Better Business Decisions from Data

PART    I

Uncertainties

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

—Benjamin Franklin

We need to understand the reasons why statistics embodies uncertainties. This will give us a feel for what statistics can do and what it cannot do, what we can expect from it and what we should not expect. This will prepare us for critically viewing the statistics and the conclusions from them that we are presented with. Some understanding of basic probability, which is required to appreciate uncertainty, is presented without assuming any previous knowledge on the part of the reader.