When would you put in statistics?

[Janeway]

Does everyone need stats? If the child is happy with his current sequence, should I just not rock the boat? Or should I try to find a way for him to fit in stats before he graduates?

[The Girls' Mom]

Mine didn't take Stats until college.  (Neither did I, but way back then I think you only had to have Algebra I to graduate)

[zaichiki]

Oldest did Calc I as a high school junior.  This year, as a senior, he could have taken a university stat course OR a university Calc course.  Both guidance counselor and engineering mentor said the stat course is strong b/c it's a college-level course, but said, hands-down he should take Calculus because he's going into STEM at university next year.  (I think that means Calculus is seen as the stronger STEM course.)

[Mike in SA]

Calculus >>> Stats, but stats is very useful even if you never do anything business or stem related, as we are all inundated by faulty statistical interpretations in everyday life ("lies and statistics").  As math difficulty goes, stats is one of the easiest college-level courses you can take.  Calculus, on the other hand, is foundational for almost all STEM degrees.

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Most books cover a few stat topics.  I believe a lot of the standardized tests ask a few stat questions.  Otherwise, no you really don't need a whole year of it. 

 

Funny, it is also IMO one of the easier courses (at least the first course), but it does trip a lot of people up.  The vocabulary is a bit different. 

 

 

[kiana]

I'd look into calc for anyone who's considering an extremely competitive college or a stem major, stats for anyone else, if I had to choose. 

[Mike in SA]

Most books cover a few stat topics. I believe a lot of the standardized tests ask a few stat questions. Otherwise, no you really don't need a whole year of it.

 

I don't think we're comparing apples to apples here. Standardized tests (assuming you mean SAT and ACT) barely exceed algebra 2, and the OP is looking well beyond that.

 

Also, stats in "most books" refers to interpretation of raw data and rarely covers mathematical statistics beyond basic probability or mean calculations. Stats will get into analyses and interpretations of data, which is extremely useful to have at your disposal when reading OpEds and pseudo-scientific articles.

 

You don't need either for college, but either will be useful.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't think we're comparing apples to apples here. Standardized tests (assuming you mean SAT and ACT) barely exceed algebra 2, and the OP is looking well beyond that.

 

Also, stats in "most books" refers to interpretation of raw data and rarely covers mathematical statistics beyond basic probability or mean calculations. Stats will get into analyses and interpretations of data, which is extremely useful to have at your disposal when reading OpEds and pseudo-scientific articles.

 

You don't need either for college, but either will be useful.

 

Here some stat topics are covered on the Regents.  But homeschoolers don't HAVE to take those.  And in some states where testing is required for homeschoolers it might come up then too.

 

It's a royal pain in the neck to have to juggle the homeschool regs along with what's needed for college entrance. 

[Arcadia]

I would do economics and statistics concurrently if there is time, not necessarily to AP level. While I don't think everyone need to take a statistics class by high school graduation, I do think a working knowledge of statistics is useful for understanding news articles and work reports.

Engineering statistics in college was compulsory for my major, so not just calculus.

[kiana]

I would do economics and statistics concurrently if there is time, not necessarily to AP level. While I don't think everyone need to take a statistics class by high school graduation, I do think a working knowledge of statistics is useful for understanding news articles and work reports.

Engineering statistics in college was compulsory for my major, so not just calculus.

 

I do like economics/civics/current events or similar class being covered at the same time as statistics.

 

When I taught a math for liberal arts class, one of the assignments I particularly liked was for students to find examples of statistics being (ab)used in media and critique them. I loved this assignment and I still think it's one of the most relevant. 

[Kassia]

 

 

When I taught a math for liberal arts class, one of the assignments I particularly liked was for students to find examples of statistics being (ab)used in media and critique them. I loved this assignment and I still think it's one of the most relevant. 

 

I took a class like that in college - "Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences."  It actually fulfilled my math requirement for graduation!

 

I think statistics is a valuable course, but I wouldn't take it in place of calculus.  My sons all took it during high school (2 as AP, 1 with DE) in addition to their calculus courses, but their statistics credits didn't count towards their engineering degrees so they had to take engineering statistics anyway in college.  

[Mom22ns]

I'd choose stats of calc for any non-stem kid. It is a lot more useful for most people, but certainly not for everyone. I would choose based on what ds wants to do, and there is no need to choose before you get there.

[wapiti]

I took calc-based stats in college (calc was a prereq for that course) so calc first gets my vote.

[Mike in SA]

I took a class like that in college - "Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences."  It actually fulfilled my math requirement for graduation!

 

I think statistics is a valuable course, but I wouldn't take it in place of calculus.  My sons all took it during high school (2 as AP, 1 with DE) in addition to their calculus courses, but their statistics credits didn't count towards their engineering degrees so they had to take engineering statistics anyway in college.  

 

Very much true.  Any math/physics/engineering degree will require "probability and statistics," "mathematical statistics," or something of the sort.  The AP stats course is pretty much worthless in terms of college credit if you go one of these routes.  It still has value for depth, etc, but usually won't add progress toward a degree.

 

On the other hand, biology, business, psychology, and many other degree paths will often accept AP stats in their degree plans.

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

What does he want to do in college?  Many of the STEM programs ds1 applied to required that students apply to either the College of Engineering or College of Science OR to a specific major.  

 

Calculus 1 was the first math course in most of the sample course plans for his intended major.  That said, having already had calculus as a dual enrolled student at a CC helped the strength of his application.

 

He actually took Calculus 1 first semester and then took Introduction to Stats and Probability second semester (primarily because Calc 2 conflicted with his Chem 2 lab).

 

He graduated with more than 4 math credits.

[Julie of KY]

I think stats is a very important course and becoming more so for many degrees. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it in the place of the traditional math sequence. If you can add it to your course load, then great; otherwise I would be in favor of not skipping precalc and calculus.

 

My oldest took AP stats alongside calc BC - he's a math guy. I was going to have my second take stats between algebra 2 and precalc, but then I decided it was better for him to take the precalc before college board testing and wait on stats. He'll probably double up on math and take it alongside calculus.

 

As a physician, I find many doctors do not understand the basics of statistics. They are expected to read and interpret all sorts of medical studies, but it's hard to make sense of the numbers without the statistics knowledge. They just have to trust that the summary of the study is accurate and not misleading.

[learners4life]

I had signed-up and paid for AP Statistics for my daughter this year (senior year), but we switched to AP Calculus at the last minute.  My daughter said she is so glad we switched because she is really enjoying the calculus class.  We switched because she is going to be an animal biology/biology major and knew she would be required to take calculus, not stats, in college. For her, calculus was the better choice.

 

Stats is a great class to have, and we did survey the subject as part of our economics class in sophomore year.  However, if there is no time to do both, your child is heading toward a degree requiring calculus, and your child likes the traditional math sequence you are currently doing... I'd choose calculus.