ABSTRACT
Introduction In this chapter, the goal is to simply outline how the computer will crunch the numbers and perform the statistical calculations that we are going to analyze. To do so, throughout this book, we will rely on a spreadsheet file called POLYSTAT, which we created in Microsoft Excel. Excel is a popular spreadsheet package that is found on many desktop computers. Although the statisK tics features of Excel do not readily handle the more sophisticated statistical functions found in other statistical programs, it more than handles what is necessary for an introductory text such as this. Although some prior knowledge of Excel would be useful, experience with the program is not necessary. As long as the user knows how to open a spreadsheet file and either paste data from other sources (e.g., other spreadsheet files, the Internet, etc.) or enter it from the keyboard, POLYSTAT will easily perform every calculation that we cover in this textbook. In addition to illustrating the basics of POLYSTAT in this chapter, the other chapters that utilize POLYSTAT provide further detail as to how it is used to perform the calculations for that chapter.
