Why do we need statistics?

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Why do we need statistics?

• Sports
• Compare players ( shots made, home runs,etc)
• Environment
• What is the environmental impact of the sewage
  spill in Wilmington, NC in July of 2005?
• Terrorism
• How likely is a threat?
• Where is the most likely location of the
  terrorists?

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Statistics continued

• Drugs
• Does this drug significantly increase the
  survival rate for a particular disease?
• Medicine
• Which procedure provides the best results for a
  certain illness?
• Exercise
• Which regime is the best for getting individuals
  physically fit?
• How do we measure fitness?
• Many, many, many more

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Statistics is

• the collection or gathering of data
• displaying, analyzing, and summarizing data
• inferring information from data

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Careers in Statistics

• Estimating the safety and studying the economics
  of nuclear power plants and alternative energy
  sources (at a utility company, research
  laboratory, the Nuclear Regulatory commission, or
  the Department of Energy)

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• Evaluating the environmental impact of air,
  water, and soil pollutants (at a research
  laboratory, commercial environmental clean-up
  firm, or the Environmental Protection Agency)

6
Designing and analyzing studies to determine if
new drugs and medical devices are safe and
effective (at a pharmaceutical company, medical
research center, or the Food and Drug
Administration)
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Estimating the unemployment rate in the United
States (at the Bureau of Labor Statistics)
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Designing studies for and analyzing data from
agricultural experiments to increase productivity
and yield (at an agricultural college or
agribusiness corporation)
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Helping scientists and future scientists collect
and analyze data to create information and
develop new statistical methodology (at a
university statistics, mathematics,
biostatistics, business, ecology, or psychology
department)
10
Analyzing consumer demand for products and
services (at a consumer marketing firm,
corporation, or consulting firm)
Source www.amstat.org
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What Fields Employ Statisticians? One advantage
of working in statistics is that you can combine
your interest with almost any other field in
science, technology, or business, such as
Agriculture Astronomy Biology Chemistry Computer Science Demography Ecology Economics Education Engineering Epidemiology Finance Forestry Genetics Health Science Insurance Law Manufacturing Marketing Medicine Pharmacology Physics Political Science Psychology Public Health Safety Sociology Sports Telecommunications Zoology
Sourcewww.amstat.org
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The Mathematics and Statistics club at UNCW

• Contact Jason Smith or Dr. Susan Simmons