Science, Technology and Engineering

Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences

Statistical Science Section

Why Study Statistics?

There skills are essential in nearly every career choice.

Statistical Science trains you in data analysis and promotes your computing skills. IT IS WISE TO INCLUDE A STATISTICS SUBJECT IN YOUR ENROLMENT.

Further information is given below. For more details check out the Statistical Science web site or contact the Department on Ph (03) 9479 2600.

It's not what you think it is!

Contrary to popular perception, real statisticians do not count the number of ball possessions or goals kicked by sports stars. After all you don't need a thorough university education to do that.

So what is Statistical Science?

Everywhere around you epidemiologists, business people, engineers, and so on, are conducting studies. These studies have aims such as assessing a new drug, planning vaccination strategies, discovering better ways of growing crops or estimating the market share of a commercial product.

Statistics is the art of designing such studies and analysing their results in a way that is efficient and so that the results are convincing. It is a rich collection of methods, based on mathematics, and a way of reasoning aimed at the design and analysis of studies.

Analysis of data is like detective work and every bit as intriguing.

Who needs to know some Statistics?

In nearly every professional occupation you are likely to be involved in the conduct of a study and would greatly benefit from knowing some Statistics. People who are highly trained in Statistics are in great demand.

First Year Subjects

Extensive use is made of the computers, to simplify the work and to promote computing skills.

STATISTICS 11SC: Elementary Statistics and Statistical Computing for Industry (15 points, Semester 1)

PURPOSE: To promote computer familiarity and quantitative skills, AND to introduce statistical methods used to improve and monitor production quality through examples taken from local industries.

PREREQUISITE: Year 11 Mathematics

STATISTICS 11LS: Statistics for Life Sciences (15 points, Semester 1)

PURPOSE: Focuses on methods essential to students of agriculture, biology, environmental and health sciences, nutrition, psychology, etc.

PREREQUISITE: Year 11 Mathematics

STATISTICS 12SS: Statistical Science (15 points, Semester 2)

PURPOSE: This subject is the normal avenue to the mainstream second-year Statistical Science subjects. It gets quickly to the interesting topic of statistical inference, with motivation coming from real world problems. Time is taken to
promote a deeper understanding.

PREREQUISITE: Year 12 Mathematics, or one of the above Semester 1 subjects.