Tag Archives: Introduction to statistics

Food scientists need to make sense of numbers

Food – the part of the economy that encompasses the production, the processing and the marketing of foods – is big business. In fact, the successes of the food industry depend in no small measure on the use of statistics. … Continue reading

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The probability of breaking the bank

What is the likelihood of a gambler winning all the cash in a casino? A better question is: what is the likelihood of a gambler losing all the money he or she brings into the casino? There had been casinos … Continue reading

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Is your public pool free from urine?

Some people believe that the answer to the question posted in the title of the blog post is no. Now there is evidence to back it up. The study profiled here also gives an indication of how serious the problem … Continue reading

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Is there anything we can do to avoid the flu?

In many places, influenza activity peaks during the period in between December and February. What are some of the best practices to reduce the spread of the flu and to minimize the risk of catching it? The standard recommendations are: … Continue reading

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Looking at Spread

In the previous post Two Statisticians in a Battlefield, we discussed the importance of reporting a spread in addition to an average when describing data. In this post we look at three specific notions of spread. They are measures that … Continue reading

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Two Statisticians in a Battlefield

Two soldiers, both statisticians, were fighting side by side in a battlefield. They spotted an enemy soldier and they both fired their rifles. One statistician soldier fired one foot to the left of the enemy soldier and the other statistician … Continue reading

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The Tax Return of Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is currently a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for U.S. President. He recently, bowed to pressure from another presidential candidate in the Republican Party, had to release his past tax returns. The release of these tax … Continue reading

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What Are Helicopter Parents Up To?

We came across several interesting graphics about helicopter parents. These graphics give some indication as to what the so called helicopter parents are doing in terms of shepherding their children through the job search process. These graphics are the screen … Continue reading

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Another Look at LA Rainfall

In two previous posts, we examined the annual rainfall data in Los Angeles (see Looking at LA Rainfall Data and LA Rainfall Time Plot). The data we examined in these two post contain 132 years worth of annual rainfall data … Continue reading

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Is College Worth It?

Is college worth it? This was the question posed by the authors of the report called College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings, which was produced recently by The Center on Education and the Workforce. We do not plan on giving an … Continue reading

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