Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Statistics doesn't suck.

Most of us have heard of literacy in general. Broadly speaking, it is the ability to read and write. What goes less noticed is the idea of  'numerical literacy'. Ironically,  we live in a world that is throwing more and more numbers of all sorts at us. But we are less aware of the methods to deal with those numbers, aka, Statistics.

Statistics is EVERYWHERE! From the completion percentages of your favourite NFL quarterback to the unemployment rate in the last quarter, it occupies almost every corner of your daily life. The average temperature of your city is in fact the arithmetic mean, one of the most popular measures of central tendency. The bets on whether Green Bay will win the Super Bowl are, in fact,  probability calculations. Long story short, we are exposed to statistics at times even when we aren't aware of it.

But how many of us see the need to go beyond the arithmetic mean? The discipline called statistics has more than that to offer and it is extensively at work in the world today. Learning the basics of statistical methods can help you understand the process of dealing with data. It can further provide valuable guidance in situations with uncertain outcomes. Let me be clear. It's not a panacea or your magic wand. But it certainly is a start!

Last, but not the least, a little formal training in statistics can go a long way. It will be a skill your employers will look out for. It doesn't matter whether you're a young college sophomore looking for an internship or a summer job or a middle age city-bus driver. Knowing statistics will definitely boost your cv.









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