Academic Year 2025/26, Semester 2
Department of Mathematics, The University of Manchester

The course starts on 2th February 2026, runs for 10 weeks and ends on 1 May 2026. The term break is between Week 8 and Week 9 (from 30 March to 17 April 2025).

Teaching staff:

Lecturer: Korbinian Strimmer
Office hour: tbd. Please send email for an appointment.

Academic tutorial leads: K. Strimmer, tbd.

Overview and syllabus:

The MATH27720 Statistics 2 module is an introductory course in likelihood and Bayes inference for second year mathematics students. In this module, you will explore the foundations of statistical learning through likelihood and Bayesian approaches, as well as understand how these methods are grounded in the concept of entropy.

The module is designed to run over the course of 10 weeks and has the following structure:

  1. Entropy and likelihood (W1–W5)
  2. Bayesian statistics (W6–W10)

The course presentation emphasises concepts and methods, aiming to provide insights into how various statistical approaches are interconnected. It seeks to illustrate that statistics presents a clear and cohesive theory of information, countering the common misconception that it is merely an ad hoc collection of "recipes" for data analysis.

Teaching Format:

This course is fully in person with 3 contact hours per week over 10 weeks - either 3 lectures (odd weeks) or 2 lectures and 1 tutorial (even weeks). The lectures take place on tbd, and tutorials on tbd.

The delivery mode of this module is traditional using the visualiser for presenting the content. It is advised to take your own notes during the lectures.

The main reference in this course are the MATH27720 Statistics 2 lecture notes and you are expected to revisit the content of the lectures each week using these notes. The weekly learning plan available on Canvas indicates which parts of the notes are relevant in each study week.

In the biweekly tutorials the problems in worksheets are discussed. You are expected to attempt at least some of the problems before the tutorials. You are welcome to work together in a group to solve the problems. Solutions will be provided after the last tutorial has completed.

All lectures (but not the tutorials!) will be recorded automatically and corresponding podcasts will appear on the UoM video portal within 24 hours of each session.

Course materials:

See also the MATH27720 Statistics 2 UoM library reading list

To get started, download the lecture notes:

In addition, download the weekly learning plan and the worksheets with solutions from Canvas. There you can also find instructions for the midterm test and previous exam papers.

Furthermore, the following supplementary notes will be useful:

These are also available in PDF format for A4 printing.

Dates and location:

The lectures take place on campus at the following dates and locations:

Session Instructor Location Day Time Semester 2 Week
Lecture 1 K. Strimmer tbd tbd tbd W1-W10

There are no lectures in Week 11 and 12. Instead of the one of the lectures in Week 7 there is the midterm test. All lectures are recorded automatically and are available on the UoM video portal.

Session Instructor Location Day Time Semester 2 Week
Tutorial TUTx/x tbd tbd tbd tbd W2, W4, W6, W8, W10

There are no tutorials in Week 12. Tutorials are not recorded. If you have any questions about the content of the course then attending the tutorials is your best opportunity to get those questions answered in person.

Assessment:

The in-semester assessment for Statistics 2 (midterm test) is worth 10% of the overall mark for MATH27720 and is taken on campus in a computer lab. The end-of-semester assessment for Statistics 2 (half of the written MATH27720 exam) is worth 40% and is taken on campus.

Note that Semester 1 (Probability 2) and Semester 2 (Statistics 2) each contribute 50% of the total available marks for MATH27720. Half of the written exam will be about Statistics 2 and the other half about Probability 2.

Assessment Date Semester 2 Week
Statistics 2 midterm test: tbd, various computer labs, see below W7
Exam: tbd Exam Period tbd

The midterm test will take place in the following computer labs:

Session Instructor Location Day Time Semester 2 Week
Midterm test/01 K. Strimmer tbd tbd tbd W7

Frequently asked questions and comments:

I hope you enjoy the course! If you have any questions, comments, or corrections please contact the lecturer. First check the MATH27720 Statistics 2 FAQ whether your question has already been asked and answered before!