Basic Business Statistics, 15th edition

Published by Pearson (September 15, 2023) © 2024

  • Mark L. Berenson Zicklin School of Business, City University of New York; Montclair State University
  • David M. Levine Baruch College, City University of New York
  • Kathryn A. Szabat La Salle University
  • David F. Stephan Two Bridges Instructional Technology

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For 1- or 2-semester courses in Business Statistics.

Statistics with emphasis on interpreting results

Basic Business Statistics makes statistics understandable by exploring concepts in the context of specific business problems and situations. In line with the ASA's Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction (GAISE), the authors emphasize interpretation, analysis and communication of statistical results using several data analysis tools. Examples are drawn from various functional areas of business, giving learners ample practice in applying statistics to business decision making. Integrated throughout are exemplars of and instructions for using data analysis tools such as Microsoft® Excel®, JMP®, Minitab® and Tableau®.

The 15th Edition adds new content on regression and analytics, new and updated cases, and new or revised content throughout.

Hallmark features of this title

  • A Using Statistics case scenario opens each chapter. Each scenario serves as an example through which statistical methods are explained and applied to decision making. End-of-chapter cases continue through most chapters.
  • Excel workbooks contain model templates using PHStat, a Pearson software add-in.
  • Software guides provide detailed instructions for using Microsoft® Excel®, Tableau®, JMP®, and Minitab® to reproduce featured chapter examples.
    • This material is designed to enable learners to use a mix of data analysis tools such as combining Microsoft Excel and Tableau results for descriptive statistics.

New and updated features of this title

  • REVISED: Reorganized Chapters FTF and 1. Chapter FTF concepts can be assigned before the first day of class; a new data wrangling section is added to Chapter 1.
  • REVISED: Extensively revised and reorganized set of regression chapters (13 - 15). Chapter 13 explains regression in an intuitive and visual way, and contains new “essentials” and “rules for regression models” section.
  • REVISED: An expanded Chapter 17 more fully explains basic analytics concepts and includes ChatGPT examples.
  • NEW: New in-chapter Sidebars examine concepts or examples using a business management perspective. New end-of-chapter Summaries focus on the significance of chapter concepts to management decision makers.
  • NEW: An all-new continuing end-of-chapter case, about a news media business that is transitioning from print to digital, is provided.
  • NEW/UPDATED: Approximately 50% new end-of-section and end-of-chapter problems; new and updated data sets are used with in-chapter examples, including selected data sets that show effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business.

