Statistical ideas and methods underlie just about every aspect of modern life. From randomized clinical trials in medical research, to statistical models of risk in banking and hedge fund industries, to the statistical tools used to probe vast astronomical databases, the field of statistics has become centrally important to how we understand our world. But the discipline underlying all these is not the dull statistics of the popular imagination. Long gone are the days of manual arithmetic manipulation. Nowadays statistics is a dynamic discipline, revolutionized by the computer, which uses advanced software tools to probe numerical data, seeking structures, patterns, and relationships. This Very Short Introduction sets the study of statistics in context, describing its history and giving examples of its impact, summarizes methods of gathering and evaluating data, and explains the role played by the science of chance, of probability, in statistical methods. The book also explores deep philosophical issues of induction--how we use statistics to discern the true nature of reality from the limited observations we necessarily must make.
About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
Features & details
Oxford University Press USA
EAN: 9780199233564
ISBN: 9780199233564
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
Brand: Hand, David J.
We hope you love the products we recommend! All of products are independently selected by deal-dx editors. Just to let you know, deal-dx may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.
This website uses cookies for the correct display and functionality. Do you also want to take full advantage of the website and accept cookies? About cookies. Accept cookies
