Module Overview

In this Module we discuss the most important basics of descriptive statistics. In particular, we will discuss rounding and percentage calculations (which actually are not subjects of descriptive statistics, but will be needed there). The competent handling of percentage calculation is essential in economics. Experience tells that these elementary subjects are already taught at secondary school but often not thoroughly enuogh. For example, a test has shown that half of first year students are not able to calculate the amount of VAT in a gross invoice. This module consists of the following sections:

• Terminology: we introduce the fundamental concepts of statistics and explain different rounding methods for numbers.
  
• Frequency Distributions and Percentage Calculation: we introduce frequency distributions and explain the percentage calculation involved as well as the visualisation of the results using typical types of diagrams.
  
• Statistical Measures: we explain the fundamental statistical measures of descriptive statistics such as arithmetic mean and sample variance.
  
• Final Test.