Yearbooks

Programme: BScHons Mathematical Statistics

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Code Faculty Department
02240192 Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Department: Statistics
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 1 year Total credits: 135 NQF level:  08

Programme information

Renewal of registration

  1. Subject to exceptions approved by the Dean, on the recommendation of the relevant head of department, a student may not sit for an examination for the honours degree more than twice in the same module.
  2. A student for an honours degree must complete his or her study, in the case of full-time students, within two years and, in the case of after-hours students, within three years of first registering for the degree. Under special circumstances, the Dean, on the recommendation of the relevant head of department, may give approval for a limited extension of this period.

In calculating marks, General Regulation G.12.2 applies.

Apart from the prescribed coursework, a research project is an integral part of the study.

Admission requirements

  1. Bachelor’s degree with mathematical statistics or relevant bachelor’s degree
  2. A weighted average of at least 65% for Mathematical Statistics at final-year level
  3. An admission examination may be required

       Note: Additional modules may be required in order to reach the desired level of competency

Promotion to next study year

The progress of all honours candidates is monitored biannually by the postgraduate coordinator/head of department. A candidate’s study may be terminated if the progress is unsatisfactory or if the candidate is unable to finish his/her studies during the prescribed period.

Pass with distinction

The BScHons degree is awarded with distinction to a candidate who obtains a weighted average of at least 75% in all the prescribed modules and a minimum of 65% in any one module.

Minimum credits: 135

Core credits:          60

Elective credits:      75

 

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Projection matrices and sums of squares of linear sets. Estimation and the Gauss-Markov theorem. Generalised t- and F- tests.

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  • Module content:

    Matrix algebra. Some multivariate measures. Visualising multivariate data.  Multivariate distributions. Samples from multivariate normal populations. The Wishart distribution. Hotelling’s T ² statistic. Inferences about mean vectors.

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  • Module content:

    A compulsory bootcamp must be attended as part of this module – usually presented during the last week of January each year (details are made available by the department ). The bootcamp will cover the basics of research to prepare students for the research component of their degree. The bootcamp should be done in the same year as registration for STK 795/WST 795. Each year of registration for the honours degree will also require the attendance of three departmental seminars. Students should ensure that their attendance is recorded by the postgraduate co-ordinator present at the seminars. The department approves the seminars attended. In addition, students are required to present their STK 795/WST 795 research in the department during the year of registration for these modules.

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  • Module content:

    Refer to the document: Criteria for the research management process and the assessment of the honours essays, available on the web:  www.up.ac.za under the Department of Statistics: postgraduate study.

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Elective modules

  • Module content:

    The emphasis is on the theoretical understanding and practical application of advances in statistical modelling. The following topics are covered: Single equation models: Nonparametric regression. Bootstrap procedures within regression analysis, k-nearest neighbour classification. Modelling categorical dependent variables - Logit/Probit models. Multiple outputs. Linear regression of an indicator matrix. Ridge regression. Non-linear regression modelling.  Some new developments in regression and classification.
    Simultaneous equation models: Specification, identification and estimation of simultaneous equation models.

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  • Module content:

    Mixtures of distributions and regressions, frequentist and Bayes estimation. Latent components, soft allocation and belongings. Applications in unstructured data, including text data. Identification and interpretation of behavioural patterns.

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  • Module content:

    The singular normal distribution. Distributions of quadratic forms. The general linear model. Multiple comparisons. Analysis of covariance. Generalised linear models. Analysis of categorical data.

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  • Module content:

    Discriminant analysis and classification. Principal component analysis. The biplot. Multidimensional scaling. Factor analysis. Probabilistic clustering.

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  • Module content:

    Introduction to statistical measure theory. Queueing processes: M/M/1; M/M/S; M/G/1 queues and variants; limiting distribution of the queue length and waiting times. Queuing networks. Some stochastic inventory and storage processes.

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  • Module content:

    Simple random sampling. Estimation of proportions and sample sizes. Stratified random sampling. Ratio and regression estimators. Systematic and cluster sampling. Introduction to spatial statistics. Spatial sampling – both model and design based approaches.

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  • Module content:

    Efficient programming, Monte Carlo simulation, sampling of discrete and continuous probability models, General transformation methods, Accept-reject methods, Monte Carlo integration, importance sampling, numerical optimisation, Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, GIBBS sampling.

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  • Module content:

    This module considers specific topics from the diverse field of statistics as deemed supportive towards the training of the cohort of scholars.

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  • Module content:

    Specification of linear mixed model, model assumptions, estimation (REML and ML), diagnostics, hypothesis tests, interpretation of parameter estimates, calculating predicted values. Specific models: two- and three-level models for clustered data, intraclass correlation coefficients, repeated measures data, random coefficient models for longitudinal data, models for clustered longitudinal data, models for data with crossed random factors. Using statistical software to analyse LMMs.

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  • Module content:

    A selection of: Nonparametric stochastic processes. Power and asymptotic power of distribution-free procedures. Theory and simulation. Asymptotic relative efficiency. Linear rank tests: Definition, properties and applications. Equal in distribution technique. Counting and ranking statistics. Introduction to one and two sample U-statistics. Permutation and distribution-free rank-like statistics. Multi-sample distribution-free tests, rank correlation and regression. Some nonparametric bootstrap and smoothing methods.

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The information published here is subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information. The General Regulations (G Regulations) apply to all faculties of the University of Pretoria. It is expected of students to familiarise themselves well with these regulations as well as with the information contained in the General Rules section. Ignorance concerning these regulations and rules will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression.

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