Features of MyLab Statistics for the 15th Edition

  • NEW: New multi-part MyLab assessments present assessment questions in a mini-case format.
  • NEW: Real-data based exercises give students the opportunity to problem-solve in real world contexts.
  • Dynamic Study Modules continuously assess student performance and activity, then provide personalized content in real-time to reinforce concepts that target each student's strengths and weaknesses. 
  • F. First Things First
  • Using Statistics: Is the Price Right?
  • FTF.1 Business Statistics
  • Sidebar: Crossing Over
  • FTF:.2 Talking About Data
  • Sidebar: Secondary Data and Data Privacy
  • FTF.3: Software Orientation
  • Using Statistics: Is the Price Right? Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Orientation
  • JMP Orientation
  • Minitab Orientation
  • Tableau Orientation
  • 1. Defining and Collecting Data
  • Using Statistics: Collecting Some Defining Moments
  • 1.1: Defining Data
  • Sidebar: Failing at Statistics I
  • 1.2: Populations, Samples, and Sampling
  • 1.3: Types of Survey Errors
  • Sidebar: Failing at Statistics II: What George Gallup Got Wrong
  • 1.4: Data Cleaning
  • 1.5: Data Wrangling
  • Using Statistics: Collecting Some Defining Moments, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • Tableau Guide
  • 2. Tabular and Visual Summarization of Variables
  • Using Statistics: “The Choice Is Yours”
  • 2.1: Summarizing Categorical Variables as Tables
  • 2.2: Summarizing Numerical Variables as Tables
  • Sidebar: Excelling with Bins
  • 2.3: Visualizing Categorical Variables
  • 2.4: Visualizing Numerical Variables
  • 2.5: Visualizing Two Numerical Variables
  • 2.6: Summarizing Multiple Variables as Tables
  • 2.7: Visualizing Multiple Variables
  • 2.8: Filtering Variables
  • 2.9: Pitfalls in Summarizing and Visualizing Variables
  • Using Statistics: “The Choice Is Yours,” Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • Tableau Guide
  • 3. Numerical Descriptive Measures
  • Using Statistics:More Descriptive Choices
  • 3.1: Measures of Central Tendency
  • 3.2: Measures of Variation and Shape
  • 3.3: Exploring Numerical Variables
  • 3.4: Numerical Descriptive Measures for a Population
  • 3.5: The Covariance and the Coefficient of Correlation
  • 3.6: Descriptive Statistics: Pitfalls and Ethical Issues
  • Using Statistics: More Descriptive Choices, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • Tableau Guide
  • 4. Basic Probability
  • Using Statistics: Probable Outcomes at Fredco Warehouse Club
  • 4.1: Basic Probability Concepts
  • 4.2: Conditional Probability
  • 4.3: Bayes' Theorem
  • Sidebar: Divine Providence and Spam
  • 4.4: Counting Rules
  • 4.5: Ethical Issues and Probability
  • Using Statistics: Probable Outcomes at Fredco Warehouse Club, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 5. Discrete Probability Distributions
  • Using Statistics: Events of Interest at Ricknel Home Centers
  • 5.1: The Probability Distribution for a Discrete Variable
  • 5.2: Binomial Distribution
  • 5.3: Poisson Distribution
  • 5.4: Covariance of a Probability Distribution and Its Application in Finance
  • 5.5: Hypergeometric Distribution
  • Using Statistics: Probable Events of Interest at Ricknel Home Centers, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 6. The Normal Distribution and Other Continuous Distributions
  • Using Statistics: Normal Load Times for See+ Home Page
  • 6.1: Continuous Probability Distributions
  • 6.2: The Normal Distribution
  • Visual Explorations: Exploring the Normal Distribution
  • Sidebar: What is Normal?
  • 6.3: Evaluating Normality
  • 6.4: The Uniform Distribution
  • 6.5: The Exponential Distribution
  • 6.6: The Normal Approximation to the Binomial Distribution
  • Using Statistics: Normal Load Times ... , Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 7. Sampling Distributions
  • Using Statistics:Sampling Oxford Snacks
  • 7.1: Sampling Distributions
  • 7.2: Sampling Distribution of the Mean
  • Visual Explorations: Exploring Sampling Distributions
  • 7.3: Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
  • 7.4: Sampling from Finite Populations
  • Using Statistics: Sampling Oxford Snacks, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Sidebar: (Of) Chance Discoveries
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • MP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 8. Confidence Interval Estimation
  • Using Statistics: Getting Estimates at Ricknel Home Centers
  • 8.1: Confidence Interval Estimate for the Mean (σ Known)
  • 8.2: Confidence Interval Estimate for the Mean (σ Unknown)
  • 8.3: Confidence Interval Estimate for the Proportion
  • 8.4: Determining Sample Size
  • 8.5: Confidence Interval Estimation and Ethical Issues
  • 8.6: Confidence Interval Estimation in Auditing
  • 8.7: Estimation and Sample Size Determination for Finite Populations
  • 8.8: Bootstrapping
  • Using Statistics: Getting Estimates at Ricknel Home Centers, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Sidebar: Errors About the “Margin of Error” in Polls
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 9. Fundamentals of Hypothesis Testing: One-Sample Tests
  • Using Statistics: Significant Testing at Oxford Snacks
  • Fundamentals of Hypothesis Testing: One-Sample Tests
  • 9.1: Fundamentals of Hypothesis Testing
  • 9.2: Hypothesis Test Approaches
  • 9.3: t Test of Hypothesis for the Mean (σ Unknown)
  • 9.4: One-Tail Tests
  • 9.5: Z Test of Hypothesis for the Proportion
  • 9.6: Potential Hypothesis-Testing Pitfalls and Ethical Issues
  • 9.7: Power of the Test
  • Using Statistics: Significant Testing at Oxford Snacks, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 10. Two-Sample Tests
  • Using Statistics: Differing Means for Selling Smart TVs at Arlingtons?
  • 10.1: Comparing the Means of Two Independent Populations
  • 10.2: Comparing the Means of Two Related Populations
  • 10.3: Comparing the Proportions of Two Independent Populations
