Quantitative methods 1
BB
Ms Harmindar Nath, Dr Richard Egudo and Ms Roslyn Steel
6 points * First semester * 4 hours per week * Gippsland/Distance * Prerequisites: The subject assumes a mathematical background at about Year 11 (fifth form) level
This subject introduces some of the fundamental mathematical and statistical methods used most commonly in business planning and decision-making. Included are basic mathematical concepts, functions and their graphics, exponential and logarithmic functions. Solutions of systems of linear equations and inequations. Arithmetic and geometric sequences; financial calculations relating to simple and compound interest, discount notes, annuities, amortisation, sinking funds and equations of value. Index numbers, especially the Australian CPI and its uses. Statistics - nature of statistical investigations, collection, presentation and interpretation of data; measures of centrality and dispersion; population distributions, the normal distribution; the sampling distribution of the sample mean; statistical inference - interval estimation for the population mean (large and small samples), choosing the sample size, sampling from a small population, basic concepts for hypothesis testing, one-tailed and two-tailed testing of hypotheses, testing an hypothesis about the population mean (large and small samples); introduction to simple linear regression.
Assessment
Assignments: 50% * Examination: 50%
Prescribed texts
Waxman P Business mathematics and statistics 3rd edn, Prentice Hall, 1993