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Class 11 Introduction to Economics and Statistics: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. What economics studies (consumption, production and distribution under scarcity) and how statistics helps, with quantitative and qualitative data.
Key ideas
- Scarcity is the root of every economic problem: wants are unlimited, but resources are limited and have alternative uses, so we must choose.
- Economics is traditionally studied as consumption, production and distribution.
- Consumers buy goods to satisfy wants; producers make goods or provide services; national income is distributed as wages, profits and interest.
- Economic activities are done for a monetary gain; cooking for one’s own family is a non-economic activity.
- Statistics collects, presents, analyses and interprets numerical data; it makes facts precise, condenses mass data, finds relationships and helps in policies.
- Quantitative data are measured in numbers (prices, incomes); qualitative data are attributes such as gender or skill.
- An average sums up many figures in one, but it can hide how unequally income is shared.
Remember
| Average (mean) | total ÷ number of items |
| Shares of income | part = per cent × total ÷ 100; interest = 100% − wages % − profits % |
| Choice with a budget | money left = money − cost of what is bought; how many more = money left ÷ price (whole units only) |
| Quantitative | prices, incomes, marks, rainfall, ages |
| Qualitative | gender, skill level, health, honesty |
Watch out
- Rounding up when counting what can be bought: only whole items that are fully paid for count.
- Calling an attribute such as skill “quantitative” because it can be graded.
- Taking the average as typical when one value is far bigger than the rest.
Worked example
A farmer has 5 acres. Wheat would yield 16 quintals an acre at ₹2,700 a quintal; cotton 13 quintals an acre at ₹7,100 a quintal. (a) What would each crop earn? (b) Which crop earns more? (c) Why must the farmer choose?
Working: 5 × 16 × 2,700; 5 × 13 × 7,100
Answer: (a) wheat ₹216,000, cotton ₹461,500 (b) cotton (c) The same land has alternative uses but is limited, so growing one crop means giving up the other.
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