Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics [Hardcover]

Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics is a comprehensive survey of statistical tools and methods. Mason and Lind present concepts clearly and succinctly in a step-by-step format and then illustrate each concept with ample examples. The supporting pedagogy reinforces the concepts and guides students through the wealth of information in this text. Previous editions have made this a best seller in community colleges and four-year colleges and universities. The Ninth Edition is sure to continue this tradition.

Improved coverage of Central Limit Theorem. This gives students a clearer insight into the fundamental of basic statistics.
More real world data and scenarios are used in exercises and examples providing students with more realistic and relevant applications and motivation. Optional computer exercises and web-based exercise allow students to use technology and the World Wide Web for very current information and data for projects at the direction of the instructor.
Excel and Minitab are integrated throughout the text. Excel and Minitab are used as examples in the chapter and the detailed explanations of the computer commands are placed at the end of each chapter letting students focus on statistical techniques. The integration in this text exposes students appropriately and supports their use of modern technology and applications without interfering with learning statistics concepts in their first course.
The use of p-values is further integrated in the hypothesis testing discussions throughout the text. Understanding p-values is of increased importance since they are reported in all statistical software reports and because they give the user more information about the hypothesis and more depth to inferential results.
Statistics in Action boxes (2 per chapter) provide additional short yet enriching readings on business and economics as well as the history and development of the field.
Web exercises related to companies, markets, government organizations, and university data sets enhance students' facility and with and use of data. Instructors and students will find these web exercises and data sets useful because they allow the student to experiment with real world examples, and apply their statistical knowledge in up-to-date applications. They also afford students to gain more comfort and familiarity with the vast resources available on the web.
3 Continuous Cases (about a 1/2 page each) are included in the Review Sections. These case challenge students to pull together more than one concept when considering business problems.
A Pronunciation Key listing the math symbol, its meaning, and how to pronounce it follows at the end of chapter. This helps students gain confidence in the language of statistics and retain the meaning of the symbol. (It also helps a student understand the professor's lectures when new symbols, etc. are introduced).
Regression and correlation analysis includes more realistic examples and more observations to emphasize decision-making aspects. This makes the problem more realistic for students.
There is an increased coverage of skewness. The additional explanation allows the student to produce the same result as Excel.
Sampling and confidence intervals are now covered in separate chapters (8 and 9). Separating the topics makes the chapter sizes more manageable and the additional exercises will help the student understand the concepts.
The breakdown of hypothesis testing (chapters 10,11) is now based on populations sampled rather than the size of the sample.
New version of MegaStat for Excel by JB Orris is included on the Student CD-ROM. This simple to use yet powerful `add-in' includes new routines on non-parametric and time-series and forecasting, has improved speed and usability features, and is designed to maximize office 2000 features.
Review Sections are provided at the end of logical groupings of chapters. These short sections pull together key topics and help student's review for exams as well as providing a definitive illustration of how chapter concepts relate and build. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.