Synopses & Reviews
STATISTICS: A GUIDE TO THE UNKNOWN offers a collection of intriguing essays that describe the important applications of statistics and probability. Instead of teaching methods, the essays illustrate past accomplishments and current uses of statistics and probability. Examples of surveys, questionnaires, experiments, and observational studies help you better understand the importance of and the influence of statistics.
Synopsis
STATISTICS: A GUIDE TO THE UNKNOWN offers a collection of intriguing essays that describe the important applications of statistics and probability. Instead of teaching methods, the essays illustrate past accomplishments and current uses of statistics and probability. Examples of surveys, questionnaires, experiments, and observational studies help you better understand the importance of and the influence of statistics.
About the Author
Roxy Peck is Associate Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics and Professor of Statistics at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Roxy has been on the faculty at Cal Poly since 1979, serving for six years as Chair of the Statistics Department prior to becoming Associate Dean. She received an M.S. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics from the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Peck is nationally known in the area of statistics education, and in 2003 she received the American Statistical Association's Founder's Award, recognizing her contributions to K-12 and undergraduate statistics education. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the International Statistics Institute. Dr. Peck has recently completed five years as the Chief Reader for the AP Statistics Exam, and currently chairs the American Statistical Association's Joint Committee with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability for Grades K-12. In addition to being co-editor of STATISTICAL CASE STUDIES: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN ACADEME AND INDUSTRY, Dr. Peck is the co-author of STATISTICS: THE EXPLORATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA, Fifth Edition and INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS AND DATA ANALYSIS, Second Edition. Outside the classroom and the office, Dr. Peck likes to travel and spends her spare time reading mystery novels. She also collects Navajo rugs, and heads to New Mexico whenever she can find the time.
Table of Contents
1. PUBLIC POLICY. Statistics in the Courtroom: United States vs. Kristen Gilbert. The Anatomy of a Pre-Election Poll. Counting and Apportionment: Foundations of America's Democracy. Evaluating School Choice Programs. Designing National Health Care Surveys. 2. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. Monitoring Tiger Prey Abundance. Predicting the Africanized Bee Invasion of the United States. Statistics and the War on Spam. Should You Measure Your Home's Radon Concentration? Statistical Weather Forecasting. Space Debris: Yet Another Environmental Problem. 3. BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE. Modeling an Outbreak of Anthrax. The Last Front?Understanding the Human Mind. Leveraging Chance in HIV Research. Statistical Genetics: Associating Genotypic Differences with Measurable Outcomes. DNA Fingerprinting. How Many Genes? 4. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. To Catch a Thief?Detecting Cell Phone Fraud. Reducing Junk Mail Using Data Mining Techniques. Improving the Accuracy of a Newspaper ?A Six Sigma Case Study. Assuring Product Reliability and Safety. Randomness in the Stock Market. Advertising as an Engineering Science. 5. HOBBIES AND RECREATION. Baseball Decision Making by the Numbers. Predicting the Quality and Price of Bordeaux Wines.