A first course in statistics

This page includes some material for a first course in statistics which I wrote and gave while at St Andrews. The course aimed to give first year mathematics students a clear overview of the mathematical structure of the subject, as well as a feeling for what applied statistics is about. The course starts with a case study looking at global climate change, and basic statistical concepts. This is followed by a statistical theory section, after which there are further case studies looking at financial modelling and fisheries stock assessment.

The initial course design was collaborative with Carmen Fernandez, who also drafted an earlier version of the regression theory section, and wrote the original version of the finance case study. The historical context for the financial case study was added by me and the rest of the finance material revised by Steve Buckland, who also made some changes to the regression theory section.

The notes here are for the climate change case study, the theory section and the fisheries case study. The course materials also included tutorial sheets and further praticals, which I have not included here, because the course is still running at St Andrews! Gaps in the notes are for students to work things out in class. Some classes took place in computer labs.