Wednesday, 3 September 2003
Introduction to Statistics and Minitab

Topics
Assignments
Resources
Introduction
  • What is statistics?
  • What do Staticians do?
  • What is Randomness
  • Minitab


Percy Diaconis

Using the Resources,

1. Give 5 examples of statistics and give 1 example of your own.

2. List 5 fields where statisticians are making important contributions. Which fields appeal to you?

3. Experiment with coin tossings and listen to what Percy Diaconis has to say about it on NPR's "All Things Considered", Tuesday, 24 February 2004

E-mail: rdegray@sjc.edu your answers to me.

3. In our text, read about "Statistical Thinking", pp xx - xxv and 'Picturing distributions with Graphs', pp. 3- 9.

4. Exercises for class discussion: p7;1.3, 1.4

VCR video: Against All Odds: Inside Statistics; What is Statistics? (14 minutes)
Saint Joseph College Pope Pius XII library; AV VHS 510 A259A 1 & 2

"What is Statistics?", "What do Statisticians do?"; The American Statistical Association (ASA)

'The Not So Random Coin Toss'
NPR, "All Things Considered", Tuesday, 24 February 2004

"Flipping a coin may not be the fairest way to settle disputes. A team of mathematicians claims to have proven that if you start with a coin on your thumb, heads up, flip it and catch it in your hand, it's more likely to land heads up than tails. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports."

 

Text: The Basic Practice of Statistics, David S. Moore; Third Edition, Freeman 2003