Data Analysis for Business

• • Week 1 - Introduction to subject. Introduction to mathematics of finance. Interest, present and future values of a single amount, solution for time and interest rate. Effective and equivalent rates.
  • Week 2 - Perpetuities. Introduction to simple annuities. Solving for R, N, i. Partial payments.
  • Week 3 - Amortization & sinking funds (including dealing with changes in interest rate, missed/extra payments), ‘flat rate’ problems.
  • Week 4 - The statistical process. Sources of data. Sources of error and bias. Types of sampling. Types of variable. Computing activity: Excel basics-Videos.
  • Week 5 - Univariate statistics (mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, range, IQR, percentiles). Plots for univariate data (pie-charts, bars, stem & leaf plots, histograms). Measuring grouped data. Computing activity: Pivot Tables in Excel-Videos
  • Week 6 - Working with bivariate data. Scatterplots. Computing and interpreting the correlation coefficient. Basics of linear regression. Computing activity: Regression in Excel-Videos
  • Week 7 - Forum (More details available in preceding weeks)-All material from first six weeks
  • Week 8 - Probability - concepts, laws, trees and tables, independence, Bayes' rule.
  • Week 9 - Discrete Probability Distributions - expectations, Poisson, binomial. Continuous Probability Distributions; normal, z-scores, approximations of the binomial and Poisson by the normal.
  • Week 10 - Sampling Distributions - sampling distribution of means, sampling of proportions, Central Limit Theorem, finite population correction factor, the Student's t distribution.
  • Week 11 - Estimation & Inference Estimation - point & interval estimates, determination of optimal sample size, Inference - one sample tests of mean and proportion, types of error, one and two tailed tests, significance
  • Week 12 - Bi-variate Inference - Chi-squared test for independence. Tests for existence of linear relationship, confidence interval for slope
  • Week 13 - Subject Review and Exam Preview

No eligibility requirements

Additional requirements

No additional requirements

BEA140 is a foundation subject in business statistics and the mathematics of finance, and is a core subject in the Bachelor of Economics (BEc) and Bachelor of Business (BBus) degrees. It is also a nominated elective in a wide range of other programs throughout the University of Tasmania.

This subject is intended to provide a background capacity in mathematics of finance and statistical description and analysis, appropriate for a business student. The focus of the subject is on the practical use of data in business and economic decision environments, especially in an environment of risk and uncertainty.

By studying a variety of examples based on real world problems, the subject highlights the application of quantitative methodologies to assist managers, and decision makers, in dimensioning and communicating risks and opportunities.

• Online Skill Checks (18%)
• Test or quiz (32%)
• The Final Examination (20%)
• Assignment (30%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).