Statistics in Business Essay Example for Free

Statistics in Business Essay What is statistics? Statistics is collecting, measuring, analyzing, and communicating data. There are two types of statistics, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Lind, Marchal, Wathen, 2011). Statistics are applied in different situations. This paper will describe the role statistics has in making business decisions. This paper will also provide examples of situations in which statistics are applied. Types of Statistics Lind, Marchal, and Wathen define statistics as â€Å"The science of collecting, organizing, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data to assist in making more effective decisions (Lind, et al. , 2011, p. 5). In statistics there are two types, descriptive and inferential statistics. First, descriptive statistics is the informative organization, summarization, and presentation of data. The second type of statistics is inferential statistics. Inferential statistics is also called statistical inference, is â€Å"the methods used to estimate a property of a population on the basis of a sample† (Lind, et al., 2011 p. 7). Statistic Examples One example of statistics in a situation is when starting a weight loss program. To measure the progress of the weight loss over time the individual would measure their weight on the same day and time every week then plot the results on a chart for six months. Another example is in baseball. In baseball a batter statistics is used to see the probability of hitting certain types of the pitches and rather the batter can hit a homerun. A third example is when network channels use inferential statistics to determine when to cancel a program. The networks gather data samples of the viewers’ preferences. The ratings of the viewers’ program preference are in turn used to determine which programs are canceled. Conclusion In conclusion, statics was defined as the collection, measurement, analysis, and communication of data. The two types of statistics, descriptive and inferential statistics were also defined. Finally, three examples weight loss measurement, baseball hits, and program ratings were presented to provide situations were statistics were applied.