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

4.7
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2,587 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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376 - 400 of 424 Reviews for Basic Data Descriptors, Statistical Distributions, and Application to Business Decisions

By Catherine S

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May 21, 2020

A bit slow but well explained which make it somewhat easy.

By David A

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Aug 2, 2020

that was a lot harder than course 1 and really tests you.

By Harsha M

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Apr 24, 2019

Very nice course, helped to clear my basic understanding.

By Patrick W

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Jul 5, 2019

Useful refresher for business context of statistics

By Renier B

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Dec 2, 2019

Good course, learned some really new applications.

By Kim K

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Aug 8, 2018

Rigorous and rewarding when you put the work in.

By Sanmay M

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Mar 28, 2022

some questions in exam are not very clear

By Surapa K

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Oct 14, 2019

short, concise, informative and practical

By Beāta K

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Jan 9, 2021

The feedback from lecturers is missing.

By VAIBHAV A J

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Jun 4, 2020

need more practice sums with each video

By Joshua A

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Jun 8, 2022

very tough and exciting course.......

By Alok T

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Dec 23, 2021

helped me with my collage course also

By Charles E

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Aug 28, 2024

great foundational statistics class.

By Jeonghwan J

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Jul 18, 2018

good to understand and explaination

By saint g

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Mar 6, 2024

The lecturer was concise and clear

By NIKHIL S

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Jul 16, 2020

It was a very informative course.

By Alfonso R

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Jun 17, 2019

Excelente course, I recommend it.

By shahabuddin m s

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Sep 1, 2020

Great course! great learning

By Allen L

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Jul 20, 2020

Very basic. Easy to learn.

By Aditya S

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Dec 3, 2020

Sensational course!

By Lluis B P

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May 12, 2020

Very useful course

By ENWOROM C E

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Jun 13, 2020

VERY INSIGHTFUL!

By Amritanshu S

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Oct 1, 2021

it's difficult

By Dr. C J

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Oct 15, 2019

Great content

By Vipin J

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Jan 10, 2021

Good course