Once considered tedious the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal
Varian chief economist at Google has actually called "sexy." From batting averages and
political polls to game shows and medical research the real-world application of statistics
continues to grow by leaps and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on standardized
tests? How does Netflix know which movies you'll like? What is causing the rising incidence of
autism? As best-selling author Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Statistics the right data
and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more. For
those who slept through Stats 101 this book is a lifesaver. Wheelan strips away the arcane and
technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis. He
clarifies key concepts such as inference correlation and regression analysis reveals how
biased or careless parties can manipulate or misrepresent data and shows us how brilliant and
creative researchers are exploiting the valuable data from natural experiments to tackle thorny
questions. And in Wheelan's trademark style there's not a dull page in sight. You'll
encounter clever Schlitz Beer marketers leveraging basic probability an International Sausage
Festival illuminating the tenets of the central limit theorem and a head-scratching choice
from the famous game show Let's Make a Deal -and you'll come away with insights each time. With
the wit accessibility and sheer fun that turned Naked Economics into a bestseller Wheelan
defies the odds yet again by bringing another essential formerly unglamorous discipline to
life.
