Overview

• It is an immigration course, in which you learn some basic tools for everyday statistical computing and document preparation in our Department.  We will focus on Splus/R and LaTeX, which you will use throughout your career here at Carnegie Mellon.
• It is a sampling of numerical methods in statistics . We will concentrate on regression calculations, maximization and simulation in Splus (or R) and C, but of course this is a major topic that courses (and careers) have been built around.
• It is a survey of special topics that you will find useful as you pursue MS and PhD degrees in our Department. These include interfacing Splus and C, exploring symbolic mathematics packages, dealing with large data sets, and developing a strategies for solving novel statistical computing problems.

• Most on-line materials for this course will be provided as pdf files.  These files are viewable with Adobe Acrobat or Ghostview/Gsview .  Other formats that we will see from time to time include:
• PostScript files; these are viewable with Ghostview/Gsview . 
• Simple text files (for program source code, data files, etc.).
  
• Here is a complete syllabus for the course.
• Here are the notes from last year's course.