General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: My encounter with a batshit right-wing nut at the bar this evening [View all]SheilaT
(23,156 posts)One of my personal favorite subjects. I actually took it in college because I wanted to, not because I needed to. The only reason I didn't go on with the coursework was that I didn't have quite enough math background to go on.
I do want to refer all the statistics-phobes to Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan, which is more or less a narrative overview and explanation of statistics and probability. He starts with the "Lies, damned lies, and statistics" and immediately points out that many people pay a lot of attention to baseball and football statistics, without ever glomming on to the fact that they're hooked on, are you ready for this? Statistics! Anyway, I've only read the first chapter but I'm eager to get to the rest of it. So many books, so little time. I also have on hold at my library The improbability principle : why coincidences, miracles, and rare events happen every day by David Hand, which also looks fascinating.