Thanks to all who replied to my threads during the course. The interactions we had were both professional and encouraging as we progressed through the courseware. Though I had a good understanding of what statistics were, how they were calculated when data was presented was not something I had a grasp on until this class. The courseware has already been put to use in my personal life when calculating investments over a long term period, as well as during discussions with my colleagues at work. The topic of politics came up as it usually does, and how polls were conducted was a topic of discussion. Being able to explain and show my teammates how polls work when you cannot feasibly poll every single individual, and how the probability of results are calculated, is just another example. The use of Excel during the course made the calculations easier, but more than the ease of calculating, the use of formulas and different tables and graphs was definitely helpful. I use MS Office frequently, but many of the formulas I'd never worked with before, and using histograms for example, now shows me yet another way to generate a visual depiction of data