Prices

Introduction

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This Unit looks at a wide variety of ways of comparing prices and the construction of a price index. You will look at the Retail Price Index (RPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), indices used by the UK Government to calculate the percentage by which prices in general have risen over any given period. You will also look at the important statistical and mathematical ideas that contribute to the construction of a price index.

In order to complete this Unit you will need to have obtained a Texas Instruments TI-83 calculator and the book Tapping into Mathematics With the TI-83 Graphics Calculator by Barrie Galpin and Alan Graham (eds), Addison Wesley, 1997 (ISBN 0201175479). This is referred to throughout the Unit as the Calculator Book.

This unit is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Open mathematics (MU120) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this subject area [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

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