Business Analytics Chapter 1&2 Quiz

data analysis

includes data description, data inference, and the search for relationships in data

decision making

optimization techniques for problems with no uncertainty, and structured sensitivity analysis

data tables

also what-if tables, let you see what happens to selected outputs as selected inputs change

goal seek

allows you to vary a single input cell to force a single output cell to a selected value

population

includes all of the entities of interest in a study

sample

subset of the population, often randomly chosen and preferably representative of the population as a whole

data set

rectangular array of data, with variables in columns and observations in rows

variable

attribute, a characteristic of members of a population, such as height, gender, or salary

observation

(or case or record), list of all variable values for a single member of the population

ordinal

categorical variable if there is a natural ordering of its possible values

nominal

no natural ordering

binned variable

corresponds to a numerical value that has been categorized into discreet categories

discrete

numerical value if it results from a count, such as number of children

continuous

result of an essentially continuous measurement, such as weight or height

measures of central tendency

mean, median, mode

interquartile range

third quartile minus the first quartile

variance

the average of the squared deviations from the mean

standard deviation

square root of the variance

population standard devitions

the square root of the population variance

mean absolute deviation

the average of the absolute deviations

skewness

occurs from lack of symmetry, skewed to the right or left

kurtosis

deals with the fatness of the tails of the distribution relative to the tails of a normal distribution

histogram

most common type of chart for showing the distribution of a numerical value, based on dividing the variable into discrete catergories

box plots

big picture chart, consists of the minimum value, the first quartile, the median, the third quartiles and the maximum, outliers show as individual points

time series graph

graph of values of one or more time series, using time on the horizontal axis

cross sectional data

data on a cross section of a population at a distinct point in time, baseball salaries