MATH 615 Course Tools

Introduction to all tools used in the course

Robin Donatello

2024-08-26

Class website

https://math615.netlify.app/

  • Bookmark this page. You will be here a lot.
  • Contains details on weekly topics, links to notes, assignments and additional materials
  • Sometimes links will be broken. Typo’s happen. Notify me via Discord and I’ll get to it asap.

Class Website - Topic view

  • One page per Topic
  • These correspond to Modules in Canvas
  • Ties together what we have learned, with what we are going to learn
  • States the learning objectives for that topic
  • Links to all learning and assessment materials for this topic
  • MAIN PLACE FOR LINKS I don’t like to put links in multiple places because if I make an update then I have to remember to update all places, and that is error prone.

Class Website - Other tabs

  • All slides, all homework
  • Project overview & information
  • Syllabus, help
  • Reference materials

Practical Multivariate Analysis - 6th Edition

  • The textbook is used for reading and learning content at a more in depth level than my overview slides.
  • This will be used in Math 456, and is an excellent reference guide for further learning.
  • If you’re curious, Afifi is a mentor of mine and invited me to participate. I used the 4th edition in grad school and really like teaching out of it. Royalties are about $100/year and is not why I require this text.

Canvas

  • Assignment submission
  • Grades
  • Schedule, calendar, Due dates
  • Recorded lectures

Google Drive

  • Collaborative note taking
  • Quizzes (Individual, and Group)
  • Ongoing research project work

Discord

  • Used for outside class discussions, meme sharing, homework help and general chatter.
  • Your first place to ask code and homework based questions
  • I will not answer most class-content based questions through email.
  • Download either the phone app or the desktop app (I use both). This is mandatory.
    • Do not rely on remembering to log in via the web browser. You will miss important notifications.

Lecture notes (slides)

  • Stand alone lecture notes like these.
  • Click on three lines in the bottom left to see options for exporting a copy in other formats.

Video

  • Posted in Canvas
  • Occasional pre-class learning content
  • I will also record most class sessions

Statistcal Analysis Software

  • The programming language R (syntax)
  • Community written packages containing functions to do cool things
  • Not used by itself in this class

  • RStudio is the supportive working environment
  • Integrates with other tools such as Quarto, HTML and Python
  • R is accessed from within R Studio

You will download and install both as part of homework 0.

Closing Thoughts

  • It may seem like a lot in the first week or two
  • You will get used to it if you embrace it and view it as a learning opportunity
  • If you fight it because it’s not what you’re used to, or are upset because there are “too many places to look”, you are not in for a fun semester.
  • I am open to constructive feedback about course material.

🔗 https://math615.netlify.app / Course tool overview