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Data Analysis for Decision Making introduces students to the fundamental concepts and techniques of data-driven decision making in a business context. The course covers descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, enabling students to collect, interpret, and analyze data to inform strategic choices. Students will use statistical tools and software to translate data into actionable insights, enhance problem-solving skills, and support organizational objectives. Through practical case studies and real-world datasets, participants will learn to frame business questions, summarize findings, and communicate results effectively to stakeholders, equipping them for informed managerial and operational decisions.
Recommended Textbook Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis 7th Edition by Cliff Ragsdale
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Q1) Identifying the real problems faced by the decision maker
A)is not important since the decision maker has already defined the problem.
B)requires insight,some imagination,time and a good bit of detective work.
C)first requires a well-defined problem statement.
D)will lead to developing the best model.
Answer: B
Q2) In the following expression,which is are)the dependent variables)?
PROFIT = REVENUE EXPENSES
A)Profit
B)Revenue
C)Expenses
D)b)and c)

Answer: A
Q3) To illustrate how a complex system will be built,an engineer will likely use a
A)mathematical model.
B)mental model.
C)physical model.
D)visual model.
Answer: D
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Q1) If a problem has infinite number solutions,the objective function A)is parallel to one of the binding constraints.
B)goes through exactly one corner point of the feasible region.
C)cannot identify a feasible region.
D)is infeasible.
Answer: A
Q2) Solve the following LP problem graphically by enumerating the corner points.
MIN: <sup>8 X</sup><sub>1 </sub><sup>+ 3 X</sup><sub>2</sub>
Subject to: <sup>X</sup><sub>2 </sub><sup> 8</sup>
8 X<sub>1 </sub>+ 5 X<sub>2 </sub> 80
3 X<sub>1 </sub>+ 5 X<sub>2 </sub> 60 X<sub>1</sub>,X<sub>2 </sub> 0
Answer: Obj = 48
X<sub>1 </sub>= 0
X<sub>2 </sub>= 16
Q3) A common objective in the product mix problem is A)maximizing cost.
B)maximizing profit.
C)minimizing production time.
D)maximizing production volume.
Answer: B

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Q1) Refer to Exhibit 3.1.Which of the following statements represent the carpentry,varnishing and limited demand for desks constraints?
A)B4:C4 ? B5:C5
B)E5 ? 0
C)D8:D10 ? E8:E10
D)E8:E10 ? D8:D10
Answer: C
Q2) Which tab in the Analytic Solver Platform task pane is used to define an optimization problem?
A)Guess
B)Model
C)Change
D)Delete
Answer: B
Q3) Which type of spreadsheet cell represents the decision variables in an LP model?
A)Target or set cell
B)Variable cell
C)Constraint cell
D)Constant cell
Answer: B
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Q1) A spider plot
A)is a graphical representation of multiple optimization runs
B)requires multiple runs of the problem
C)is computationally expensive to generate for problems with many constraints and variables
D)all of the above
Q2) To convert constraints into = constraints the Simplex method adds what type of variable to the constraint?
A)slack
B)dummy
C)redundant
D)spreading
Q3) Finding a robust solution to an LP problem
A)is one of the many useful features of the Analytic Solver Platform
B)is trivial
C)is a guessing procedure
D)all of the above
Q4) Refer to Exhibit 4.1.The Week 1 by Truck and Week 1 by Rail constraints each have a shadow price of ?360.
What do these values imply?
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Sample Questions
Q1) A node which can both send to and receive from other nodes is a A)demand node.
B)supply node.
C)random node.
D)transshipment node.
Q2) Draw the network representation of the following network flow problem.
MIN: <sup>5 X</sup><sub>12 </sub><sup>+ 3 X</sup><sub>13 </sub><sup>+ 2 X</sup><sub>14 </sub><sup>+ 3 X</sup><sub>24 </sub><sup>+ 2 X</sup><sub>34</sub>
Subject to: <sup> X</sup><sub>12 </sub><sup> X</sup><sub>13 </sub><sup> X</sup><sub>14 </sub><sup>= 10</sup>
X<sub>12 </sub> X<sub>24 </sub>= 2 X<sub>13 </sub> X<sub>34 </sub>= 3
X<sub>14 </sub>+ X<sub>24 </sub>+ X<sub>34 </sub>= 5 X<sub>ij </sub> 0 for all i and j
Q3) The assignment problem is equivalent to a transportation problem with A)the sums of all rows and columns equal to one.
