week 1 essay

Numerical data is in our everyday life. Someone teaching elementary class to a stay at home parent balancing the checkbook is in constant contact with numerical information. Statistics is used not only by businesspeople; we all also apply statistical concepts in our lives, (Lind, Marchal, Wathen, 2011). The different type of numerical data is separated into different sections of information to make it easier to interpret. Statistics is the science of data. It involves collecting, classifying, summarizing, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting numerical information, (Lind, Marchal, Wathen, 2011). This type of data can vary by the industry it is used in. In business it can be used to determine wages or the unemployment rate. This information is vital to inform potential companies to relocate into a given populated city. The different types of statistics are broken down into two forms. The first is the descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics utilizes numerical and graphical methods to look for patterns in a data set, to summarize the information revealed in a data set, and to present the information in a convenient form, (McLaven, Benson, & Sincich, 2011). An example of descriptive statistics is gathering all the credit card sales in a given year and breaking it down into what credit card was used and how often. The second type is inferential statistics. Inferential statistics utilizes sample data to make estimates, decisions, predictions, or other generalizations about a larger set of data., (McLaven, Benson, & Sincich, 2011). An example of inferential statistics was given in the textbook about gathering the performance of 500 large companies and comparing that to the CEO’s salary. Once they have the information the efficiency of a CEO can be determined by the rating. Someone who might be searching for an effective CEO candidate can use this type of information. I have seen how statistics has been used in