Resource Library

This applet is designed to allow users to explore the relationship between histograms and the most typical summary statistics. The user can choose from several types of histograms (uniform, normal, symmetric, skewed, etc.), or can create their own by manipulating the bars of the histogram. The statistics available for display are mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, and interquartile range. Also available is a "Practice Guessing" option, in which the values of the statistics are hidden until the user has entered guesses for each value.

In earlier times they had no statistics and so they had to fall back on lies. This is a quote by Canadian economist Stephen Leacock (1869 - 1944). The quote is found on page 265 of his 1938 book "In Model Memoirs and Other Sketches from Simple to Serious"

Avoid Linear extrapolation ... The turkey's first 1000 days are a seemingly unending succession of gradually improving circumstances confirmed by daily experience. What happens on Day 1001? Thanksgiving. The quote is by John E. Sener (1954 - ) of Sener Learning services found in the on-line article "Strategies for Effective `20/20 Vision` -- #1: Avoid Linear Extrapolation" at www.senerlearning.net/?q=node/176. The quote is paraphrasing the turkey metaphor made famous by Bertrand Russell and Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Inside every nonBayesian there is a Bayesian struggling to get out. is a quote by British Bayesian Statistician Dennis V. Lindley (1923- ). The quote is also cited on page 497 of E.T. Jaynes 2003 book "Probability Theory: The Logic of Science".

I bet on a horse at ten-to-one. It didn't come in until half-past five. is a quote by comedian and violinist Henny Youngman (1906 - 1998).

Normal is the average of deviance is a quote by American writer and political activist Rita Mae Brown (1944 - ). The quote may be found on page 126 of her 1993 novel "Venus Envy", spoken by the main character Mary Frazier Armstrong.

A song parody by Steve Snodergren (a.k.a. Al G Bra: see www.reverbnation.com/algbra) that may be sung to the tune of "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. Much of the song relates to concepts about summary statistics and taking a cautious approach to interpreting such summaries. This song appears on Al G Bra's "Old-Time Radical" CD.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. This is a quote by American computer scientist Alan C. Kay (1940 - ). The quote was said at a 1971 meeting of Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center.

September 22, 2009 Activity Webinar presented by Diane Evans, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Capital University. This webinar is based on an activity found at www.lhs.logan.k12.ut.us/~jsmart/tank.htm and other on-line resources (see references). During World War II, the British and U.S. statisticians used estimation methods to deduce the productivity of Germany's armament factories using serial numbers found on captured equipment, such as tanks. The tanks were numbered in a manner similar to 1, 2, 3, ..., N, and the goal of the allies was to estimate the population maximum N from their collected sample of serial numbers. The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the concept of an unbiased estimator of a population parameter. Students develop several estimators for the parameter N and compare them by running simulations in Minitab. Extra materials available for download free of charge.

A highly trained mathematical statistician without knowledge of the subject can be quite as dangerous as a subject-matter specialist trying to use statistical methods of which he has little knowledge. This is a quote of American Economist and Statistician Aryness Joy Wickens (1901 - 1991). The quote is from her Presidential Address to the American Statistical Association at the 112th annual meeting on December 28, 1952. The full address is reprinted in "JASA" v. 48 p. 1-14. (picture from LIFE magazine; copyright by Time, Inc. for non-commercial use only)