University of Ilinois at Chicago
College of Business Administration
Department of Information & Decision Sciences
IDS 472   Statistics for Info Systems and Data Mining  
SYLLABUS
Prerequisite           IDS 371   (Business Statistics II), or the equivalent (two semesters of statistics)
                              400-level courses are for advanced undergrads and grads.
Credit                    3 sem. hrs. for undergrads, 4 sem. hrs. for grads. 
Spring Semester, 2005    (Term #042)         Call #s: 16746 (undergrad)   19295 (grad)
WHEN
Times:  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00 - 3:15.    Dates: 11-Jan. through 28-April, except during Spring Break (Mon., 21-March to Fri., 25-March) and 29-March.   There is a   Course Calendar listing daily activities.
WHERE
Place:   Room 208 Burnham Hall (BH), except EPASW L270 on Tuesdays, 1/25, 2/1,8,15,22, 3/1,8,15, 4/12,19,26
WHO
Instructor:  Stanley L. Sclove, Ph.D., Professor, Information and Decision Sciences 
Office:  2418 UH 
Telephone:  Office (312) 996-2681     Dept (312) 996-2676
E-mail: slsclove@uic.edu 
Web page:  http://www.uic.edu/~slsclove
Office hours: Room 2418 UH, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the hour after class;   and by appointment  
WHAT
        Instructional Materials:
                   TEXTBOOK
        Required:

Berry and Linoff.  Data Mining Techniques.   2nd ed.  John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.   ISBN 0-471-17980-9 (paperback).
                    COURSE CONTENT
Topics vary somewhat from year to year but are chosen from among nearest neighbor classification, discriminant analysis, logistic regression, neural networks, classification trees, association rules, cluster analysis, and genetic algorithms. Consult the calendar for the day-to-day schedule for this semester.
                    VIDEOS
Program 10 ("Multidimensional Data Analysis") from the series Against All Odds: Inside Statistics  (CPB/Annenberg Public Educational TV Project) will be shown in class.  There are 26 programs in all. WYCC Channel 20 presents the shows for 13 weeks, two half-hour programs per week,  starting in mid-January.    The NOVA video "We Know Where You Live,"which touches on geodemographics and cluster analysis, will be shown. The cassettes are available from the  Architecture & Art Library,3rd floor Douglas Hall.  Also, an ABC Nightline program will be shown.

COURSE INTENT
This is an intermediate-level course on statistics, in particular, on methods of univariate and multivariate statistical analysis particularly adapted to data mining and knowledge discovery in databases.   Applications include market research,credit scoring and industrial quality assurance and control, as well as management and human resources.
COURSE PREREQUISITES
Class members must have taken a year of elementary statistics (IDS 270-371 or the equivalent).     They should be able to use Excel.  Use of statistical computer packages will be discussed in the course;  students may be asked to do some work using such packages.
READING
A considerable amount of reading is required in this course, an average of 15 pages per class meeting in the main textbook, plus on-line and other material.
LECTURES
Lectures are designed to complement the reading assignments, not to replace them.
HONOR CODE
This course and its associated coursework are being administered under the policies of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Business Administration Honor Code.   All students are expected to respect and uphold this code.
ASSIGNMENTS
"Homework" assignments (three) will be collected and graded. Late homework will be accepted, with a 20% penalty, provided that it is handed in before or at the beginning of the next class meeting after the due date.

"Problems" are additional assignments which will not be collected and graded; however, many of the exam problems will be similar to them. Work the problems and keep your solutions in a notebook.
THE WEB PAGE
Besides the homework assignments, the Web page will also contain this syllabus as well as other course material.
GRADING
Don't nitpick about the grading.  Persons who complain will not be rewarded for it;  those who have the decency not to complain would deserve the same break.  A request to look at one problem leads to re-grading of the whole paper, which often leads to a lower grade.
No "extra credit" opportunities will be offered or assigned to specificindividuals under any circumstances; all students' grades will be based on the same components -- this is an equal opportunity course.
GRADES
The grade for the course will be determined by the homework, the exams,   and the project.  Each of the three homework sets will be weighted 10%; Exam No. 1, 20%;  Exam No. 2, 20%; and the Project, 30%. So a student's overall score will be
.10 HwA + .10 HwB + .10 HwC  + .20 E1 + .20 E2 + .30 P,
where HwA = % score on the first homework, HwB = % score on the secondhomework, HwC = % score on the third homework, E1 = % score on the firstin-term exam, E2 = % score on the second in-term exam,  and P = %score on the project.   On the overall score, 90's are A, 80'sare B, etc.
        The course grade will be reviewed only during the second and third weeks of the following semester.
EXAMS
The exams will be closed book, problems (not multiple choice, not open-book).     There will be no final, only two in-term exams, during the eighth week and the next-to-last week.  The Project takes the place of a final.
No make-up exams will be given.
All students are of course obliged to take all the exams; the following does not mean that a student may simply "skip" an exam:  On rare occasions, it is permissible to miss Exam 1 or 2 due to extenuating circumstances of an extreme nature, made known to the instructor in advance. If Exam 1 or 2 is missed, the lowest of the student's scores on the othertasks (HwA, HwB, HwC, the other exam, and the project)  will be used to assign a grade for the missed exam.
If both Exam 1 and Exam 2 are missed, the result will be failure of the course.
If the project is not handed in on time,  the result will be failure of the course.
Having to work or having a job interview is not an excuse for missing a lecture, missing an exam, or not getting the homework or project in on time.   Don't ask to have a make-up  because you have to work or go to a job interview.  Keep your schedule clear so that you can attend the lectures, do the   homework, take the exams and do the project.
ATTENDANCE
Attendance    is  extremely important.
Don't schedule job interviews during class time, and certainly not when there are exams.
CLASS BEHAVIOR
Don't eat or drink in class.
Be on time for class.  If you do arrive late, take a seat quietlyin the back of the room.
COURSE ADDS AND DROPS
It should be noted that College of Business Administration regulations pertaining to course adds and drops apply to all students in this course without regard to the College in which the student is enrolled. In short, this means that the add and drop rule applies to everyone. Also, if you want to drop the course (during the allowed drop period), please take the necessary action yourself; do not assume that you will automatically be dropped for non-attendance. 
        This syllabus is a statement of policy for IDS 472.   It is not an official statement or publication of the IDS Department or UIC.

Created     2004: Oct 8     Latest update   2005: April 17