Name: TEDx】為什麼統計學很迷人：數字就是我們｜艾倫-史密斯｜TEDxExeter (【TEDx】Why statistics are fascinating: the numbers are us | Alan Smith | TEDxExeter)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:51:59.000Z
Duration: 13 min 1 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

And it was a survey that measured levels of numeracy

that for every 100 working age adults in the country,

47 of them lacked Level 1 numeracy skills.

Now, Level 1 numeracy skills -- that's low-end GCSE score.

It's the ability to deal with fractions, percentages and decimals.

So this figure prompted a lot of hand-wringing in Whitehall.

and then they ran the survey again in 2011.

So can you guess what happened to this number?

And in fact, when I reported this figure in the FT,

"This figure is only shocking to 51 percent of the population."

But I preferred, actually, the reaction of a schoolchild

when I presented at a school this information,

"How do we know that the person who made that number

because these are important skills for life,

and a lot of the changes that we want to introduce in this century

involve us becoming more comfortable with numbers.

OECD this year released some figures looking at numeracy in young people,

nearly 40 percent of young people in the US have low numeracy.

but there are seven OECD countries with figures above 20 percent.

That is a problem, because it doesn't have to be that way.

If you look at the far end of this graph,

you can see the Netherlands and Korea are in single figures.

So there's definitely a numeracy problem that we want to address.

Now, as useful as studies like these are,

I think we risk herding people inadvertently into one of two categories;

those people that are comfortable with numbers, that can do numbers,

And what I'm trying to talk about here today

is to say that I believe that is a false dichotomy.

I think you don't have to have tremendously high levels of numeracy

and that should be the starting point to the journey ahead.

And one of the ways in which we can begin that journey, for me,

Now, I am the first to acknowledge that statistics has got somewhat

that even mathematicians don't particularly like,

because whereas the rest of maths is all about precision and certainty,

statistics is almost the reverse of that.

But actually, I was a late convert to the world of statistics myself.

If you'd asked my undergraduate professors

what two subjects would I be least likely to excel in after university,

they'd have told you statistics and computer programming,

and yet here I am, about to show you some statistical graphics

What made me think that statistics was actually an interesting thing?

It's really because statistics are about us.

If you look at the etymology of the word statistics,

about the state or the community that we live in.

we share this fascination about how we as individuals relate to our groups,

And statistics in this way are at their most powerful

And there's been some really wonderful surveys carried out recently

They did a survey of over 1,000 adults in the UK,

and said, for every 100 people in England and Wales,

which was supposed to be representative of the total population ...

British people think 24 out of every 100 people in the country are Muslim.

Now, official figures reveal that figure to be about five.

So there's this big variation between what we think, our perception,

What could possibly be causing that misperception?

I started to take questions out in presentations. I was referring to it.

at St. Paul's School for Girls in Hammersmith,

字幕列表影片播放

TEDx】為什麼統計學很迷人：數字就是我們｜艾倫-史密斯｜TEDxExeter (【TEDx】Why statistics are fascinating: the numbers are us | Alan Smith | TEDxExeter)

figure

enormous

journey

average