This new edition, like the previous editions, is intended for students from a variety of backgrounds who find that their courses require a good understanding of mathematics and statistics in a business context. Few assumptions are made about what a student can remember from previous studies and the focus is on developing the important skills of being effective with numbers. Each chapter offers an introduction and explanation of some aspect of the quantitative approach to problem solving. Together these chapters are designed to build a confidence with business problem analysis but are sufficiently self-contained to be used as a source of reference or for revision purposes.

A review of basic mathematics is now included as the first chapter and allows for an easier revision of key mathematical topics and for easier cross-referencing if only as a reminder of a mathematical technique that is required. The book itself is still divided into five parts: Understanding quantitative information; Describing data; Measuring uncertainty; Using statistical inference; and Relating variables and predicting outcomes, with a further three parts offered online, adressing Modelling, Mathematical topics and student guides, respectively. The online support has been considerably strengthened to include chapters on Game theory and Factor analysis, and student guides on creative problem solving, Excel, SPSS, Project management software, and writing and reporting statistics.