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

4.7
stars
2,473 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

SN

Aug 20, 2021

This 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.

EM

Aug 26, 2020

This is one of the best courses i have atended since, the exercises are all related to the topic.Great job. .

Thanks to Mr Sharad Borle for explaining very well the content in this course .

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76 - 100 of 412 Reviews for Basic Data Descriptors, Statistical Distributions, and Application to Business Decisions

By Ravi S

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Jul 29, 2020

The content of the course help me to increase my analytical thinking, I really like the way teacher explains the concept and his presentation style.

By Naresh T

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Feb 26, 2022

the subject was tought nicely and the question was also very good. I like the subject a lot and i learned a lot of things and improme my knowledge.

By ALEJANDRO D M

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Mar 12, 2022

This course was good, I learnt a lot about probability and its business applications. I suggest to leave some materials to go deep into the topic.

By MADHYAM D

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May 10, 2020

This course features key topics which are used in Business Analytics, and predictions using Statistical tools. Mentor's work is really meritorious

By Harshit D

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May 9, 2020

Mr. Sharad explained all the concept in a very student-friendly manner, cleared many concepts which weren't clear earlier. Thanks for the course.

By Vipul J

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Jul 10, 2020

Amazing course! It covers most of the topics related to Statistical Distributions. Nicely structured course with very interesting quizzes.

By Jitka S

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Mar 6, 2020

Excellent course, easy to follow. Clear explanations, practical examples and showing useful Excel functions make the course really great.

By Matthew

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Sep 8, 2020

As it often is for Coursera, it's annoying to not be able to see the answers you missed but otherwise this is a solidly-designed course.

By Swetha P

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Oct 30, 2020

A must and should choose! Every person who needs to excel in Business Analysis and Statistics should definitely take up this course.

By Gianina J C T

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Aug 19, 2020

This course summarizes the most important things about the most popular Statistical Distributions very well and is very practical.

By HUMEIRA

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May 29, 2020

The course was very well structured and it has simplified the explanations of statistical distributions which were really helpful.

By Tran H D

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Jul 8, 2021

A very good introductory course to most common statistical distributions, allow you to think statically in your daily life issues

By Abhijeet B

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Apr 14, 2020

The course is very useful in understanding the basic concept of statistics and ways it may be used in different industry domains.

By sutan m

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Mar 17, 2019

concrete example and direct application. using excel, it should be easy to conduct basic statistical analysis. I learned so much.

By Kartik V

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Dec 29, 2017

Great course, helped refresh statistics and a good refresher on various distributions. Problem application was also very helpful.

By kaila v d r

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Jun 19, 2017

Excellent coaching. I never thought understanding statistics would be easy, but Mr. sharad borle teachings are really impressive.

By Andras F

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Feb 2, 2018

I got exactly what I needed, a good and compact summary on statistical distributions that can be used in a business environment.

By Linglu M

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May 23, 2017

Not easy to follow, but the professor did such a good job laying out the course and explain quiz questions on discussion board!

By Vincent R

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Feb 15, 2021

Very clear and concise introduction or review of basic data descriptors and statistical distributions for business decisions

By Rajesh k

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Nov 1, 2020

This course highly commendable to build skills of business decision making and forecasting through probability statistics.

By Cynthia N

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Aug 15, 2020

Great introductory to business statistics! Provides lots of business examples and applications to help learn the content.

By Avichit M

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Aug 7, 2017

Some more questions in the quiz in between the lessons might be of more help as they could clear the concepts thoroughly.

By Deleted A

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Sep 3, 2020

Need more information on how to apply what is being taught, they will just tell you the formulas and give some examples.

By M B

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Jun 6, 2020

The course is fully packed with essential learning material that is useful in academics, research and on job application

By udaya a s

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Feb 6, 2018

i don't know if any other courses in this section from other sites , cant get simpler and easy to understand like this