What calculus topics to review before intro probability and statistics at Texas State?

[Of Mike and Men]

Hey everyone,

I'm a CS major, and haven't been using calculus 1 or 2 for over a year and a half now. I vaguely remember any of it other than basic concepts (what derivatives and integrals are, second derivative, inflection points, etc.).

I am taking an Introduction to Probability and Statistics at Texas State this Summer and was wondering what I should review beforehand. It's only a 5-week course, so I won't have time to really pick up the necessary parts during the semester.

The syllabus can be found here: https://api.hb2504.txstate.edu/py/getsyllabus.py?class=173031792
And the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118947088/?tag=pfamazon01-20

I plan on just covering basic derivatives and integrals since I don't really remember how to take them, but was wondering if I should cover more than this based on the provided information.

The course requires Calculus 2 as a pre-requisite, but I'm not sure if this is more of a math maturity thing (since I've had several other math courses in my CS plan that don't uses calculus but have calculus listed as pre-reqs).

Thanks.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Hard to say from the available info. I've seen "calc-based" stats courses taught lots of different ways. Email the prof and ask him.

 

[StatGuy2000]

To the OP:

When I was in graduate school, I used to be a TA for a very similar course to what you will be taking, with similar prerequisites. The course I TA'd expected students to be able to be able to do multivariable calculus (i.e. integrate with multiple variables). An example would look something like this:

∫∫f(x,y)dxdy, where f(x,y) would be some (smooth) function with variables x, y.

I would suspect that the course you will be taking will be similar. Of course, as Dr. Courtney suggests, it would be best to e-mail the professor about the prerequisites and required background knowledge.

 

[Of Mike and Men]

To the OP:

When I was in graduate school, I used to be a TA for a very similar course to what you will be taking, with similar prerequisites. The course I TA'd expected students to be able to be able to do multivariable calculus (i.e. integrate with multiple variables). An example would look something like this:

∫∫f(x,y)dxdy, where f(x,y) would be some (smooth) function with variables x, y.

I would suspect that the course you will be taking will be similar. Of course, as Dr. Courtney suggests, it would be best to e-mail the professor about the prerequisites and required background knowledge.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I contacted the professor and this is what he said:
-derivative of common functions excluding trig functions
- derivative rules: chain rule, power rule, product rule, quotient rule
-integration of common functions excluding trig functions
-definite integrals
-double integrals

I never covered double integrals. To what extent should I cover this topic in your experience? (I'll be in touch with the professor as well.)

Thanks.