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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Basic Data Descriptors, Statistical Distributions, and Application to Business Decisions by Rice University

4.7
stars
2,585 ratings

About the Course

The ability to understand and apply Business Statistics is becoming increasingly important in the industry. A good understanding of Business Statistics is a requirement to make correct and relevant interpretations of data. Lack of knowledge could lead to erroneous decisions which could potentially have negative consequences for a firm. This course is designed to introduce you to Business Statistics. We begin with the notion of descriptive statistics, which is summarizing data using a few numbers. Different categories of descriptive measures are introduced and discussed along with the Excel functions to calculate them. The notion of probability or uncertainty is introduced along with the concept of a sample and population data using relevant business examples. This leads us to various statistical distributions along with their Excel functions which are then used to model or approximate business processes. You get to apply these descriptive measures of data and various statistical distributions using easy-to-follow Excel based examples which are demonstrated throughout the course. To successfully complete course assignments, students must have access to Microsoft Excel. ________________________________________ WEEK 1 Module 1: Basic Data Descriptors In this module you will get to understand, calculate and interpret various descriptive or summary measures of data. These descriptive measures summarize and present data using a few numbers. Appropriate Excel functions to do these calculations are introduced and demonstrated. Topics covered include: • Categories of descriptive data • Measures of central tendency, the mean, median, mode, and their interpretations and calculations • Measures of spread-in-data, the range, interquartile-range, standard deviation and variance • Box plots • Interpreting the standard deviation measure using the rule-of-thumb and Chebyshev’s theorem ________________________________________ WEEK 2 Module 2: Descriptive Measures of Association, Probability, and Statistical Distributions This module presents the covariance and correlation measures and their respective Excel functions. You get to understand the notion of causation versus correlation. The module then introduces the notion of probability and random variables and starts introducing statistical distributions. Topics covered include: • Measures of association, the covariance and correlation measures; causation versus correlation • Probability and random variables; discrete versus continuous data • Introduction to statistical distributions ________________________________________ WEEK 3 Module 3: The Normal Distribution This module introduces the Normal distribution and the Excel function to calculate probabilities and various outcomes from the distribution. Topics covered include: • Probability density function and area under the curve as a measure of probability • The Normal distribution (bell curve), NORM.DIST, NORM.INV functions in Excel ________________________________________ WEEK 4 Module 4: Working with Distributions, Normal, Binomial, Poisson In this module, you'll see various applications of the Normal distribution. You will also get introduced to the Binomial and Poisson distributions. The Central Limit Theorem is introduced and explained in the context of understanding sample data versus population data and the link between the two. Topics covered include: • Various applications of the Normal distribution • The Binomial and Poisson distributions • Sample versus population data; the Central Limit Theorem...

Top reviews

SA

Oct 18, 2021

The course was fun and easy to follow through and i liked that when encountered with problem there is a discussion forum where facilitators and fellow students helped in solving it.thank you professor

SN

Aug 21, 2021

T​his was a really enjoyable course, but challenging too. I struggled a bit with the final assignment, but nailed it in the end. My statistical knowledge base has indeed been enhanced by this course.

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176 - 200 of 424 Reviews for Basic Data Descriptors, Statistical Distributions, and Application to Business Decisions

By Hector M F

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Feb 12, 2020

Very informative course! I learned a great deal about statistics!

By Atis R

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Feb 11, 2019

It was a very good Excel and statistics refersher course for me.

By 张悦

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Jan 11, 2019

very helpful if you actually think about all the things learned.

By AJETUNMOBI O

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Nov 3, 2020

The course has application in my day to day business activities

By Jaime M

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Sep 7, 2017

Great course to identify and analyse statistical distributions.

By Shadrack B

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Dec 11, 2016

Absolutely great course. Learnt a lot of useful information.

By Andy L

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Mar 22, 2020

Great 'business relevant' example questions and scenarios

By Kelechi I

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May 24, 2019

Excellent course. Straight to the point. Great professor.

By Pratyush K

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Jul 25, 2017

Easy to grasp, good amount of practice, and well taught.

By zy n

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Aug 31, 2020

Learn something new on regression. Thanks to the course

By Narges S

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Apr 18, 2020

The lessons are easy but quizzes are really challenging

By Aniket G

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Dec 1, 2021

I had a good experience by studying this course.....

By Muskan G

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Dec 13, 2019

Amazing start for basic statistics and probability

By David L C F

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Apr 24, 2019

Great course. From basic to practical application.

By sanyam b

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Aug 21, 2020

very good instructor and problems were very good

By Ashiqur R

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Jan 21, 2021

Great course to learn the basics of statistics.

By branndon j

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Jan 13, 2021

This was a tough course. Im glad its over..lol

By Ryan S

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Nov 10, 2020

VERY CHALLENGING but practical and informative

By 5

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May 17, 2022

Pretty clear. The exercices are challenging.

By Shilly R

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Jun 5, 2021

Excellent course to apply in real businesses

By Sanket B

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Mar 18, 2021

Provides a good basic concepts understanding

By Shashwat A

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Jul 25, 2020

Interesting course with hands-on-experience

By Hamza B

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Dec 12, 2020

Very nice, i understood a lot thank you.

By Ronald M

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Aug 28, 2020

Great! Simple explanations to the topics

By Aline C

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Oct 22, 2018

well designed and useful, great course !