Quotes About Statistics

you're more likely to die while horseback riding (one serious adverse event every 350 or so exposures) than from taking Ecstasy (one serious adverse event every 10,000 or so exposures).

For many years it had been claimed that the average achievement by pupils in some South-East Asian countries was significantly higher than in the United Kingdom. Then it came to light that the weakest pupils in that country were removed from the total who were evaluated at an earlier stage in the educational process. Clearly, the effect of their removal is to skew the average attainments to be higher than they would otherwise be.

My dad was an agent for Met Life. In the '50s, I remember the mortality rate was something like - you had - 58 was the average age. Then it was moved up to 62, and then 65, 68.

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.

Today, the US median income is still below where it was at the beginning of this century.

In 1970 only about one in seven American families lived in neighbourhoods that were unambiguously 'affluent' or 'poor'.40 By 2007 that number had risen to almost one in three.

All of America's new jobs have been generated by independent work, which has risen by 7.8 per cent a year.65 The next time an economist boasts about America's low unemployment rate, remember that number means something very different from what it used to.

All of America's new jobs have been generated by independent work, which has risen by 7.8 per cent a year.65 The next time an economist boasts about America's low unemployment rate, remember that number means something very different from what it used to. This is not your parents' economy.

the murder rate has fallen by 16.7 per cent in the US cities since the turn of the century, while rising by 16.9 per cent in the suburbs – almost an exact mirror image.42

GDP numbers insist we are doing well, at a time when half the country is suffering from personal recessions.

GDP numbers insist we are doing well, at a time when half the country is suffering from personal recessions. The world's most informative graph is the Elephant Chart.

if you want an economic chart that stops you from sleeping you should start with the elephant.

simple probability and statistics should be taught in grades kindergarten through twelve and that analyzing games of chance such as coin matching, dice, and roulette is one way we can learn enough to think through such issues.

The time was right for our project because the necessary high-quality databases and the powerful new computers with which to explore them were just becoming affordable. By luck, one of our researchers almost immediately found the basic idea behind statistical arbitrage.

Above all else show the data.

Allowing artist-illustrators to control the design and content of statistical graphics is almost like allowing typographers to control the content, style, and editing of prose.

Small, noncomparative, highly labeled data sets usually belong in tables.

If the statistics are boring, then you've got the wrong numbers.

The current crop of experts claimed that baby girls stare at faces while baby boys watch the mobile over their cribs. They extrapolated from this to conclude that women are inherently interested in people and men are inherently interested in objects. ... Turner supposed they might be right in a statistical sense, but numbers don't tell the whole story. If you have one foot in boiling water and one in a tub of dry ice, on the average you're comfortable.

My first plan was to impress him with the commitment of my reviews. I found out a lot of statistics and waved them at him like breasts at the pub on Thursday.

Humanity is only like the fresh water, not like an ocean that has saline water. But, remember that the world statistics show that only 0.3 % of 2.5% as all the fresh water on Earth is available as surface water.

There's perhaps no barometer as credible as the employment provided data per month to gauge the economic health and well-being of the nation.

I think if our students, if our high school students — if all of the American citizens — knew about probability and statistics, we wouldn't be in the economic mess that we're in today

Nobody can quantify for you what's the impact of eating fiber every day, for instance. We can say we think it's good. But some people might say 'Oh, it reduces your risk of colon cancer by 20%, some people might say it reduces your risk by 25%.'