209-105 Computing and Statistics

Availability

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

The objective of this subject is to develop a student's capacity to:

• describe a range of computing systems and explain applications of computer based information services;

• recognise and specify personal computer hardware components;

• correctly operate a personal computer and its operating system including maintenance and minor fault diagnosis;

• create, maintain, update, transfer and back-up data files;

• determine appropriate software to use given a data processing requirement;

• select an appropriate computer system for use in a given enterprise;

• gain useful proficiency in the following types of software packages: word processing, spreadsheet, database;

• apply logarithms and exponentials to physical problems;

• analyse physical problems using rate of change, behaviour and limits of functions;

• use approximation, derivatives and integrals to solve calculations of distance, area, volume, work, pressure, and time within physical systems;

• apply statistical techniques to sampling, quality control, experimental data and other data relevant to the management of a food production subject;

• understand the principles of measures of central tendency and distribution;

• calculate and explain probability and understand the probability distributions;

• relate sampling distributions to statistical considerations;

• explain applications of estimation statistics;

• apply concepts of correlation and regression; and

• explain the principles of hypothesis testing.

The content includes types of personal computers available; the place for computers and the programs used in them; hardware, including microprocessors, memory, disk drives, monitors, keyboards, printers, modems, power supplies; software, including word-processing, databases, spreadsheets, graphics, utilities, disk operating systems; testing and implementation of software; possible applications in the dairy industry; methods of data storage; operations of computers including keyboard skills, maintenance, backing up and transferring data; virus protection and security of data; collection, organisation and analysis and report of data; measures of dispersion, probability distributions for discrete and continuous variables; and sampling distributions, estimation, analysis of variance, correlation and regression, hypothesis testing and the meaning of significance, integration, application of the definite integral and transcendental functions, rates of change and the limits of a function and applications of algebraic functions.

Assessment

Two examinations of two hours each (30% each); four exercise (10% each).