Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

Basic knowledge of statistics from A-level mathematics or equivalent

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

To provide students with a fundamental understanding of the basic statistical techniques (summary statistics, probability distributions, interval estimation and regression analysis) routinely used in the chemical, process, and engineering industries.

This course provides the basis for all subsequent statistical modules by introducing the fundamental statistical tools to undertake a preliminary statistical analysis of any data. More specifically the course introduces basic statistical tools that enable data to be presented, described and interpreted in an appropriate and statistically robust manner.

Outline Of Syllabus

Introduction: Descriptive statistics;
Probability: probability theory; probability distributions (continuous and discrete); normal distribution; Statistical Inference and hypothesis testing: Sampling distributions and confidence intervals – One sample problems (mean, standard deviation, paired comparisons) and Two sample problems
Regression analysis: method of least squares.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

The students will be able to recall and understand basic statistical terminology.
The students will be able to understand fundamental probability and statistical theory and techniques.

The students will be able to understand the assumptions behind statistical inference and regression techniques used and their limitations.
The students will be able to understand the difference between related concepts, such as discrete distribution and continuous distribution; probability density function and cumulative distribution function; z-test and t-test (AHEP4 C1, C2).

Intended Skill Outcomes

The students will be able to present, describe and interpret data in an appropriate and statistically robust manner in an industrial context using the knowledge on statistical theory and techniques acquired (AHEP4 C1, C2).
The students will be able to apply the appropriate assumptions when performing statistical inference, hypothesis testing and regression.
The students will be able to use appropriate software for simple statistical analysis through custom or in-build functions (MS Excel) (AHEP4 C1, C2).

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

In-person lectures convey the statistical concepts and theory and their application in process engineering. Tutorial questions will be supplied for students' to work through each week. Drop-in tutorials will be used to address student queries and aid understanding. Short video walkthroughs of Excel will help demonstrate how to use software to carry out data analysis.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The examination enables the assessment of whether the students have understood the methodologies and whether they are sufficiently conversant with the application of the techniques to real world scenarios.

General Notes

N/A