INTERACTIVE TOOLS FOR VISUALIZING ABSTRACT STATISTICAL CONCEPTS

Levon R. Hayrapetyan
Mohan Kuruvilla
Houston Baptist University
ABSTRACT
Using only traditional methods of teaching statistics to business students is a very
challenging task because of the abstract nature of many statistical concepts. Many students prefer
to see and feel the actual concepts in action instead of having long theoretical discussions about
them. Two Excel-based interactive tools are presented in this study – the visualization of normal
probabilities as areas under the curve, and the visualization of the fundamental theorem of
statistics – the Central Limit Theorem. The tools provide very user-friendly interface and can be
successfully used by anyone with little or no experience in Excel.