Welcome to my statistics blog! I have a special interest in how statistics can lie but I’ll write about anything math-related.
Statistics Blog Index
Animal Testing Statistics: Is Experimentation Necessary?
Traveling Salesman Problem & TSP Art
Why do we use sigma / sqrt (n)? Statistics Made Easy. Six invaluable tips to make sure you pass your statistics class! Misleading Statistics Examples in advertising and in the news. Cool Math Games for Statistics and Probability. Some of my favorite (fun!) math games from around the web. Square Root Biased Sampling at the Airport. Perhaps this will be the end to me getting special attention every time I fly. Even physicians don’t understand statistics. That’s right — don’t believe everything your doctor tells you. Especially if it’s about cancer. Online Statistics Book List
Even Physicians Don’t Understand Statistics One example highlighted in the report concerns mammogram results. A woman has a routine mammogram and is informed by her physician that the test is positive. As a woman who has had two abnormal mammograms, it can be a distressing experience. But the main question on my mind was “If my mammogram is positive, what are the odds that I actually have cancer?”. The last fact is perhaps the most shocking. A woman walking into one of these physicians office’s with a positive mammogram result would be told her chances of cancer were almost certain (81 or 90 percent) when in fact her chances of cancer were relatively small. A large amount of women report depression and anxiety months after receiving an abnormal mammogram, so these physicians are putting needless extra stress on their patients. The main problem isn’t that statistics is hard, it’s that numbers in news reports and medical journals are often presented in confusing ways (just take a look at statistics on any major medical site to see examples). Even government information can be deceptive. In 1995, the UK government warned physicians that the risk of potentially lethal blood clots in the legs had doubled with the advent of new brands of contraceptives. That sounds very alarming until you read that the risk had risen from 1 in 7000 to 2 in 2000. That’s still a relatively low risk factor for a drug. A lot of students find this statistics blog through searches for “Online Statistics Book.” After all, with 600+ articles on elementary statistics, you’ve practically got a textbook for free (although you can check out our PDF version here). However, not everyone visiting this statistics blog is looking for a basic online statistics book. There are a lot of resources out there to help you if you’re looking for something a little more advanced. Here are some of my favorites: Need help with a homework or test question? Chegg offers 30 minutes of free tutoring, so you can try them out before committing to a subscription. Click here for more details.
If you prefer an online interactive environment to learn R and statistics, this free R Tutorial by Datacamp is a great way to get started. If you're are somewhat comfortable with R and are interested in going deeper into Statistics, try this Statistics with R track.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your statistics class — you aren’t alone. Even doctors don’t really understand statistics. The ramifications can be serious, as an article in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest points out.
As a statistician, I know the odds are in my favor (not that it makes for a less distressing experience). However, in the report, the authors gave gynecologists (women’s reproductive health specialists) all of the information needed to answer that question (if a woman has a positive mammogram reading, what are the odds that she has cancer?). An alarming 80 percent of physicians got the answer wrong. The correct answer in the case given to them was 10 percent:
Online Statistics Book List
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