Applied Statistics - curriculum

Full curriculum:

The full curriculum will (unless I change something!) be as listed below, refering to chapters and sections in:
   Roger Barlow's "Statistics: A Guide to the Use of Statistical Methods in the Physical Sciences".

Essentially it is all chapters except chapter 9, and it is all sections except those giving proofs. Note that the examples are very much a part of the book, and should (hopefully) give insight into how to apply the methods discussed. The exercises are a great opportunity to check if the material has been understood and how methods are applied. Solutions can be found at the back of the book.
The full curriculum is about 130 pages in total.

Chapter 1 (All)
Chapter 2 (All)   +   Exercises: All, except 2.5 and 2.9.
Chapter 3 (Except 3.2.2, 3.3.2, 3.4.2, 3.5.2)   +   Exercises: All, except 3.7.
Chapter 4 (All)   +   Exercises: All, except 4.10.
Chapter 5 (Except 5.1.3, 5.3.2, 5.3.3 (formal part), 5.3.4, 5.5)   +   Exercises: 5.2
Chapter 6 (Except 6.4.1, 6.7)   +   Exercises: All
Chapter 7 (Except 7.3.1)   +   Exercises: All, except 7.1, 7.3, and 7.7.
Chapter 8 (Except 8.4.4, 8.4.5, 8.5.1, and 8.5.2)   +   Exercises: All, except 8.6.
Chapter 10 (All)

In addition, we will consider how to generate random numbers according to a specific distribution.

Core part of curriculum:

While the curriculum above is what is to be read (such that you can find it again), some parts are vital for the understanding and use of statistics. These parts, listed below, should be read several times until well understood! The core parts constitute about half of the curriculum.

Chapter 2: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.6
Chapter 3: 3.1, 3.2, 3.2.1, 3.3, 3.3.1, 3.4.1, 3.4.7, 3.5.1
Chapter 4: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3
Chapter 5: 5.1, 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2, 5.6
Chapter 6; 6.1, 6.2, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3, 6.2.4, 6.3, 6.4
Chapter 8: 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.4.1, 8.4.2, 8.4.3

Note that chapter 7 is not included in this! Not that the chapter is not worth reading, but it is more philosophical. However, Bayes theorem and the idea of confidence levels and limits is of some importance. In a world of infinite time, we would (also) go through this chapter in detail.

Additional parts from other sources:

While the curriculum only refers to Barlow's "Statistics" (for simplicity and saving student money for buying books), I can generally recommend the following books and chapters for a second reading.
A. Bevington: Data Reduction and Error Analysis
The standard text for many years, and with a very good section on error propagation. The book also cover some of the basic rules on significant digits, precision vs. accuracy, and is in general a very good introductory text to statistics.
Glen Cowan: Introduction to Statistics
A good short book, with a better (shorter) introduction to PDFs. It also contains a very good chapter on unfolding.
Particle Data Group:
A very consise writeup of the the three main areas:
- Probability.
- Statistics.
- Monte Carlo.

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Last updated 16th of February 2012.