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I agree. The last time I dabbled with statistics was at university and whilst I could see it was useful, it was boring as anything. I couldn't see any really ap

by tobtoh 17y ago

I agree. The last time I dabbled with statistics was at university and whilst I could see it was useful, it was boring as anything. I couldn't see any really application in my day to day job - after all, besides understanding the difference between mean and medium, what else would I need? But Zed's article, juvenile as it was in tone, had undeniable passion about statistics. And it was enough to keep me reading through the whole article and pay attention to the examples. As it is, I will be doing further reading on statistics and so Zed's article has been incredibly useful to me. "Maybe it's just me, but Statistics is a beautiful field, and such intellectual beauty should be all the "psyching up" one needed." It's just you. Nine out of ten people think statistics are nothing more than boring numbers made up on the spot.

AlphaMonkey 17y ago
Nine out of ten people learned Statistics from teachers who knew jack of Statistics. The difference between Statistics and Math is that Statistics is data-oriented and somewhat "experimental". Yeah, I hated Statistics in high-school, but when I learned Information Theory and Statistical Signal Processing, then I understood what one could do with knowledge of Statistics, and what the field is all about. If you can't see the beauty in it, you've probably been taught pseudo-Statistics. Don't feel bad. All the Math that engineering students learn is kind of pseudo-Math. All one learns in high-school is BS. If you want to learn something, here's my advice: i) Don't use modern, over-designed textbooks.. you know... the thick expensive ones with many colors and boxes highlighting the formulas one must memorize. ii) Instead read the classic books from the 1960s, many of which are published by Dover. They look boring at 1st sight, but their content is rich. Another option is to get the old Soviet books from the 1960s, which tend to be forgotten gems. The Russians are the best at marrying theory with application.

by tobtoh 17y ago

AlphaMonkey 17y ago

Nine out of ten people learned Statistics from teachers who knew jack of Statistics. The difference between Statistics and Math is that Statistics is data-oriented and somewhat "experimental". Yeah, I hated Statistics in high-school, but when I learned Information Theory and Statistical Signal Processing, then I understood what one could do with knowledge of Statistics, and what the field is all about. If you can't see the beauty in it, you've probably been taught pseudo-Statistics. Don't feel bad. All the Math that engineering students learn is kind of pseudo-Math. All one learns in high-school is BS. If you want to learn something, here's my advice: i) Don't use modern, over-designed textbooks.. you know... the thick expensive ones with many colors and boxes highlighting the formulas one must memorize. ii) Instead read the classic books from the 1960s, many of which are published by Dover. They look boring at 1st sight, but their content is rich. Another option is to get the old Soviet books from the 1960s, which tend to be forgotten gems. The Russians are the best at marrying theory with application.