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

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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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151 - 175 of 424 Reviews for Basic Data Descriptors, Statistical Distributions, and Application to Business Decisions

By REBOSURA, K J (

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Feb 10, 2021

The lecturer is very understandable and likeable. Bless professors like you sir!

By Akash C

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Apr 16, 2020

A very practical and useful course, delivered in a very simple and neat manner.

By Geet S

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May 3, 2017

Great course! Very informative and all the concepts are very clearly explained!

By Faiza N

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Mar 8, 2024

this is great, I gained so much knowledge because of these courses. thank you!

By Ricardo M

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Feb 2, 2017

The lecturer is well versed in statistics and he explained complex theory in a

By Donnette D

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Feb 18, 2021

Very thorough. Helped me to understand areas I struggled with in high school

By AASTHA

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Jul 19, 2021

Very helpful. Thank you Sharad sir for making the concepts so easy to grab.

By Mohammed T C

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May 16, 2020

Excellent Course with 100% practical based learning. Learned a lot. Thanks

By lalit j

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Oct 30, 2018

Love the way course was designed and the way example problems were solved.

By John D I

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Aug 28, 2018

Great course and great instructor. Very clear explanations of each topic.

By Mohammad M

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Nov 5, 2016

One of the most practical courses in business analytic I've ever enrolled.

By José A G

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Feb 7, 2018

Excelente curso para aprender los principios básicos del manejo de datos.

By Erick K

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Jul 30, 2022

THE COURSE WAS BENEFICIAL TO LEARNING HOW TO USE EXCEL FUNCTIONS ON ENAZ

By Baraka L M

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Jul 5, 2022

The course is explained in a very simple way and the teacher is amazing!

By Dr C S B

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May 9, 2020

Nice course planned. And excellent explanation by the course instructor.

By Patrick W

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Oct 17, 2020

It wasn't easy for me but I was able to manage through. Learned a lot.

By Shittu I T

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Jan 14, 2019

Absolutely a powerful and awesome course.

Thank you for this opportunity

By Kofi E

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Nov 24, 2019

Very good course with well structured course materials and assessments

By Noella B K

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Sep 27, 2021

This is the best course where the teaching methodology is excellent.

By Maulidya E

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Apr 9, 2021

This course is so good and I can accept the class' material clearly

By Elsayed k

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Dec 17, 2019

very useful and insightful content, I really liked the instructor.

By Chen Z

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Mar 29, 2021

get knowledge on basic business statistics modelling and analysis

By Víctor D B A

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Oct 18, 2020

Excellent course, the professor explain very well in short videos

By Kumar R

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Jul 19, 2020

Nice to have the professor explanations with a good presentation.

By Krishna B

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Apr 11, 2020

It has been always nice learning under the professor. Thanks Sir.