Intro duction T tatistics and probability are two of the most useful branches of math Statistics is the gathering analysis interpretation and presentation of numerical data Probability is the mathematical study of the chances events have of occurring Both probability and statis tics have many real world applications While math discoveries are fascinating in them selves when they lead to wonderful inventions that we humans actually use then we see why people study these ideas in the first place For example a major league baseball team sud denly began winning games as they never had before when they hired a statistician to find out what really was important in a game They had found that following the same old ideas was resulting in disaster But perhaps even more inspiring was a recent development in the world of youth bas ketball that provides a glimpse into the power of statistics A dad recently began to coach his daughter s basketball team and strangely no one on his team could dribble or shoot the ball very well Neither could he for that matter Yet they won a state championship How The dad studied basketball statistics and discov ered a high correlation between team defense and team success So he focused purely on
INTRODUCTION Professional baseball is a sport in which statistics plays a particularly big role Professional statisticians work with teams while fans can often recite their favorite players stats Boston Globe Getty Images defense His girls scored baskets only when they stole the ball and got an easy layup The opponents found themselves confused frus trated and losing to this unusual approach The world of probability also has fascinat ing uses beyond what one might imagine Sometimes we want to do something but have no clue about whether it s even
Statistics and Probability Probability can provide clues even to whether a situation will likely turn dangerous For instance when the very first astronauts were sent into space nobody had ever done that before One astronaut later reported that he wondered if he might get fried by light energy if he strayed outside the spaceship during a space walk So scientists had to figure out things like what to expect from light rays and even meteorites that might shoot by out of nowhere or many other random dangers that might occur They were forced to have math ematicians figure out the probabilities that random problems might occur so they might be avoided And it worked Our space pro gram was successful More important space accidents were reduced 8
STATISTICAL DATA nyone who watches television browses the Internet or reads books newspapers and magazines cannot help but be aware of statistics The term statistics is used in two dif ferent ways When used in the plural it refers to numerical data For example one would say Statistics show highway accidents to be caused by When used in the singular it means statistical methods as in Statistics is the body of principles and methods that has been developed for collecting analyzing presenting and interpreting large masses of numerical data Without statistical methods there would be no way to put data together to see what they mean Statistics appear in the claims of adver tisers in predictions of election results and
