjacks, metallic knuckles, and any sharp, pointed or edged instrument (except instructional supplies, unaltered nail files and clips, and tools used solely for preparation of food, instruction, and maintenance). All fireworks or explosives (defined as any substance prepared for the purpose of producing visible or audible effects by combustion, explosion, or detonation) are forbidden. https://police.mercer.edu/

“Students in need of accommodation due to a disability should contact the Access and Accommodation Office to complete the verification process to become approved for services. In order to receive accommodations, each term, students will request accommodation and faculty notification forms through the Access Office online system Accommodate. Students are strongly encouraged to schedule a meeting with each professor in a timely manner to discuss arrangements. Accommodations are not retroactive in nature. Note - Disability accommodations or status are not reflected on academic transcripts. Students with a history of a disability, perceived as having a disability or with a current disability who do not wish to use academic accommodations are also strongly encouraged to complete the verification process with the Access Office. Students must request accommodations in a timely manner to receive accommodations in a timely manner. The Access Coordinator for Macon Campus is Katie Johnson, Director and ADA/504 Coordinator. Phone: (478) 301-2778; email: johnson_kc@mercer.edu Website: https://access.mercer.edu."

---

Accreditation: Mercer University is accredited by SACSCOC.