Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: I.MATHEMATICAL APPLICATIONS -- 1.Revision mathematics -- Introduction -- Number and number operations -- Decimals, fractions and percentages -- Powers and roots -- Elementary algebra -- Indices and logs -- Mathematical symbols -- Graphs and straight lines -- Solving linear equations graphically -- Solving linear equations simultaneously -- Inequations -- Further reading -- 2.Keeping up with change: index numbers -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: Is the demand for oil increasing? -- Simple indices -- Weighted aggregate indices -- Consumer price indices -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- II.COLLECTING AND INTERPRETING DATA -- 3.Collecting data: surveys and samples -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: the 2010 General Election -- The basics of sampling -- Questionnaire design -- Simple random sampling -- Stratified sampling -- Multi-stage sampling -- Cluster sampling -- Contents note continued: Systematic sampling -- Quota sampling -- Other sampling methods -- Obtaining research data from on-line sources -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 4.Finding patterns in data: charts and tables -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: climate change in pictures -- Data classification -- Tabulation of data -- Diagrammatic representation of data -- Creating charts with Excel 2010 -- Creating charts with SPSS -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 5.Making sense of data: averages and measures of spread -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: pay settlements in a weak economy -- Measures of location -- Measures of spread -- Coefficient of variation -- Box and whisker plots -- Automatic methods of calculating measures of location and spread -- Using Excel to calculate summary statistics -- Using SPSS to calculate summary statistics -- Contents note continued: Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- III.PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS -- 6.Taking a chance: probability -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: POP design for a new drug candidate -- Basic ideas -- The probability of compound events -- Conditional probability -- Bayes' theorem -- Permutations and combinations -- Expected value -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 7.The shape of data: probability distributions -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: Is goal scoring a random event? -- Discrete and continuous probability distributions -- The binomial distribution -- The Poisson distribution -- The normal distribution -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 8.Interpreting with confidence: analysis of sample data -- Introduction -- Contents note continued: Quantitative methods in action: how many road accidents involve personal injury? -- Samples and sampling -- Point estimates -- Sampling distribution of the mean -- Confidence intervals for a population mean for large samples -- Confidence intervals for a population mean for small samples -- Confidence interval of a percentage -- Calculation of sample size -- Finite populations -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 9.Checking ideas: testing a hypothesis -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: toxic waste and birth defects -- The purpose of hypothesis testing -- Large sample test for a population mean -- Small sample test for a population mean -- The Z-test for a population percentage -- Hypothesis tests involving two population means -- Hypothesis tests involving two population percentages -- The chi-square hypothesis test -- SPSS and the chi-square test -- Reflection -- Key points -- Contents note continued: Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 10.Cause and effect: correlation and regression -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: factors influencing customer loyalty -- Scatter diagrams -- Correlation -- Linear regression -- Coefficient of determination -- Automatic methods of analyzing (paired) bivariate data -- SPSS and scatter diagrams -- SPSS and linear regression -- Further topics in regression -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- IV.DECISION-MAKING TECHNIQUES -- 11.How to make good decisions -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: how to manage the UK's radioactive waste -- Problem formulation -- Payoff tables -- Decision trees -- Utility -- Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDA) -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 12.Choosing wisely: investment appraisal -- Introduction -- Contents note continued: Quantitative methods in action: banks stress test -- Measures of investment worth -- Traditional methods for comparing projects -- Discounted cash flow techniques -- Other applications of the compound interest formula -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 13.Forecasting: time series analysis -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: forecasting US electricity demand -- The decomposition model -- Isolating the trend -- Isolating the seasonal component -- Analysis of errors -- Seasonally adjusted series -- Forecasting using the decomposition model -- Exponential smoothing -- Using spreadsheets in time series analysis -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 14.Making the most of things: linear programming -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: Netherlands railways uses optimization techniques -- Basics of linear programming -- Contents note continued: Model formulation -- Graphical solution of linear programming problems -- Tight and slack constraints -- Sensitivity analysis -- Minimization problems -- Using Excel's `Solver' to solve linear programming problems -- Applications of linear programming -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment -- 15.Planning large projects: network analysis -- Introduction -- Quantitative methods in action: 2012 Olympic Games -- The activity-on-node method -- The float of an activity -- Resource scheduling -- Cost scheduling -- Handling uncertainty in time estimates (the PERT method) -- Reflection -- Key points -- Further reading -- Practice questions -- Assignment.

This book is a short essential guide to quantitative methods for courses in business, management and finance. Oakshott covers all the relevant subject areas and includes activities and questions, making it suitable for self study.