Dmmetler Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 DD is LOVING picking out bad examples of statistics and why (like AOPS PA 13.2). We've found a few in local and online media, but. I was wondering if anyone had found a nice collection of really egregarious examples to play with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alef Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 No examples, but that would make for a truly fascinating study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alef Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Maybe this site: http://stats.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Has she read Scammed by Statistics? It's a fun book. Innumeracy is another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper by John Allen Paulos is a fantastic book. It might be more than you're looking for, but I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 How To Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 OK so not a serious one but this one cracks my kids up :) It's our go to reminder of how easy it is to abuse statistics. I personally think the correlation between kids taking Algebra in the 8th grade and college attendance leading schools to insist on Algebra in the 8th grade is a simple example. That one came up yesterday so it's fresh on my mind. But dh and I are constantly yelling at the news because of the ridiculous conclusions they draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 She would probably get a kick out of Zaccaro's Ten Things: it's all about statistical, mathematical, and reasoning mistakes. Both my kids really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it: http://www.amazon.com/Things-Future-Mathematicians-Scientists-Rarely/dp/0967991544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396536618&sr=8-1&keywords=ten+things+all+future+mathematicians Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 You might like these podcasts - some are very focused on UK stories, but others will be more applicable. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian summer Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 OK so not a serious one but this one cracks my kids up :) It's our go to reminder of how easy it is to abuse statistics. I personally think the correlation between kids taking Algebra in the 8th grade and college attendance leading schools to insist on Algebra in the 8th grade is a simple example. That one came up yesterday so it's fresh on my mind. But dh and I are constantly yelling at the news because of the ridiculous conclusions they draw. This reminds me of the limerick about the man from Perth. There once was a man from Perth Who was born on the day of his birth He was wed, so they say On his wife's wedding day And he died on his last day on earth. I mean, what are the odds?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 Thanks-adding a lot of books. I think this will be our " Fun summer" math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 You could watch Fox News for a bit. We have family who are very conservative and a few who do not like to analyze things incredibly deeply. They will post things to Facebook which make me truly concerned that they do not see the level of statistical manipulation. Liberal media does this as well - some of NPR's gun coverage after NewTown was close to as bad - but Fox seems to air it quite frequently. Bill O'Reilly is another great one for this. He has degrees from Boston University and Harvard, in broadcast journalism and public administration respectively. Both schools require quite a bit of formal rhetoric for those degrees. He pulls off fallacies of logic masterfully. In college a boyfriend and I would play drinking games watching O'Reilly do quite fantastic mental gymnastics with various tidbits of information. It was highly enjoyable, though that could have been the cheap alcohol and nostalgia talking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I came across this today and thought of this thread..., http://junkcharts.typepad.com/ Stats usually make me snooze, but this site looks oddly fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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