Course Materials-Fall 2017-FAQ

MATH 1342 Materials

The course first-day handout describes the course materials. Please read that first.

FAQ: (For questions not answered here, email mparker@austincc.edu)

What's the least-expensive way to get the textbook?

Answer: Purchase LaunchPad software for this course (which includes the book in electronic form and other resources) from the publisher. Just under $100. This does not include a printed book. You'll have to be connected to the Internet to do any work in the course if you choose this option.

What if I don't have money to buy your course materials before the first day of class?

Answer: You can use LaunchPad for 20 days before you have to pay.

The statistical software you need is free. You may choose to use Minitab, which you need to pay for, at some points during the course, but that is not necessary.

Do I have to use specific statistical software?

Answer: Yes. We will use the following. (Each has specific strengths that the others don't have.) None of these require you to install anything on your computer.

• • one freely-available package on the web (StatKey from http://www.lock5stat.com)

  • Pros: Excellent graphics to support understanding. Cons: Not designed to support our full course, so there are a few things missing.

  • another set of freely-available applets (http://visualize.tlok.org/elem-stat/),

  • Pros: Lots of special-task applets to support our course. Cons: Not supporting the full course yet

  • one proprietary program (Crunch-It) which you have access to in LaunchPad (Crunch-It.)

  • Pros: Supports more computations than the first two. Cons: Graphs are not as good as the first two. Some computations at the end of the course are not as well-supported as would be ideal.

For students who want to learn a powerful professional statistical software package (OPTIONAL in this course): Both of these require you to install the program on your computer. You may choose to do all the required software work for this course in either of these.

• • JMP. LaunchPad also provides free access to JMP, which is a very powerful commercial statistical software package with excellent capabilities. If you are interested, I suggest you try that.

  • There are videos, etc. in LaunchPad for help on how to use it and some at the JMP website. Illustration of how to find "Resources" View Download

  • In LaunchPad, find both the link "Access to JMP" and the links for videos to help you with JMP from the "Resources" icon on the menu on the left in LaunchPad.

  • Pros: Supports everything. Free for students using our text. Cons: Very sophisticated program, so harder to get started in.

• Minitab. is the software program ACC has used for years. You can rent it for $30 for six months. (http://www.minitab.com/ and choose "Academic.") I'm not requiring it now for three reasons: (1) all the official help material shows you how to use Minitab 16 and probably the one you will rent is Minitab 18, (2) the version that works on Macs is enough different from the one that works on Windows machine to make things confusing, (3) it (like all the professional statistical software programs) is so expensive for non-students to use on a more permanent basis that it seems unreasonable to insist on students paying for it and spending time learning the particulars of how to do everything, and (4) the web-based, free statistical software is so much more capable and easy to use than just a year or so ago.

  • Pros: Supports everything. Cons: Costs extra. Not as good on graphing as the first two listed above. Harder to get started in than the first two above.

What are the computer requirements?

For LaunchPad: see information from this URL.

For the web-based statistical software: Crunch-It, from within LaunchPad, has the same restrictions as LaunchPad. For the other two, I believe they work on current versions of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. I haven't tried all of them on all other browsers.

What if I purchase the materials and then drop the course? Can I use them again next semester?

Answer: Your LaunchPad license allows you to use it for one calendar year. You will not be able to stay in this semester's course, but when it ends, you'll have access to the "generic course" from the publisher. That has all the LaunchPad resources.