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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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2,682 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

DP

Mar 6, 2020

Learned good statistics on practical problems. I love the fact that instructor provides enough discussion so when faced with real world problems, you know how to proceed.

M

Jan 18, 2021

It was a very good course, the concepts were taught very clearly. But it was just surface level idea about each. Looking forward to cementing the concepts in the following courses!

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201 - 225 of 435 Reviews for Basic Data Descriptors, Statistical Distributions, and Application to Business Decisions

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 21, 2018

well designed and useful, great course !

By Johnson D

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Mar 21, 2018

Good Course, gives a basic introduction

By Ankit P

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Nov 17, 2021

this good to get knowledge in deep way

By Vincent N

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Sep 1, 2020

Useful knowledge about the statistics!

By VIJAY Y (

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Sep 3, 2022

Very Usefull and informative course.

By JAHNAVI Z

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Sep 27, 2020

Great Course with a Great instructor!

By Jennifer R B

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Mar 25, 2020

The basic college refresher I needed.

By Wellington S

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Aug 8, 2017

Important part of the specialization.

By Penny M

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Jul 1, 2022

Excellent presentation of materials.

By Helen S

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Dec 27, 2021

第一次通过Excel的方式重新学习统计学，老师的讲解通俗易懂，非常感谢！

By Chothani S

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Sep 28, 2020

I have learend business data anaysis

By Sidhyant K U

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May 12, 2020

Well explained and designed course.

By Oladapo O

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Mar 8, 2017

Lessons learned are very impactful.

By Sean M

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Dec 4, 2016

Great course Even better Instructor

By Manmohan K

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Oct 22, 2021

It is good platform for beginners.

By Emil R

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Nov 28, 2018

Great course. Excellent Instructor

By Mayank A

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Jun 16, 2018

Explained in a very easy language.

By Hamilton C

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Oct 15, 2017

Great introductiont to Statistics.

By Siddhant K S

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May 21, 2024

Exceptionally well taught course.

By Aditya V

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Oct 24, 2021

gain good information about stata

By Bola M

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Jan 13, 2020

Great course. Highly informative.

By Harshavardhan S R

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Dec 3, 2017

It was excellent and very useful.

By Jason B

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Jun 11, 2018

Very Challenging and Informative