Book of the Week: What are the Odds? Chances of Extraordinary Events in Everyday Life

We can see the use of statistics in a wide variety of aspects of our lives. In the news especially we encounter statistics — for example, about how certain behaviors will make us more likely to get a disease, about likely we are to die on the job, or even the odds of an asteroid hitting the earth and killing us all. But what do all of these statistics really mean? How are they calculated, and how should the numbers really be used in constructing an argument or defending a position?

 

Book of the Week: What are the Odds? Chances of Extraordinary Events in Everyday Life