Part 3. Statistics, probability, and finance

Part 3 of this book comprises three chapters: two cover the related topics of statistics and probability, and a third teaches you how to solve financial problems. The probability and statistics material will show you how to plot sets of collected data, fit functions to that data, work with probability distribution functions, generate random numbers, and much more. In the finance chapter, you’ll learn about your calculator’s TVM solver, which can help you work with interest, loans, and mortgages.

Statistics can be a confusing subject for students, and your graphing calculator is particularly well equipped to help you understand it. Chapter 8 shows you how to enter sets of data into your calculator as lists and then compute properties of that data or plot it in any of several different forms. You’ll see how to create histograms, scatter plots, box plots, and more. The chapter concludes with performing regression, or fitting functions to your data to help you understand it better.