Mathematics 289.24, Spring 2004

Illinois State University Mathematics Department

Instructors

Classes Meet

Thursdays 6:00-7:50 (with a ten minute break), in Stevenson Hall, room 125.

Office Hours

Please call or e-mail for an appointment.

Textbooks

There will not be a textbook for this class as it will be largely lab driven.  The instructor will periodically hand out study notes (also to be available electronically).

Objective

The primary objective of this class is to help you learn about how Excel and Access are actually used in actuarial practice.  A limited amount of work with Word will also be required.

Grading

This course will consist primarily of project oriented work with work during each class (not graded), homework each work (graded), a comprehensive project given as the final homework assignment (graded), and a smaller project to be worked on in the last class (also graded).  If you so choose, your worst homework grade can be dropped with the value of said assignment being added to the small project (to be completed on the last day of class). The first six homework assignments will each be worth 1/12^th of your grade.  The comprehensive project will be worth 1/3^th of your grade and the small, final project will be worth 1/6^th of your grade.  The grading scale will be as follows: 90% or better — A, 80% to 90% — B, 70% to 80% — C, 60% to 70%– D, below 60% — F.  All work will be modeled on real-world actuarial practice.

Schedule of classes

• Thursday, January 15, 2004.  Useful Excel functions and general Excel work.
• Thursday, January 22, 2004.  Data analysis in Excel, nested function work, and an introduction to user-defined functions.
• Thursday, January 29, 2004.  Excel macros and more user-defined functions.
• Thursday, February 5, 2004.  Working with merge documents and Excel review.
• Thursday, February 12, 2004.  Introduction to Access, basic data work and simple queries in Access.
• Thursday, February 19, 2004.  Macros and more query work in Access.
• Thursday, February 28, 2004.  Access review and multi-application project work.
• Thursday, March 4, 2004. Review of comprehensive project assignment followed by final project (work on which must be completed by the end of class).

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All information contained here is, to our best knowledge, correct, but it is merely a representation, and should not be considered to be any form of professional advice. This electronic publication should not be misconstrued as the official position of Illinois State University, or its Department of Mathematics. We are glad to provide as much information as possible here, but we kindly ask that in any decision related to matters listed here you seek additional counsel and information. Comments on this Home Page are welcome and should be sent to Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski  at his e-mail address: krzysio@ilstu.edu.