Advice on Final Exam for

BUS70104 Quantitative Methods for Business

General Comments
Please note the following points relating to the final exam in this subject:
The exam will be closed book no notes or other reference
material will be permitted into the exam room.
There will be six questions in the exam paper. Answer only FIVE
questions.
The exam will be for two hours.
You will be allowed to take a calculator and a language translation
dictionary with you into the exam room.
All questions are of equal value (i.e., 8 marks each).
The exam will cover six topics only. These are:
o Multiple regression analysis
o Decision trees
o Linear programming
o Forecasting
o Inventory management
o Statistical process control
The lecture notes and the specific sections of the textbook provide a
good guide to these topics. See page 5 of the subject guide for the
list of required readings.
Provide short and succinct answers where descriptive answers are
required - use point form, but elaborate.
Where math models and computations are required, show all
working.
Guidelines on Specific Topics
The following notes provide guidance on the specific topics covered in the
subject, and how they will be addressed in the exam.
Multiple regression
The focus will be only on linear multiple regression analysis.
You should be able to interpret multiple regression output as shown
in Program 4.2B (p.150 of textbook).
Some sample questions for revision:
1

o Q4-21, Q4-25 and Q4-27 (pp.162-164, textbook).

Decision trees
The focus will be on EMV analysis.
You should be able to read and interpret a fully specified decision
tree.
All the probability estimates and payoffs will be provided. Note:
Bayes theorem calculations will not be required.
Some sample problems for revision:
o Solved problem 3-3 and 3-4, Ex 3.17 (pp.119-123, textbook)
Linear Programming
You should be able to read and interpret Excel Solver output such as
that shown in Figure 7.9 (p.281, textbook).
Some sample problems for revision:
o You should be able to write the objective functions and
constraints for problems such as Q7-14, Q7-15, Q7-17, Q7-18
and Q7-19 (pp. 312-313). Then, you should be able to use
Solver in Excel to obtain the optimal solutions. Note that in
the exam, if required, you will be provided with the Solver
output to interpret you will not be expected to do any
computer or manual Linear Programming analysis in the
exam.
o Q7-34 (p.315, textbook) is an example of a question where
computer analysis output is provided, and interpretation is
required.
Forecasting
The focus will be on calculating forecast values using moving
average, exponential smoothing and trend line methods.
Seasonal data analysis will not be covered in the exam.
You should be able to calculate forecasting accuracy using MAD
and MSE methods.
Some sample problems for revision:
o Q5-15, Q5-16, Q5-17 and Q5-18 (p.206, textbook)
If required, the following formulae will be provided:
o Formulae 5-1, 5-2 and 5-9
Inventory Management
2

 The focus will only be on EOQ model (not EPQ).

Some sample problems for revision:
o Solved Problem 6-1, Q6-18 and Q6-25 (pp. 254, 258-259,
textbook)
If required, the following formulae will be provided:
o Formulae 6-4 and 6-5
Statistical Process Control
The focus will be on SPC analysis for variables.
You are expected to use the factors in Table 16.2 (p. 628, textbook)
to calculate the control limits for mean and range charts, then decide
if a process is in control or not.
Some sample problems for revision:
o Q16-12 and Q16-16 (p.637- p.638, textbook)
If required, the following formulae/table will be provided:
o Formulae 16-3, 16-4, 16-5 and 16-6
o Table 16.2 (p. 628, textbook)
I hope these notes will assist you to prepare well and in a more informed
manner for the final exam.
All the best to everyone!

Cho Cho Wai

11 November 2015