  • 10.4: F Test for the Ratio of Two Variances
  • 10.5: Effect Size
  • Using Statistics: Differing Means ....? Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 11. Analysis of Variance
  • Using Statistics: The Means to Find Differences at Arlingtons
  • 11.1: One-Way ANOVA
  • 11.2: Two-Way ANOVA
  • 11.3: The Randomized Block Design
  • 11.4: Fixed Effects, Random Effects, and Mixed Effects Models
  • Using Statistics: The Means to Find Differences at Arlingtons, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Sidebar: “Why can't you combine the pre- and post-hoc tests into one?”
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 12. Chi-Square and Nonparametric Tests
  • Using Statistics: Making a Difference at T.C. Resorts
  • 12.1: Chi-Square Test for the Difference Between Two Proportions
  • 12.2: Chi-Square Test for Differences Among More Than Two Proportions
  • 12.3: Chi-Square Test of Independence
  • 12.4: Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test for Two Independent Populations
  • 12.5: Kruskal-Wallis Rank Test for the One-Way ANOVA
  • 12.6: McNemar Test for the Difference Between Two Proportions (Related Samples)
  • 12.7: Chi-Square Test for the Variance or Standard Deviation
  • 12.8: Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test
  • 12.9: Friedman Rank Test
  • Using Statistics: Making a Difference at T.C. Resorts, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 13. Simple Linear Regression
  • Using Statistics: Finding the Best Pattern at Sunflowers
  • 13.1: Simple Linear Regression Models
  • 13.2: Determining the Simple Linear Regression Equation
  • Visual Explorations: Exploring Simple Linear Regression Coefficients
  • 13.3: Measures of Variation
  • 13.4: Evaluating Assumptions Using Residual Analysis
  • 13.5: Measuring Autocorrelation: The Durbin-Watson Statistic
  • 13.6: Inferences About the Slope and Correlation Coefficient
  • 13.7: Estimation of Mean Values and Prediction of Individual Values
  • 13.8: Potential Pitfalls in Regression
  • Using Statistics: Finding the Best Pattern at Sunflowers, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • MP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • Tableau Guide
  • 14. Introduction to Multiple Regression
  • Using Statistics: Designing for Multiple Effects at Quick Value
  • 14.1: Developing a Multiple Regression Model
  • 14.2: Multiple Regression Residual Analysis
  • 14.3: Evaluating Multiple Regression Models
  • 14.4: Inferences About the Population Regression Coefficients
  • 14.5: Testing Portions of the Multiple Regression Model
  • 14.6: Using Dummy Variables and Interaction Terms
  • Consider This: What Is Not Normal? (Using a categorical dependent variable)
  • 14.7: The Quadratic Regression Model
  • 14.8 Using Transformations in Regression Models
  • 14.9: Influence Analysis
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 15. More Complex Multiple Regression Models
  • Using Statistics: Valuing Parsimony at Nickels Online
  • 15.1 Multicollinearity
  • 15.2 Variable Selection
  • 15.3 Automated Model Building and Selection
  • 15.4 Overfit Models
  • 15.5 Logistic Regression
  • 15.6 Pitfalls in Multiple Regression and Ethical Issues
  • Using Statistics: Valuing Parsimony …, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 16. Time-Series Forecasting
  • Using Statistics: Are Your Investment Advisers Trending?
  • 16.1 Time-Series Component Factors
  • 16.2 Smoothing an Annual Time Series is
  • 16.3 Least-Squares Trend Fitting and Forecasting
  • 16.4 Autoregressive Modeling for Trend Fitting and Forecasting
  • 16.5 Choosing an Appropriate Forecasting Model to make
  • 16.6 Time-Series Forecasting of Seasonal Data from
  • 16.7 Index Numbers
  • Sidebar: Let the Model User Beware
  • Using Statistics: Are Your Investment Advisers Trending? Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • JMP Guide
  • Minitab Guide
  • 17. Business Analytics
  • Using Statistics: Future Thinking at Stores of Value, Inc.
  • 17.1 Business Analytics Overview
  • Sidebar: What's My Major If I Want to Be a Data Miner?
  • 17.2 Descriptive Analytics
  • 17.3 Decision Trees
  • 17.4 Clustering
  • 17.5 Association Analysis
  • 17.6 Text Analytics
  • 17.7 Prescriptive Analytics
  • Using Statistics: Future Thinking …, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Checking Your Understanding
  • References
  • Software Guide for Chapter 17
  • 18. Getting Ready to Analyze Data in the Future
  • Using Statistics: Mounting Future Analyses
  • 18.1 Analyzing Numerical Variables
  • 18.2 Analyzing Categorical Variables
  • Using Statistics: The Future to Be Visited
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • 19. Statistical Applications in Quality Management (online)
  • Using Statistics: Finding Quality at the Beachcomber
  • 19.1 The Theory of Control Charts
  • 19.2 Control Chart for the Proportion: The p Chart
  • 19.3 The Red Bead Experiment: Understanding Process Variability
  • 19.4 Control Chart for an Area of Opportunity: The c Chart
  • 19.5 Control Charts for the Range and the Mean
  • 19.6 Process Capability
  • 19.7 Total Quality Management
  • 19.8 Six Sigma
  • Using Statistics: Finding Quality at the Beachcomber, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • 20. Decision Making (online)
  • Using Statistics: Reliable Decision Making
  • 20.1 Payoff Tables and Decision Trees
  • 20.2 Criteria for Decision Making
  • 20.3 Decision Making with Sample Information
  • 20.4 Utility
  • Sidebar: Risky Business
  • Using Statistics: Reliable Decision Making, Revisited
  • Summary
  • Key Terms
  • Key Equations
  • Chapter Review Problems
  • References
  • Cases
  • Excel Guide
  • APPENDICES
  • A. Basic Math Concepts and Symbols
  • B. Important Software Skills and Concepts
  • C. Online Resources
  • D. Configuring Software
  • E. Table
  • F. Useful Knowledge
  • G. Software FAQs
  • H. All About PHStat
Self-Test Solutions and Answers to Selected Even-Numbered Problems
Index

