A Handbook of Statistics

Description

Preface

This book was written for individuals interested in learning about the practice of statistics without
needing to understand the theoretical foundations of the field. The book’s serves as a handbook of sorts
on techniques often used in fields such as business, demography, and health.
The book is divided into five main sections:
1. Introduction
2. Descriptive statistics
3. Probability
4. Statistical inference
5. Regression and correlation
The first section consists of one chapter that covers the motivation for studying statistics and some basic
definitions used throughout the course. Sections two through four are further divided into chapters
covering a specific concept or technique in support of the main section. For instance, the descriptive
statistics section is broken down into two sections, one focusing on graphical techniques used to
summarize data and the other focusing on numerical summaries of data sets. The techniques introduced
in these sections will be illustrated using real world examples. Readers can practice the techniques
demonstrated in the chapters with practice problems that are included within the chapters. The primary
software package used to carry out the techniques introduced in this book is Microsoft Excel.