Personalize learning with MyStatLab(tm) MyStatLab(tm) is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with this text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students practice what they learn, test their understanding, and pursue a personalized study plan that helps them absorb course material and understand difficult concepts. The accompanying MyStatLab online course provides users with countless opportunities to practice, plus resources and tools specific to statistics that enhance their experience and comprehension. StatCrunch® , Pearson''s powerful online statistical software, is now integrated into the MyStatLab course. A variety of relevant and modern videos are available through MyStatLab. Technology Tutorial videos walk students through using key technology packages that are covered in the book. Updated! Chapter Review videos cover important definitions, procedures, and concepts from each section by working through examples and exercises from the textbook. This is an excellent resource for students who have missed class or simply wish to review a topic, and for students enrolled in distance learning, individual study, or self-paced learning programs.

Business Insight Videos : 10 engaging videos show managers at top companies using statistics in their everyday work. Assignable questions encourage discussion. StatTalk Videos explain the concepts of statistics in a friendly, easy-to-understand way and can be enjoyed by students of all levels. New! Users can now copy data from MathXL® exercises straight into Excel®. About the Book Grounded in modern business , this text provides a real-world context for statistical concepts, preparing students to be successful in the business world. The authors'' unique blend of teaching, consulting, and entrepreneurial experiences , along with their casual, often humorous, writing style, add appeal for today''s students. NEW! Increased focus on core material. Discussions have been tightened to get students into the material as quickly as possible, focusing increasingly on the central ideas and core material.

Real data in hundreds of examples, exercises, and applications tie the concepts to the way statistics is used to make better business decisions. Motivating chapter-opening vignettes : scenarios use real data from the managerial settings of well-known companies to present a statistical issues in areas such as marketing, finance, and economics. Brief Cases at the end of each chapter use real data and ask students to investigate a question or make a business decision. Case Studies at the end of each part are more in-depth than the Brief Cases. NEW! Updated examples reflect the changing world and the marked changes in the U.S. and world economies. The emphasis on better statistical thinking trains students to apply statistics correctly.

A focus on checking assumptions and conditions when using statistical procedures is emphasized throughout the text and the examples. Ethics in Action vignettes illustrate the judgment needed in statistical analysis. Questions are included for study and reflection. NEW! More than half of the Ethics in Action features are updated . Ethically and statistically sound alternative approaches as well as a link to the American Statistical Association''s Ethical Guidelines are now presented in the Instructor''s Solutions Manual, making the Ethics features suitable for assignment or class discussion. What Can Go Wrong? sections prepare students with the tools they need to detect common statistical errors and offer practice in debunking misuses of statistics. Practice and support : Study tools throughout the text prepare students to analyze and interpret data. Plan/Do/Report Guided Examples provide a model to help students approach and solve business statistics problems.

Reports are frequently presented in the form of a business memo, helping students become familiar with framing and communicating results in a business setting. Helpful margin and text boxes include By Hand , which break apart the calculation of some of the simpler formulas; Notation Alerts ,which call out special notations; and Math Boxes , whichpresent the mathematical underpinnings of the statistical methods and concepts. Just Checking questions ask students to stop and think about what they''ve just read. These questions involve little to no calculation, and answers are provided at the end of the chapter so students can check their work. What Have We Learned? chapter summaries provide an overview of the chapter''s concepts through annotated learning objectives and a list of boldface (new) terms and their definitions. Exercises are included within each chapter and progress in difficulty and complexity. Integrated technology : Optional coverage helps students use real statistics software. NEW! Enhanced Technology Help with expanded Excel® 2013 coverage.

We''ve updated Technology Help and added detailed instructions for Excel 2013 to almost every chapter. Increased coverage of Excel includes screenshots and, in Technology Help sections, guidance for using Excel 2013 to demonstrate how to perform statistical analysis. Technology Help sections have been updated to reflect the latest technology releases. Technology Help now includes step-by-step guidance for XLSTAT(tm) for Pearson, an Excel add-in offered (bundled) with the textbook. XLSTAT(tm) for Pearson is an Excel add-in that enhances the analytical capabilities of Excel. Developed in 1993, XLSTAT is used by leading businesses and universities around the world. XLSTAT is compatible with all Excel versions (except Mac 2008) and is compatible with both Windows® and Mac® systems. NEW! Improved organization and a streamlined design make the text more accessible than ever.

While retaining the text''s successful "data first" presentation of topics, the authors have improved the way the book is organized. Chapters 1--4 are streamlined to cover collecting, displaying, summarizing, and understanding data in four chapters, giving students a solid foundation to launch their study of probability and statistics. Chapters 5--9 introduce students to randomness and probability, and then apply these new concepts to sampling as a gateway to the core material on statistical inference. Discussion of probability trees and Bayes'' rule is now in these chapters. Chapters 10--13 cover inference for both proportions and means. Chapters 14--16 cover regression-based models for decision making and an introduction to data mining.