Business Statistics: For Contemporary Decision Making, 8th Edition

UNIT I

INTRODUCTION

The study of business statistics is important, valuable, and interesting. However, because it involves a new language of terms, symbols, logic, and application of mathematics, it can be at times overwhelming. For many students, this text is their first and only introduction to business statistics, which instructors often teach as a “survey course.” That is, the student is presented with an overview of the subject, including a waterfront of techniques, concepts, and formulas. One of the main difficulties in studying business statistics in this way is to be able to see “the forest for the trees,” that is, sorting out the myriad of topics so they make sense. With this in mind, the 18 chapters of this text have been organized into five units with each unit containing chapters that tend to present similar material. At the beginning of each unit, there is an introduction presenting the overlying themes to those chapters.

Unit I is titled Introduction because the four chapters (1–4) contained therein “introduce” the study of business statistics. In Chapter 1, students will learn what statistics are, the concepts of descriptive and inferential statistics, and levels of data measurement. In Chapter 2, students will see how raw data can be organized using various graphical and tabular techniques to facilitate their use in making better business decisions. Chapter 3 introduces some essential and basic statistics that will be used to both summarize data and as tools for ...