MA12810 - COMPUTER PACKAGES FOR ANALYSING AND PRESENTING DATA

Module Identifier	MA12810
Module Title	COMPUTER PACKAGES FOR ANALYSING AND PRESENTING DATA
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Mr David Jones
Semester	Semester 2
Other staff	Dr J Basterfield
Pre-Requisite	C grade or better in GCSE Mathematics (or equivalent).
Course delivery	Lecture	20 x 1 hour lectures
	Practical	11 x 2 hours practicals.
Assessment	Continuous assessment	There will be 3 practical assignments (one on each package). The best 2 of these 3 pieces of work will provide the coursework assessment. Each will contribute 25%.	50%
	Exam	2 Hours (written examination)	50%
	Resit assessment	The resit assessment will, at the examining boards discretion, consist of an assignment to be carried out during the long vacation and/or a 2-hour exam.

General description

Throughout, the emphasis is on the use of the computer system as a tool to facilitate the presentation and analyses of data gained, perhaps, by experiment or field-work. Through familiarity with a variety of packages and their online help systems, students will be enabled to come to terms with a new packages more easily and become aware of their capabilities.

Aims

This module provides an introduction to three very different packages: a microcomputer spreadsheet package, a statistics package and a mainframe graphics suite. The packages offer contrasting user interfaces. The philosophy of the course will be to provide students with tools that they can use elsewhere in their studies.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

set up (or modify) a spreadsheet to do totalling and other calculations; produce summaries and charts from the figures involved;
explore a data set and use simple methods to analyse and present the information it contains using the statistics package;
use the graphics package to produce and manipulate maps and graphs from data.

Syllabus

1. SPREADSHEET: Overview of spreadsheets; entering and formatting information; formulae and functions; copying cell contents; manipulating a (large) spreadsheet; why spreadsheets?
2. STATISTICS PACKAGE: Overview of the package; some commands; use of the help facility; input of data files; data manipulation and correction; exploratory data analysis.
3. GRAPHICS SYSTEM: Introduction to the system; archiving and printing; data organisation and input; data operators graphs and groups; interpolation; types of map; viewpoint.
4. DEBRIEFING: Some lecture time each week will be devoted to a debriefing on the previous practical.

Reading Lists

Books