ELEC 412

1
DATA DECISIONS

• ELEC 412
• Prof. Siripong Potisuk

2
The Need for Statistical Methods

• Quality is job one
• ..The basic concept of using statistical
  signals to improve performance can be applied to
  any area where output exhibits variation, such as
  component dimensions, bookkeeping error rates,
  performance characteristics of a computer
  information system, or transit times for incoming
  materials..
• 
  Continuous Process Control Manual
• 
  Ford Motor Company

3
The Need for Statistical Methods

• ..As world competition intensifies,
  understanding and applying statistical concepts
  and tools is becoming a requirement for all
  employees. Those individuals who get these skills
  in school will have a real advantage when they
  apply for their first job.
• Paul H. ONeill
• CEO, Aluminum company of America

4
The Need for Statistical Methods

• The competitive position of industry in the US
  demands that we greatly increase the knowledge of
  statistics among our engineering graduates..
  The economic survival in todays world cannot be
  ensured without access to modern productivity
  tools, notably applications of statistical
  methods.
• 
  Arno Penzias
• 
  VP at ATT Bell laboratories

5
A Model for Problem Solving

• State the problem or question
• Collect and analyze data
• Interpret the data and make decisions
• Implement and verify the decisions
• Plan next actions

6
The Creative Process
7
From Data Tables to Probability

• Goal Improving the quality of any process
• Solution Using tools of statistics to make
  decisions from
• data in an organized way.
• How do we obtain good data on which to base
• these decisions?
• Most good plans for collecting data make use of
  randomization which is tied to probability