Customer Reviews

The Practice of Business Statistics: Using Data for Decisions

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

While the authors of texts in basic statistics always claim to the contrary, there is a repetitive sameness to the books. Decades ago, general agreement was reached as to what topics should be covered in the class. Although the advances in technology have made performing computations much easier, that has not led to significant differences in content. Therefore, the only factor that differentiates texts is the style of writing and the focus and quality of the applications.
This book is advertised as being focused on how statistics is used in business, and the authors are effectively consistent in using examples applied to business. Their worked examples are almost exclusively taken from business settings and are appropriate for the current topic. The exercises follow the same pattern, they are numerous and answers to the odd-numbered ones are included in an appendix. The style of writing is at the right level for the introductory student.
Another unique feature of the book is that it is the core for a total package that has seven additional supplementary chapters. These chapters are:

*) Statistics for Quality: Control and Capability.
*) Time Series Forecasting.
*) One-Way Analysis of Variance.
*) Two-Way Analysis of Variance.
*) Nonparametric Tests.
*) Logistic Regression.
*) Bootstrapping Methods and Permutation Tests.

The supplements are separate from the core book, if you are interested in using one of the supplementary chapters, you need buy only the ones you need. This is very sensible, as the core material is generally enough to fill any semester class.
Since the statistics course that I teach is for students from all backgrounds, I will not be adopting this text for the class. However, if it was focused on the business student, I would.

I thought this book sufficed, but wasn't fabulous. I strongly preferred Moore and McCabe's "Introduction to the Practice of Statistics" to this book, although it didn't have a business slant to it. Moore and McCabe are certainly the way to go, though, for stats, if you have a choice at all.

I teach a college course in basic statistics at least once a year and for some time have used the book "The Basic Practice of Statistics" by one of the authors of this one. I have no intention of switching to this book, but I did examine it with the idea of determining if it would be appropriate for a course in basic statistics for business.
My conclusion is affirmative; there are a large number of worked examples that are applications of business scenarios. The discussions are clear, concise and there are a large number of associated diagrams, which are essential to the learning of statistics. I strongly recommend this book for courses in basic business statistics.

I am a college student, and just like everyone else I am always trying to find the best deals on books. I came across this textbook and couldn't say no to the price. It came wrapped in plastic and shipped extremely fast. The book was unbinded as well as used but I have zero complaints. All pages are here and in-tact. Front and back covers are perfect and it even came with the supplemental CD. Thanks!

I got this book for over aL hundred dollars cheaper then the book store. It looked like it was brand new even though it said it was used.

This book for my Stats class was retailed at over a hundred dollars. I got it from Red_Intl for forty bucks, and it arrived in only a few days and in great condition (the CD hadn't even been opened)!

I am not quite sure why one would buy this. I know this is a textbook used for university, but I would not recommend this book if you are serious about learning the discipline of business statistics.

First of all, the most important reason: some of the answers in the back of the book are wrong. Have they heard of proofing? Shouldn't authors of textbooks be sending these things around for people to look at them? I mean, seriously? Didn't you guys write the questions? If you can't answer your own questions, you shouldn't write a book on math...

Second, some of the book is laid out funny. I guess that is fine?

If you MUST get this book. Buy the 2nd edition so you can at least have the right answers.

This book is so terrible I cannot even begin to describe it.
The format is unnatural and hard to get used to, especially if you're used to normal textbooks.
It introduces a few facts, but the examples are just not very good and then it gives you problems to try out and then that format continues througout the whole chapter, making the whole learning experince very odd and uneven. I found it very hard to focus on the material because of that problem.
The material is not hard to learn, if presented the right way, which this book does not do. I can't wait to sell it back.
If you want to get a real understanding of statistics and actually remember some of it, I would advise you to try another book.

The book came in good time and had shipping tracking. It came with the CD as stated and it was just what I expected. No complaints, only compliments. Thank you.

I received my book in perfect condition and on time. In class, however, I found this book was difficult to use. some questions refer to examples 100 pages back an frequently have questions that you have to constantly flip back and fourth between pages. It is poorly laid out. They failed at designing this book. It barely has any examples for you to relate your question to, to have a better understanding. If your prof requests this book you should change classes immediately. The authors and publishers fail at designing this book. Other than that amazon does a great job processing your order and getting it to you on time.