Course Description

E370 is the first course in statistics for Business and Economics majors. Statistics plays a vital role in many aspects of science, the economy, governance, and even entertainment. The course is intended to enable you to develop a set of statistical tools which you will be able to apply ethically and responsibly to data encountered in your future classes or on the job.

Prerequisite Knowledge

M118 is a prerequisite for this course.  You are expected to know probability concepts including simple or marginal probability, joint probability, conditional probability, and sums and products of probabilities.  You are also expected to understand combinations and permutations, and random variable concepts including PDF’S, expected values, standard deviations, the Bernoulli, and the Binomial.  It is a good idea to get out your M118 text and review.

E201 is also a prerequisite for this course.  You are expected to have learned basic language and concepts in E201 including but not limited to: surplus, shortage, complement, substitute, cost, production, average, marginal, ceteris paribus, Demand, Supply, exogenous and endogenous.

E202 and M119 are recommended in addition to the pre-requisites.  E202 considers topics on which statistical analysis is frequently used and would provide a broader background for appreciating applications.  Calculus is not used in E370 but M119 provides an introduction to the mathematics of continuity and infinity and how they differ from the mathematics of finite and discrete. 

Microsoft Excel is the computer package used for all calculations in this course.   While you are not expected to know the statistical techniques, you are expected to know basic Excel operations and how to navigate a spreadsheet.

Course Organization

You will meet twice a week for 50 minutes each in either BH013 for clarifying lecture, discussion and activities designed to help you grapple with the course concepts and to prepare you for home work and exams. Once a week you will meet in a computer lab where you will practice using Excel to perform the techniques discussed in class and relating the concepts to the technicalities of the course.