Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Geography GEOG 4023/5023 Instructor TA Nicholas Nagle Lisa Jordan Phone: 303-492-4794 303-492-6062 (No messages) Ofce: Guggenheim 207 Guggenheim 301 Ofce Hours: Wed. 2-3 Wed. 10-10.50 Gugg 301 Thu. 2-3 Fri. 10-10.50 KESDA or by appointment or by appointment email: nicholas.nagle@colorado.edu Lisa.Anselmi@colorado.edu wepage: www.colorado.edu/geography/courses/geog 4033 f05
Some (hopefully calming) words regarding the text When many of you bought the textbook, I am sure that you looked at it, saw some calculus, and either gasped, cursed my name, or did both. Let me rst state that this is not strictly a statistics course, it is a quantitative methods course. Calculus is how we quantify things that change. Unless you believe in a world that doesn't ever change, you should be slightly familiar with calculus. Calculus is not a prerequisite of the course – I will cover the basic elements. But of course that doesn't make you any less scared, now does it So here are a few points that I hope will make it less scary. 1. Failure to understand the nitty gritty details of calculus might mean the difference between an A and an A-. No more. I promise. Maybe not even that. All I ask is that you try. 2. The most important important things that I expect you to remember about calculus are at a very basic conceptual level that can be understood by drawing a curve. I think that the concepts of calculus are very important in any quantitative science. The actual doing of calculus much less so. In fact, you already use calculus daily at this conceptual level without realizing it. My goal isn't that you actually know how to do calculus, but that when you see it, you will know what is happening, without necessarily knowing how to do it yourself. Hopefully I can demystify it. 3. The level of calculus that is required to fully grasp the why of statistics is less advanced than the level of treatment calculus it is given in high schools. 4. The calculus you will need to know can be looked up in tables I will provide you. 5. I will hold your hand through this. I am not making you do this to improve my health; in fact, I expect my own health to decline because of this. This is a lot of work on my part also, but this is the way that I think it should be done. The most difcult portions of the book that I will assign are Chapters 2 and 3. We will spend around 5 lectures in these chapters. After that, you will see practically zero integrals. Promise. Prerequisites I do assume that all of you have basic abilities with algebra, however, there are no formal prerequisites for the class. I will cover concepts from calculus and linear algebra as needed. Audience Graduate and advanced undergraduate students primarily in geography. Examples will be drawn from atmospheric science, hydrology, political geography, economic geography and other disciplines of human and physical geography. Objectives This course is designed as a rst, and for many only, course in statistical methods for geographers. Before I 1

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