<p>So has anyone compared or taken these? Which one tends to be harder in general?</p>
<p>Also, are we able to make and use a note sheet during the tests for both of these courses?</p>
<p>101's for wharton students. 111's for college students. 430 is for engineers. you shouldn't be needing to choose between them</p>
<p>Unless if you're in Wharton and considering concentrating in actuarial science or statistics, in which case you should take STAT 430.</p>
<p>what if we're in the college, but we're majoring in something like econ?</p>
<p>I think the econ dept has its own statistics course that you're supposed to take.</p>
<p>Yea, the Econ department has ECON103 (I think that's the right number) which is Stat for economists.</p>
<p>I'm in STAT430 right now, which would fulfill both the Wharton statistics requirement and can also count as an in major class for math majors.</p>
<p>and engineering has enm 321, too.</p>
<p>yeah, that same topic material/course is offered in many different flavors from many departments - i've seen one in math, one in engineering, one in econ, one in bio, one in stat, and several in the grad programs. it's the basic stat material for every phd program in some kind of science at penn, and it's required for everyone doing quantitative stuff at undergrad. (I also happen to think that all wharton students should take 430/431 instead of 101/102 but that's just my personal opinion)</p>
<p>hey matt which course would you recommend for a CS major? and do you think it's a good idea for a CS major to take some stat courses or maybe minor in stats?</p>
<p>I think statistics and probability is incredibly valuable to computer scientists in today's world. A full minor isn't necessary, but I would recommend either STAT 430 and 431 or ESE 301 and 302 (these are basically the same classes), and then perhaps CIS 334 or Mintz's CIS 261. There's a lot of interesting work going on in approximation and randomized algorithms that takes advantage of statistics (where traditional deterministic computer scientists would have written off statistics in the past). A modern computer scientist understands that performance must be bounded, and this is achieved with statistics (See google maps for an example). Besides, the new CIS BSE requires 1 or 2 stat classes, and they're well worth it. If you're interested, a math minor is only 2 more classes (Math 240 and 312) which when combined with cs and those two stat classes make for a very solid computer science math foundation.</p>
<p>mattwonder, are you in STAT430 now? did you take it last year?</p>
<p>after being in the class for about half a semester now, and after seeing what friends were doing in STAT101, I think just about anyone who isn't totally inept at math should be taking 430.</p>
<p>Whoa PhatAlbert I think i was in your class for a little bit. Do you have Cai?</p>
<p>How is it compared to 101? Because a bunch of people kinda scared me into dropping it pretty early with stories of how hard it is.</p>
<p>Yep, I was in Cai's class.</p>
<p>Don't know how it compares to 101 though, since I've never taken it. 430 really hasn't been that hard though so far. As long as you have a decent grasp of calculus and do one of a)read the book, b)pay attention in class, (you don't really need both) you should do fine. At least I am so far.</p>
<p>Phat, theoneo: there's great variation in how 430 is taught. Some professors make great use of mathematical concepts. Others teach it like a recipe, and just have kids memorize formulas. (this is even more true for 431) At the least, you should have multivariate calculus under your belt (which is something most wharton and college students don't), and it's more math than is required for most people, so they shy away. </p>
<p>I usually tell people that if they've got any math skills at all they should be taking 430 but math isn't exactly popular in our culture today.</p>
<p>A test for how well you understand 430: Define (without looking up anything) a random variable.</p>
<p>Haha, good point mattwonder,</p>
<p>To be honest though, I didn't know what a random variable was going in. It is one of the first thing's I learned though.</p>
<p>It's really been a very good class for me. I keep on seeing connections between it and what I'm learning in other classes. A lot of the applications in ECON101 seem lifted straight from theory taught in STAT430.</p>