Page 10 - Statistics for Dummies

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Statistics For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Chapter 2: The Statistics of Everyday Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Statistics and the Media: More Questions than Answers? .......................23
Probing popcorn problems ................................................................24
Venturing into viruses .........................................................................24
Comprehending crashes .....................................................................25
Mulling malpractice .............................................................................25
Belaboring the loss of land .................................................................26
Scrutinizing schools ............................................................................26
Studying sports ....................................................................................27
Banking on business news ..................................................................28
Touring the travel news ......................................................................28
Surveying sexual stats .........................................................................29
Breaking down weather reports ........................................................29
Musing about movies ..........................................................................30
Highlighting horoscopes .....................................................................30
Using Statistics at Work ................................................................................31
Delivering babies — and information ...............................................31
Posing for pictures...............................................................................31
Poking through pizza data ..................................................................32
Statistics in the offi ce ..........................................................................32
Chapter 3: Taking Control: So Many Numbers, So Little Time. . . . . . .33
Detecting Errors, Exaggerations, and Just Plain Lies ................................34
Checking the math ...............................................................................34
Uncovering misleading statistics .......................................................35
Looking for lies in all the right places ...............................................41
Feeling the Impact of Misleading Statistics ................................................42
Chapter 4: Tools of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Statistics: More than Just Numbers ............................................................43
Grabbing Some Basic Statistical Jargon .....................................................45
Data ........................................................................................................45
Data set .................................................................................................47
Variable .................................................................................................47
Population .............................................................................................47
Sample, random, or otherwise ...........................................................48
Statistic..................................................................................................50
Parameter .............................................................................................50
Bias ........................................................................................................51
Mean (Average) ....................................................................................51
Median ...................................................................................................52
Standard deviation ..............................................................................52
Percentile ..............................................................................................53
Standard score .....................................................................................54

3/25/11 8:18 PM
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02_9780470911082-ftoc.indd viii 3/25/11 8:18 PM