Fundamentals of Statistics

Rating:
Summary: Solid introduction to statistics-focused on data & pedagogy
Review: This very nicely done text is designed as a one-semester version of Prof. Sullivan's "Statistics: Informed Decisions Using Data" for an introductory course in basic statistics. As you might surmise from the larger text's title, an important emphasis is gathering and understanding how to use data. Making sense of data using statistics has to be founded on the notion that the data you have are good and meaningfully representative of the thing you are analyzing. I like Prof. Sullivan's emphasis on the importance of sound data collection and analysis.

The book also has many pedagogical helps and suggestions for keeping students' interest. It is a very practical book for the classroom and has many helps for the instructor to keep things understandable. The writing is clear and stays away from complicated language. There are many illustrations, good use of color to enhance clarity and not just for eye candy. Not only are there the usual tables, there are pull out tables and formula sheets so the student can use them without having to flip back to the back of the book. Answers to the odd-numbered questions are provided in the back to aid self-study and there is a useful index. The text also includes a CD with content and movie clips on "Six Steps to Overcoming Math Anxiety". So, you see this really is a text for general students getting a foundation in basic statistics rather than high-flying quants.