1. Course Syllabus
QRB 501
Quantitative Reasoning for Business
Course Start Date: 05/08/12
Course End Date: 06/18/12
Please print a copy of this syllabus for handy reference.
Whenever there is a question about what assignments are due, please remember this syllabus is
considered the ruling document.
Copyright
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Edited in accordance with University of Phoenix© editorial standards and practices.

2. Course Description
This course applies quantitative reasoning skills to business problems. Students learn to analyze data
using a variety of analytical tools and techniques. Other topics include formulas, visual representation of
quantities, the time value of money, and measures of uncertainty.
Course Topics & Objectives
Week One: Working With Numbers and Formulas
• Write mathematical expressions and equations for word problems.
• Apply the rules for order of operations, including exponents, in solving problems.
• Identify dependent and independent variables and their relationships.
Week Two: Business Applications I
• Solve simultaneous equations algebraically.
• Use time series data to forecast.
• Convert data to indexes.
Week Three: Visual Representation of Quantities
• Construct histograms and bivariate plots.
• Determine the value of a slope by using the slope-intercept formula.
• Conduct a linear regression analysis.
Week Four: Time Value of Money
• Calculate the time value of money.
Week Five: Decision Making With Uncertainty
• Construct a frequency distribution.
• Compare and contrast measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode) and measures
of dispersion (range and standard deviation).
• Construct a normal distribution.
Week Six: Business Applications II
• Apply quantitative reasoning to business problems.
Course Materials
Lial, M., Hestwood, D., Hornsby, J., and McGinnis, T. (2010). Quantitative reasoning for business
(custome e-text). Boston, MA: Pearson/Addison-Wesley
Sevilla, A. and Somers, K. (2007). Quantitative reasoning: Tools for today’s informed citizen (1st ed.).
Emeryville, CA: Key College Publishing

3. All electronic materials are available on your student Web site.
Point Values for Course Assignments
ASSIGNMENTS Points
Individual (70%)
Week 1: Participation & Discussion Questions 4
Week 1: Week One Practice Problems 2
Week 1: Week One Quiz 1
Week 2: Participation & Discussion Questions 4
Week 2: Week Two Practice Problems 4
Week 2: Week Two Quiz 3
Week 3: Participation & Discussion Questions 4
Week 3: Week Three Practice Problems 4
Week 3: Week Three Quiz 3
Week 3: Forecasting with indices 4
Week 4: Participation & Discussion Questions 4
Week 4: Week Four Practice Problems 4
Week 4: Week Four Quiz 3
Week 5: Participation & Discussion Questions 4
Week 5: Week Five Practice Problems 4
Week 5: Week Five Quiz 3
Week 6: Final Examination 15
Learning Team (30%)
Week 2: Inventory System Summary 4
Week 3: APA Style 1
Week 4: Week Summary 1
Week 5: Inventory Proposal 10
Week 6: Executive Management Presentation 14
Total 100

4. Week One
Working With Numbers and Formulas
• Write mathematical expressions and equations for word problems.
• Apply the rules for order of operations, including exponents, in solving problems.
• Identify dependent and independent variables and their relationships.
Course Assignments
 Readings
• Read Ch. 1–3 of Quantitative Reasoning for Business.
 Due Day 1 (Tuesday): Respond to the Check-In thread in the Main forum and the Welcome
message in your Individual forum. This does not count towards your participation.
 Due Day 2 (Wednesday): Post your Bio to the Chat Room forum. This does not count towards
your participation.
 Discussion Questions (4 points). Discussion question responses will count towards the class
participation requirement. Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your
class participation score.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 1 Practice Problems (2 points).
Complete the Week One Practice Problems in MyMathLab ®.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 1 Quiz (1 point). Complete the Week
One Quiz in MyMathLab®.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Learning Team Charter. Post your final Learning Team Charter to your
Learning Team Forum.
Weekly Reminders
Discussion Questions
Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.
Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.
Participation
All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.
Summary of Week 1 Deliverables
Assignment Individual or Location Due

5. Learning Team
Participation Individual Main On-going 4 days per week
Check-in Individual Main Tuesday
Bio Individual Chat Room Wednesday
LT Charter Learning Team Learning Team Sunday
Practice Problems Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Quiz Individual MyMathLab Sunday

