Teaching Business Statistics: Some Useful Relationships

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an instructional approach in the introductory business statistics course that utilizes relationships between separately introduced topics. The paper will explore three “useful relationships” that can assist classroom instruction: (1) the relationship between the simple arithmetic mean, the weighted arithmetic mean, and the expected value of a discrete probability distribution; (2) the relationship between the use of the multiplication rule to calculate the joint probability associated with two events, use of tree diagrams, and the use of the binomial and hypergeometric distributions; and (3) the relationship between the geometric mean and the compound interest rate. Each discussion includes detailed examples of calculations to demonstrate the relationships.