Statistics (Probability and Data Analysis)

Your company has created a new drug that may cure arthritis. How would you conduct a test to confirm the drug’s effectiveness? The latest sales data have just come in, and your boss wants you to prepare a report for management on places where the company could improve its business. What should you look for? What should you notlook for?

You and a friend are at a baseball game, and out of the blue he offers you a bet that neither team wil l hit a home run in that game. Should you take the bet? You want to conduct a poll on whether your school should use its funding to build a new athletic complex or a new library. How many people do you have to poll? How do you ensure that your pol l is free of bias? How do you interpret your results? A widget maker in your factory that normally breaks 4 widgets for every 100 it produces has recently started breaking 5 widgets for every 100. When is it time to buy a new widget maker? (And just what is a widget, anyway?)

These are some of the many real-world examples that require the use of statistics.