Quantitative methods : a busiess perspective

A straightforward, step by step, Quantitative Methods book aimed particularly at those from a non-mathematics background who may find the topic difficult. The author takes a non-threatening and non-theoretical approach, using practical examples and case studies from Business and Management to consolidate relevant principles and conceptual understanding.

Activities and exercises are designed to build up the confidence of the reader and provide familiarity with handling numerical information. The learning development is clearly structured in each chapter: objectives and key concepts introduce the topics in each chapter and after the exploration and development of these via examples, activities and relevant case studies, a self-assessment and summary consolidate learning development. A glossary is provided for clarification. At the back of the textbook there are several integrating case studies covering a selection of topics of varying length, which are ideal for seminars and assignment work. A disk is also included containing solutions to all the worked activities, self-assessments and exercises seen in the book using Excel 5. The textbook is also accompanied by a lecturer's supplement containing guidelines, model answers, solutions to the activities and examples and ideas for the development of the case studies at the back of the textbook.

designed for students meeting QM for the first time.
easy to follow, but non-condescending approach
Examples and business case studies put learning into context

Author Notes

Diana Bedward BSc Hons, MIPD is Deputy Dean at Luton Business School, University of Luton.

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Introduction	p. xiii
Chapter 1 The toolkit	p. 1
Handling numbers	p. 2
Decimals	p. 5
Rounding and significant figures	p. 8
Percentages and proportions	p. 9
Powers	p. 13
Representation of business situations	p. 15
Graphs	p. 17
A straight line -- a special case	p. 20
Chapter 2 Financial Mathematics	p. 24
Progressions	p. 25
Arithmetic progressions	p. 26
Geometric progressions	p. 28
Present value	p. 31
Net present values	p. 34
Index numbers	p. 36
Price relative index numbers	p. 37
Base weighting	p. 39
Current weighting	p. 42
'Removing' the effects of inflation	p. 44
Chapter 3 Collecting business information	p. 49
Classification of data	p. 51
Qualitative data	p. 51
Quantitative data	p. 51
Descriptive classes	p. 51
Ordered classes	p. 52
Rankings	p. 52
Measurements	p. 54
Discrete variables	p. 54
Continuous variables	p. 54
Collecting data	p. 55
Secondary data	p. 55
Primary data	p. 56
Populations and samples	p. 57
Simple random sampling	p. 58
Stratified sampling	p. 60
Cluster sampling	p. 62
Quota sampling	p. 63
Survey methods	p. 63
Observation	p. 64
Experimentation	p. 64
Questioning	p. 64
Chapter 4 Effective business presentations I	p. 68
Tabulation	p. 71
Graphs and charts	p. 75
Bar charts	p. 76
Simple bar chart	p. 76
Multiple bar chart	p. 77
Component bar chart	p. 77
Percentage component bar chart	p. 77
Pie charts	p. 79
Z charts	p. 81
Words of caution	p. 84
Using the different diagrams	p. 87
Chapter 5 Effective business presentations II	p. 91
Frequency tables	p. 92
Ungrouped frequency tables	p. 92
Grouped frequency tables	p. 94
Unequal class sizes	p. 99
Cumulative frequency tables	p. 99
Histograms	p. 101
Unequal classes	p. 104
Cumulative frequency curves -- ogives	p. 106
Chapter 6 Business analysis	p. 113
Measures of location	p. 114
The median	p. 114
Finding the median from a simple frequency table	p. 115
Finding the median from a grouped frequency table	p. 116
The mode	p. 119
The arithmetic mean (or simply just the mean)	p. 119
Finding the mean from a frequency table	p. 120
Finding the mean from a grouped frequency table	p. 122
Measures of variation	p. 128
The range	p. 128
Interquartile range	p. 129
Standard deviation	p. 131
Standard deviation for grouped data	p. 134
Finding the standard deviation from a grouped frequency table	p. 136
Chapter 7 Uncertainty in decision making I	p. 145
Probability	p. 146
Combining probabilities	p. 150
The 'OR' rule	p. 150
The 'AND' rule	p. 151
Combining probabilities when the events are not mutually exclusive	p. 155
Probability trees	p. 157
Expected values	p. 159
Chapter 8 Uncertainty in decision making II	p. 167
The normal distribution curve	p. 170
The standard normal distribution	p. 173
Use of standard normal tables	p. 173
Conversion to a standard normal distribution	p. 177
Chapter 9 Linear relationships in business	p. 190
Linear relationships between two variables	p. 191
Fitting the line	p. 196
Calculating the least squares regression line	p. 197
The correlation coefficient	p. 203
A few words of caution	p. 209
Rank correlation	p. 209
Spearman's rank correlation	p. 209
Chapter 10 Fundamentals of business forecasting	p. 221
Long-term forecasting	p. 223
Short-term forecasting	p. 225
Estimating trend using moving averages	p. 227
Estimating the seasonal variation	p. 232
Forecasting	p. 234
Other forecasting models	p. 240
Integrating case studies	p. 244
Short answers	p. 250
Glossary of terms	p. 273
Appendix A	p. 275
Appendix B	p. 277
Index	p. 279

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Author Notes

Table of Contents