A Panorama of Statistics: Perspectives, Puzzles and Paradoxes in Statistics

328 Pages·2017·2.766 MB·English

by  Petocz, Peter, Sowey, Eric

A Panorama of Statistics

A Panorama of Statistics
Perspectives, puzzles and paradoxes in statistics
Eric Sowey
The University of NSW, Sydney, Australia
Peter Petocz
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
This edition first published 2017
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ES To Anne, Helen, Michelle and David
PP To Anna

vii
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Part I Introduction 1
1 Why is statistics such a fascinating subject? 3
2 How statistics differs from mathematics 13
3 Statistical literacy – essential in the 21st century! 20
4 Statistical inquiry on the web 26
Part II Statistical description 33
5 Trustworthy statistics are accurate, meaningful and relevant 35
6 Let’s hear it for the standard deviation! 43
7 Index numbers – time travel for averages 50
8 The beguiling ways of bad statistics I 59
9 The beguiling ways of bad statistics II 66
Part III Preliminaries to inference 75
10 Puzzles and paradoxes in probability 77
11 Some paradoxes of randomness 84
viii Contents
12 Hidden risks for gamblers 91
13 Models in statistics 99
14 The normal distribution: history, computation and curiosities 107
Part IV Statistical inference 115
15 The pillars of applied statistics I – estimation 117
16 The pillars of applied statistics II – hypothesis testing 122
17 ‘Data snooping’ and the significance level in multiple testing 129
18 Francis Galton and the birth of regression 135
19 Experimental design – piercing the veil of random variation 141
20 In praise of Bayes 149
Part V Some statistical byways 157
21 Quality in statistics 159
22 History of ideas: statistical personalities and the personalities
of statisticians 165
23 Statistical eponymy 178
24 Statistical ‘laws’ 182
25 Statistical artefacts 192
Part VI Answers 197
26 Answers to the chapter questions 199
Index 306