B)binary decision variables.
C)non-negativity constraints removed.
D)all of the above.
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Sample Questions
Q1) An integrality condition indicates that some or all)of the A)RHS values for constraints must be integer
B)objective function coefficients must be integer
C)constraint coefficients must be integer
D)decision variables must be integer
Q2) The objective function value for the ILP problem can never
A)be as good as the optimal solution to its LP relaxation.
B)be as poor as the optimal solution to its LP relaxation.
C)be worse than the optimal solution to its LP relaxation.
D)be better than the optimal solution to its LP relaxation.
Q3) Suppose you want to maximize an objective function z=2x<sub>1</sub>+3x<sub>2</sub>.Both decision variables must be integer.The optimal solution to the LP relaxation will:
A)be smaller than the optimal IP solution
B)be larger than the optimal IP solution
C)can be either smaller or larger than the optimal IP solution
D)will be within 5% of the optimal IP solution value
Q4) Refer to Exhibit 6.1.What values would you enter in the Analytic Solver Platform task pane for the above Excel spreadsheet?
Objective Cell: Variables Cells: Constraints Cells:
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Sample Questions
Q1) Refer to Exhibit 7.4.The solution indicates Truck 3 is under the target weight by 67 pounds.What if anything can be done to this model to provide a solution in which Truck 3 is closer to the target weight?
Q2) If no other feasible solution to a multi-objective linear programming MOLP)problem allows an increase in any objective without decreasing at least one other objective,the solution is said to be
A)dually optimal.
B)Pareto optimal.
C)suboptimal.
D)maximally optimal.
Q3) Refer to Exhibit 7.3.What formula goes in cell E11?
A)=D11*C11?B11)/C11
B)=C11?B11)/C11
C)=D11*C11
D)=D11*C11?B11)
Q4) A hard constraint
A)cannot be violated
B)may be violated
C)is always binding
D)is always part of the feasible solution
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Q1) Refer to Exhibit 8.2.What formula would you place into cell B5 to calculate Total Floor Area?
Q2) When using the GRG algorithm to solve NLPs one should try multiple starting points because
A)If two different starting points return the same solution,that solution is optimal. B)the solution returned depends upon the starting point.
C)the solution returned is always near the starting point.
D)a random element of GRG requires multiple starting points.
Q3) A construction company just purchased a 300 × 300 foot lot upon which they plan to build an office building.They need at least 60,000 ft<sup>2 </sup>of office floor space.Zoning regulations require each floor be 10 feet high and the building not exceed 65 ft in height.Further,parking space must equal at least 30% of the total floor space available.The company's cost accountant uses a 60% factor of the building height and a 1% factor of any story's floor area to calculate the total building cost in millions of dollars). Formulate the NLP for the problem.
Q4) Refer to Exhibit 8.2.What formula would you place in cell D13 to calculate total cost?
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Q1) The terms b<sub>0</sub><sub> </sub>and b<sub>1</sub><sub> </sub>are
A)estimated population parameters.
B)estimated intercept and slope values,respectively.
C)random variables.
D)all of these.
Q2) The terms b<sub>0</sub><sub> </sub>and b<sub>1</sub><sub> </sub>are referred to as
A)population variables.
B)population parameters.
C)estimated population variables.
D)estimated population parameters.
Q3) Refer to Exhibit 9.3.Predict the mean number of calories consumed by a 19 year old man.
Q4) The regression line denotes the between the dependent and independent variables.
A)unsystematic variation
B)systematic variation
C)random variation
D)average variation
Q5) Refer to Exhibit 9.1.Interpret the meaning of R Square in cell B3 of the spreadsheet.
