Quantitative Methods for Business, Fourth Edition

This revision of the classic Quantitative Methods for Business is designed to provide students with a conceptual understanding of the role that quantitative methods play in the decision-making process. The text describes the many quantitative methods that have been developed over the years, explains how they work, and shows how the decision maker can apply and interpret data. The book has been written with the non-mathematician in mind; it is applications-oriented. In each chapter a problem is described in conjunction with the quantitative procedure being introduced. The authors have found that this approach helps to motivate the student by demonstrating not only how the procedure works, but also how it can contribute to the decision-making process.

David R. Anderson is Professor of Quantitative Analysis in the College of Business Administration at the University of Cincinnati, USA.

Dennis J. Sweeney is Professor of Quantitative Analysis and Director of the Center for Productivity Improvement at the University of Cincinnati. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, he earned a B.S.B.A. degree from Drake University, graduating summa cum laude. He received his M.B.A. and D.B.A. degrees from Indiana University where he was an NDEA Fellow. During 1978-79, he spent a year working in the management science group at Procter & Gamble; during 1981-82, he was a visiting professor at Duke University. Professor Sweeney served 5 years as Head of the Department of Quantitative Analysis and 4 years as Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Cincinnati. Professor Sweeney has published over 30 articles in the area of management science and statistics. The National Science Foundation, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Federated Department Stores, Kroger, and Cincinnati Gas & Electric have funded his research, which has been published in Management Science, Operations Research, athematical Programming, Decision Sciences, and other journals. Professor Sweeney has coauthored eight textbooks in the areas of statistics, management science, linear programming, and production and operations management.

Thomas A. Williams is Professor of Management Science in the College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology. Born in Elmira, New York, he earned his B.S. degree at Clarkson University. He did his graduate work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Before joining the College of Business at RIT, Professor Williams served for 7 years as a faculty member in the College of Business Administration at the University of Cincinnati, where he developed the undergraduate program in Information Systems and then served as its coordinator. At RIT he was the first chairman of the Decision Sciences Department. He teaches courses in management science and statistics, as well as more advanced courses in regression and decision analysis. Professor Williams is the co-author of nine textbooks in the areas of management science, statistics, production and operations management, and mathematics. He has been a consultant for numerous Fortune 500 companies and has worked on projects ranging from the use of elementary data analysis to the development of large-scale regression models.