Statistics

===Business statistics===
In business, "statistics" is a widely used [[Management#Nature of work|management-]] and [[decision support]] tool. It is particularly applied in [[financial management]], [[marketing management]], and [[Manufacturing process management|production]], [[operations management for services|services]] and [[operations management]] .<ref>{{cite web |url=https://amstat.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ubes20 |title=Aims and scope |website=Journal of Business & Economic Statistics |publisher=Taylor & Francis |access-date=16 March 2020 |archive-date=23 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623194835/https://amstat.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ubes20 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://amstat.tandfonline.com/loi/jbes |title=Journal of Business & Economic Statistics |website=Journal of Business & Economic Statistics |publisher=Taylor & Francis |access-date=16 March 2020 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727052958/https://amstat.tandfonline.com/loi/jbes |url-status=live }}</ref> Statistics is also heavily used in [[management accounting]] and [[auditing]]. The discipline of [[Management Science]] formalizes the use of statistics, and other mathematics, in business. ([[Econometrics]] is the application of statistical methods to [[economic data]] in order to give empirical content to [[economic theory|economic relationships]].)

A typical "Business Statistics" course is intended for [[Business education#Undergraduate education|business majors]], and covers <ref>Numerous texts are available, reflecting the scope and reach of the discipline in the business world:
* Sharpe, N. (2014). ''Business Statistics'', Pearson. {{ISBN|978-0134705217}}
* Wegner, T. (2010). ''Applied Business Statistics: Methods and Excel-Based Applications,'' Juta Academic. {{ISBN|0702172863}}
Two [[open textbook]]s are:
* Holmes, L., Illowsky, B., Dean, S. (2017).  [https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/509 ''Introductory Business Statistics''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616084059/https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/509 |date=2021-06-16 }}
* Nica, M. (2013). [https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/384 ''Principles of Business Statistics''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518151122/https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/384 |date=2021-05-18 }} </ref> [[descriptive statistics]] ([[Data collection|collection]], description, analysis, and summary of data), probability (typically the [[binomial distribution|binomial]] and [[normal distribution]]s), test of hypotheses and confidence intervals, [[linear regression]], and correlation; (follow-on) courses may include [[forecasting]], [[time series]], [[decision trees]], [[multiple linear regression]], and other topics from [[business analytics]] more generally. See also {{sectionlink|Business mathematics#University level}}. [[Professional certification in financial services|Professional certification programs]], such as the [[Chartered Financial Analyst|CFA]], often include topics in statistics.