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Q1) The objective of classification tree algorithms is to
A)minimize the average weighted impurity of the resulting partitions
B)maximize the average weighted impurity of the resulting partitions
C)maximize the average weighted purity of the resulting partitions
D)maximize the likelihood estimator of the resulting partitions
Q2) In the step of data mining,a researcher attempts to estimate to which discrete group an observation belongs to
A)classification
B)prediction
C)categorization
D)association/segmentation
Q3) The regression approach can be used in the two-group discriminant analysis problem because
A)the data are not normally distributed.
B)the R<sup>2 </sup>statistic is not very meaningful.
C)the regression equation can generate a discriminant score.
D)it scales to the k -group problem easily.
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Q1) Refer to Exhibit 11.1.What Excel function will compute the mean squared error in cell C18 of the spreadsheet?
A)=SUMXMY2B7:B14,C7:C14)
B)=SUMXMY2B3:B14,C3:C14)/COUNTC3:C14)
C)=SUMXMY2B7:B14,C7:C14)/COUNTC7:C14)
D)=SUMPRODUCTB7:B14,C7:C14)/COUNTC7:C14)
Q2) Refer to Exhibit 11.1.What is the 4-month moving average forecast for month 5?
A)71
B)72.5
C)74
D)75
Q3) The term "stationary data" means that
A)the mean is constant
B)there is an increasing linear trend over time
C)the fitted line goes through the origin
D)there is no change in the data
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Q1) Methods for analyzing risk that are discussed in the textbook include
A)best-case/worst case analysis
B)what-if analysis
C)simulation
D)all of the above
Q2) Which of the following probability distributions are associated with discrete outcomes?
A)Gamma
B)Custom
C)Normal
D)Exponential
Q3) Which of the following do not help determine the magnitude of risk in a decision-making problem?
A)The level of uncertainty in outcome.
B)The magnitude of potential loss.
C)The level of management interest in the problem.
D)The level of uncertainty in input variables.
Q4) What function should be used for generating random numbers from a normal distribution with mean and standard deviation ?
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Q1) Refer to Exhibit 13.5.Based on this report how long does a computer user have to wait for his/her job to be completed?
Q2) A company has recorded the following list of service rates customers/hour)for one of its servers.What is the mean service time for this server? Customers / hour: 4,4,5,6,5,4,3,4,3,5,5,6
A)0.22 min
B)1.11 min
C)4.5 min
D)13.3 min
Q3) The M/M/s model with finite capacity queue can be used to model
A)a machine breakdown process in a shop with 10 identical machines
B)traffic in a dentist's office
C)a process of patient departure from a dentist's office
D)a process of installing new machines in a shop
Q4) A grocery clerk can serve 20 customers per hour on average and the service time follows an exponential distribution.What is the probability that a customer's service time is more than 4 minutes?
Q5) Refer to Exhibit 13.7.What is the Kendall notation for this system?
Q6) Refer to Exhibit 13.3.What is the mean service rate per hour?
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Q1) Refer to Exhibit 14.4.What is the expected value of perfect information for the investor?
A)13.5
B)20
C)45.5
D)59
Q2) The decision rule which selects the alternative associated with the smallest maximum opportunity loss is the A)maximax decision rule.
B)maximin decision rule.
C)minimax regret decision rule.
D)minimin decision rule.
Q3) Refer to Exhibit 14.6.What is PF H),where F = favorable response and H = high demand?
A).58
B).63
C).84
D).92
Q4) Refer to Exhibit 14.9.What decision should be made according to the minimax regret decision rule?
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Q1) The critical path is the path throughout the network.
A)longest
B)most expensive
C)shortest
D)least expensive
Q2) Refer to Exhibit 15.6.Is it necessary to draw an arc from the node for activity F to the node for activity I?
Q3) Refer to Exhibit 15.1.What values are placed in cell C5 of the spreadsheet?
A)E,F
B)B
C)C
D)B,C
Q4) Refer to Exhibit 15.3.Draw the CPM network for this problem.Use AON notation.
Q5) In deciding which activities to crash,select
A)activities on the critical paths)
B)all activities with positive slack time
C)longest activities
D)lowest cost activities
Q6) Refer to Exhibit 15.4.Identify each path through the network and its expected length.
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