6. Week Two
Business Applications I
• Solve simultaneous equations algebraically.
• Use time series data to forecast.
• Convert data to indices.
Course Assignments
 Readings
• Read Ch. 12 of Quantitative Reasoning for Business.
• Read Topics 5 & 8 of Quantitative Reasoning.
 Discussion Questions (4 points). Discussion question responses will count towards the class
participation requirement. Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your
class participation score.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 2 Practice Problems (4 points).
Complete the Week Two Practice Problems in MyMathLab ®.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 2 Quiz (3 points). Complete the Week
Two Quiz in MyMathLab®.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Learning Team Assignment (4 points). Inventory Systems Summary.
The purpose of this assignment is to prepare for subsequent assignments in this course. Post
your final answer in an Assignment Page of the team. Learning Team Evaluations are due
Day 7 in your Individual forum. Please note that posts made to the Learning Team forum do
not count toward participation.
• Research one inventory system per team member used in an organization with which you
are familiar.
• Collect four years of inventory data from each organization.
• Collaborate as a team to compare the inventory systems.
• Write a summary which includes:
o 250- to 350-word description of each inventory system.
o 350- to 700-word comparison describing the advantages and disadvantages of each
system.
• Format your summary consistent with APA guidelines.
Weekly Reminders
Discussion Questions
Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.

7. Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.
Participation
All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.
Summary of Week 2 Deliverables
Assignment Individual or Location Due
Learning Team
Participation Individual Main Ongoing – 4 days per week
Practice
Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Problems
Quiz Individual MyMathLab Sunday
LT Evaluation Individual Individual Monday
LT Assignment Learning Team Assignment Page Monday

8. Week Three
Visual Representation of Quantities
• Construct histograms and bivariate plots.
• Determine the value of a slope by using the slope-intercept formula.
• Conduct a linear regression analysis.
Course Assignments
 Readings
• Read Ch. 6 & 9 of Quantitative Reasoning for Business.
• Read Topics 2–3 & 5 of Quantitative Reasoning.
 Discussion Questions (4 points). Discussion question responses will count towards the class
participation requirement. Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your
class participation score.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 3 Practice Problems (4 points).
Complete the Week Three Practice Problems in MyMathLab ®.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 3 Quiz (3 points). Complete the Week
Three Quiz in MyMathLab®.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Individual Assignment. (4 points). Forecasting with Indices. Post your
answers in your Assignment page.
• Resources: Week Two assignment, and University of Phoenix Material: Summer Historical
Inventory Data
• Select University of Phoenix Material: Summer Historical Inventory Data to complete this
assignment.
• Convert the data into an index.
• Use the time series data from your index to forecast inventory for next year.
• Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Learning Team Assignment. (1 point). APA Style. Post your final
answer in an Assignment Page of the team. Learning Team Evaluations are due Day 7 in
your Individual forum. Please note that posts made to the Learning Team forum do not
count toward participation.
• Resources: Go to http://www.apastyle.org . Click the Learning APA Style tab. Click
The Basics of APA Style. Click View the tutorial.
OR

9. Go to the Center for Writing Excellence and reference the MS Word Formatting Tutorial
or use Riverpoint Writer. Click on the Library tab. Select Center for Writing Excellence.
Click on Tutorials & Guides on the left side of the page. For Riverpoint Writer, scroll
down to APA Information. For the MS Word Formatting Tutorial, scroll down to
Software Tutorials and Guides.
• Cut and Paste the following sentences in MS Word. Fill up the space in each of the following
sentences:
1. The title page includes a page number in the -----------. The header on each page
should include a shortened form of the title on the -------------- side and the page
number on the ----------- side.
2. To properly cite a quotation, you must provide the ------------.
3. The preferred font is ------------ point Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier.
4. The margins should be --------- inch on all sides.
5. All text within the paper is ------------spaced
Weekly Reminders
Discussion Questions
Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.
Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.
Participation
All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.
Summary of Week 3 Deliverables
Assignment Individual or Learning Location Due
Team
Participation Individual Main Ongoing – 4 days per week
Practice Problems Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Quiz Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Individual Assignment Individual Assignment Monday
LT Evaluation Individual Individual Monday
Learning Team Assignment
Learning Team Monday
Assignment Page

10. Week Four
Time Value of Money
• Calculate the time value of money.
Course Assignments
 Readings
• Read Topic 9 of Quantitative Reasoning.
• Review the Time Value of Money multimedia on your student website.
 Discussion Questions (4 points). Discussion question responses will count towards the class
participation requirement. Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your
class participation score.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 4 Practice Problems (4 points).
Complete the Week Four Practice Problems in MyMathLab ®.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 4 Quiz (3 points). Complete the Week
Four Quiz in MyMathLab®.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Learning Team Assignment (1 point). Summary. Post your final
answer in an Assignment Page of the team. Learning Team Evaluations are due Day 7 in
your Individual forum. Please note that posts made to the Learning Team forum do not
count toward participation.
• Discuss at least 3 lessons that you learned this wee. You should address the topics in the
reading, assignments, and class discussions that were especially meaningful to your.
• Explain why these lessons are important to you. You should discuss how you would apply
these lessons to your learning process or your workplace.
• List one area of difficulty. How did you overcome it.
• Summary should be at least 300 words in length.
Weekly Reminders
Discussion Questions
Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.
Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.
Participation
All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.

