Applications of Statistics in Business

The table below illustrates the new deaths reported in the four weeks before the dates shown in all the US states. There are four categorical variables including white, black, Latino, and Asian. There are five numerical variables, such as the number of new deaths reported in the four weeks before 10/11/2020, 08/12/2020, 05/01/2021, 02/02/2021, and 02/03/2021. 

The descriptive statistics are depicted below. 

The chart below illustrates the trend in the number of deaths reported in all the US states on different dates. 

The chart below shows the different categorical variables by the dates in which deaths were reported. 

Mean 

The mean illustrates the average of the data points. It is the value that represents the data’s center. It is also the single number that can predict the value of the entire data set (Holcomb, 2016) . The number of deaths among individuals in the four races in the four weeks before 02/03/2021 was the highest, while that in the four weeks leading to 10/11/2021 was the least. Based on the mean, there has been an increase in the average number of coronavirus deaths with regard to all individuals from the four races within the five-month period. The average number of coronavirus deaths reported between 10/11/2020 and 02/03/2021 for whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians were 38,157, 5,880, 9,039, and 1,914 individuals, respectively. The number of white deaths was the highest, while the number of Asian deaths was the least over the five-month period. For whites, the whole data regarding deaths is spread out around 38,157 individuals, while for blacks, it is spread around 5,880 individuals. The numbers 9,039 and 1,914 can predict the value of the Latino's and Asian's whole data sets regarding coronavirus deaths reported between 10/11/2020 and 02/03/2021. 

Standard Deviation 

The standard deviation is a gauge of the spread from the average value. A low standard deviation is a sign that the data points are close to the data set's mean, while a high standard deviation means that the data points are spread over a broad range of values (Fowler et al., 2021) . The largest spread in the number of deaths reported among individuals from the four races was the highest in the four weeks leading to 02/03/2021. During this period, there was the largest variation in the number of coronavirus deaths among individuals from the four races. The smallest variation in the number of deaths reported among individuals from the four races was in the four weeks leading to 10/11/2020. The increase in the standard deviation in the number of deaths reported between 10/11/2020 and 02/03/2021 is a sign that there was an increase in the spread of the deaths across a broad range of values. The standard deviation of the number of coronavirus deaths among whites was higher than that of other racial groups. In this sense, there was a larger spread in the number of reported deaths from the mean among whites than in the other three races. 

Median 

The median is the single value that divides the entire data set into two equal portions. It is a reliable measure of central tendency, given that it is affected to a small extent by outliers (Rosenthal, 2011) . The median number of deaths reported among individuals from all four races was the highest in the four weeks before 02/03/2021 and the least one month before 10/11/2020. The median increased over the five-month period indicating the increase in the total number of coronavirus deaths among individuals from all four races. The median number of deaths reported between 10/11/2020 and 02/03/2021 was the highest among whites, followed by Latinos, blacks, and Asians. The fact that whites had the largest median values proves that they had the largest number of deaths over the five-month period. 

Variance 

The variance is another reliable measure of how spread the data is from the average value. A large variance shows that the data points are widely spread, while a small variance depicts that the data values are close to the mean (Ravid, 2019) . The largest variance in the number of deaths reported among individuals from all races was witnessed in the four weeks before 02/03/2021. In this case, the one month before 02/03/2021 saw the largest variation in the number of coronavirus deaths among individuals from all four races. On the other hand, the smallest variance in the number of deaths reported among individuals from the four races was realized before 10/11/2020. 

Range 

The range depicts the variation between the largest and the smallest values in the given data set. The interval lists all the data values. The largest range in the number of deaths reported among individuals from all four races was in the four weeks before 02/03/2021. Based on the metric, it means that the largest variation in the number of deaths in the race with the highest number and the race with the lowest number of deaths was realized in the four weeks before 02/03/2021. The large variation can be attributed to the increased deaths associated with the virus, given that the largest number of deaths among individuals from all four races were reported in the four weeks before 02/03/2021. The smallest variation represented by the smallest range was realized in the four weeks before 10/11/2020. In this case, the race with the highest number of deaths and the race with the lowest number of deaths had the smallest difference in the four weeks before 10/11/2020. The small difference can be accredited to the low number of individuals who died from the virus. The largest increase in coronavirus deaths over the five-month period was realized among the whites, given that the racial group had the largest range. The second-largest increment in the number of deaths over the five-month period was realized among Latinos. The third-largest increment in the number of coronavirus deaths over the same period was witnessed among the blacks. Asians had the lowest range and, in this case, realized the lowest increment in the number of coronavirus deaths. 

References 

Fowler, J., Jarvis, P., & Chevannes, M. (2021).  Practical statistics for nursing and health care . John Wiley & Sons. 

Holcomb, Z. C. (2016).  Fundamentals of descriptive statistics . Routledge. 

Ravid, R. (2019).  Practical statistics for educators . Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. 

Rosenthal, J. A. (2011).  Statistics and data interpretation for social work . New York, NY: Springer.