About our authors

Mark L. Berenson is Professor of Information Management and Business Analytics at Montclair State University and Professor Emeritus of Information Systems and Statistics at Baruch College. He currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in statistics and operations management in the School of Business, and an undergraduate course in international justice and human rights that he co-developed in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Berenson received a BA in economic statistics and an MBA in business statistics from City College of New York and a PhD in business from the City University of New York. Berenson's research has been published in Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Review of Business Research, The American Statistician, Communications in Statistics, Psychometrika, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Journal of Management Sciences and Applied Cybernetics, Research Quarterly, Stats Magazine, The New York Statistician, Journal of Health Administration Education, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, and Journal of Surgical Oncology. His invited articles have appeared in The Encyclopedia of Measurement & Statistics and the Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences. He has coauthored numerous statistics texts published by Pearson. Over the years, Berenson has received several awards for teaching and for innovative contributions to statistics education. In 2005, he was the first recipient of the Catherine A. Becker Service for Educational Excellence Award at Montclair State University and in 2012, he was the recipient of the Khubani/Telebrands Faculty Research Fellowship in the School of Business.

David Levine, Professor Emeritus of Statistics and CIS at Baruch College, CUNY, has been a nationally recognized innovator in statistics education for more than 3 decades. Levine has coauthored 14 books, including several business statistics textbooks; textbooks and professional titles that explain and explore quality management and the Six Sigma approach; and, with David Stephan, a trade paperback that explains statistical concepts to a general audience. Levine has presented or chaired numerous sessions about business education at leading conferences conducted by the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) and the American Statistical Association, and he and his coauthors have been active participants in the annual DSI Data, Analytics, and Statistics Instruction (DASI) mini-conference.

During his many years teaching at Baruch College, Levine was recognized for his contributions to teaching and curriculum development with the College's highest distinguished teaching honor. He earned BBA and MBA degrees from CCNY, and a PhD in industrial engineering and operations research from New York University.

Kathryn Szabat, Associate Professor of Business Systems and Analytics at La Salle University, has transformed several business school majors into 1 interdisciplinary major that better supports careers in new and emerging disciplines of data analysis, including analytics. Szabat strives to inspire, stimulate, challenge and motivate students through innovation and curricular enhancements, and shares her coauthors' commitment to teaching excellence and the continual improvement of statistics presentations.

Beyond the classroom, she has provided statistical advice to numerous business, non-business and academic communities, with particular interest in the areas of education, medicine, and nonprofit capacity building. Her research activities have led to journal publications, chapters in scholarly books, and conference presentations. Szabat is a member of the American Statistical Association (ASA), DSI, Institute for Operation Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS), and DSI DASI. She received a BS from SUNY-Albany, an MS in statistics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD degree in statistics, with a cognate in operations research, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

David Stephan's professional life has always been shaped by advances in computing. As an undergraduate, he helped professors use statistics software that was considered advanced, even though it could compute only several things discussed in Chapter 3, thereby gaining an early appreciation for the benefits of using software to solve problems (and perhaps positively influencing his grades). An early advocate of using computers to support instruction, he developed a prototype of a mainframe-based system that anticipated features found today in Pearson's MathXL, and served as special assistant for computing to the Dean and Provost at Baruch College.

In his many years teaching at Baruch, Stephan implemented the first computer-based classroom; helped redevelop the CIS curriculum; and as part of a FIPSE project team, designed and implemented a multimedia learning environment. He was also nominated for teaching honors. Stephan has presented at SEDSI and DSI DASI (formerly MSMESB) mini-conferences, sometimes with his coauthors. Stephan earned a BA from Franklin & Marshall College and an MS from Baruch College, CUNY, and completed the instructional technology graduate program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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