11. Summary of Week 4 Deliverables
Assignment Individual or Location Due
Learning Team
Ongoing – 4 days per
Participation Individual Main
week
Practice Problems Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Quiz Individual MyMathLab Sunday
LT Evaluation Individual Individual Forum Monday
Learning Team
Learning Team Assignment Page Monday
Assignment

12. Week Five
Decision Making With Uncertainty
• Construct a frequency distribution.
• Compare and contrast measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode) and measures
of dispersion (range and standard deviation).
• Construct a normal distribution.
Course Assignments
 Readings
• Read Topics 11, 16, 17, & 21 of Quantitative Reasoning.
• Review Topic 2 of Quantitative Reasoning.
 Discussion Questions (4 points). Discussion question responses will count towards the class
participation requirement. Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your
class participation score.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 5 Practice Problems (4 points).
Complete the Week Five Practice Problems in MyMathLab ®.
 Due Day 6 (Sunday): Individual Assignment – Week 5 Quiz (3 points). Complete the Week
Five Quiz in MyMathLab®.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Learning Team Assignment (10 points). Inventory Proposal. Post your
final answer in an Assignment Page of the team. Learning Team Evaluations are due Day 7
in your Individual forum. Please note that posts made to the Learning Team forum do not
count toward participation.
• Resources: Week Two Assignment, and University of Phoenix Material: Summer Historical
Inventory Data
• Select an inventory management problem that applies to your work or personal life.
• Prepare a project proposal in which you:
o Describe the organization, the inventory problem it faces, and the expected benefits that
are motivating the organization to implement a solution.
o Convert time series data from the University of Phoenix Material: Summer Historical
Inventory Data to seasonal indices.
o Use seasonal indices to analyze the inventory data.
1. Use the slope-intercept formula to determine the annual increase in inventory.
 Provide monthly seasonal indices for the given data.
 Identify the busy months of year.
2. Identify the slow months of year.

13. o Construct a histogram of the inventory data using Microsoft ® Excel®.
o Forecast the future inventory costs using time value of money concepts.
• Format your proposal consistent with APA guidelines.
Weekly Reminders
Discussion Questions
Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.
Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.
Participation
All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.
Summary of Week 5 Deliverables
Assignment Individual or Location Due
Learning Team
Participation Individual Main Ongoing – 4 days per week
Practice Problems Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Quiz Individual MyMathLab Sunday
Learning Team
Individual Individual Monday
Evaluation
Learning Team Assignment
Learning Team Monday
Assignment Page

14. Week Six
Business Applications II
• Apply quantitative reasoning to business problems.
Course Assignments
 Readings
• Review Topics 11 & 21 of Quantitative Reasoning.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Individual Assignment – Final Examination (15 points).
• Resources: MyMathLab® and Quantitative Reasoning for Business
• Click the link to the Final Examination on your student website available from the end of
Week Five through the end of Week Six.
• Complete the Final Examination. You are allowed one attempt to complete the exam, which
is timed and must be completed in 3 hours. Results are auto graded and sent to your
instructor.
Note. Final Examination questions are adapted from MyMathLab ® and Prealgebra & Introductory
Algebra.
 Due Day 7 (Monday): Learning Team Assignment (14 points). Executive Management
Presentation. Post your final answer in an Assignment Page of the team. Learning Team
Evaluations are due Day 7 in your Individual forum. Please note that posts made to the
Learning Team forum do not count toward participation.
• Resources: z-table, Week Five Learning Team assignment, and University of Phoenix
Material: Summer Historical Inventory Data
• Calculate the mode, median, and mean in Microsoft® Excel® using the data from your Week
Five assignment.
• Compute the standard deviation in Microsoft® Excel® using the data from your Week Five
assignment.
• Prepare a 10- to 12-slide presentation for the Executive Management Team of your company
in which you:
o Include a description of the current inventory system.
o Include the raw data used.
o Generate a frequency distribution of the data using Microsoft® Excel®.
o Generate a normal distribution of the data using Microsoft® Excel®.
o Compare the mode, median, and mean of the data.
o Compare the range with the standard deviation of the data.
• Include speaker notes in which you explain:
o How the frequency distribution might be used to better understand and improve the
inventory system

15. o How the normal distribution might be used to better understand and improve the
inventory system
o Which measure of central tendency most accurately depicts the inventory data
o Which measure of dispersion most accurately depicts the inventory data
• Format your presentation consistent with APA guidelines.
Weekly Reminders
Final Week Requirements
Discussion question responses and participation will not be required during the final week of the course.
The final week will be dedicated to completing the final assignments listed below.
Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.
Participation
All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.
Summary of Week 6 Deliverables
Assignment Individual or Location Due
Learning Team
Final Exam Individual MyMathLab Monday
Learning Team Evaluation Individual Individual Monday
Learning Team
Learning Team Assignment Page Monday
Assignment