Why you should love statistics | Alan Smith

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
  • Think you're good at guessing stats? Guess again. Whether we consider ourselves math people or not, our ability to understand and work with numbers is terribly limited, says data visualization expert Alan Smith. In this delightful talk, Smith explores the mismatch between what we know and what we think we know.
    TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
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ความคิดเห็น • 314

  • @KnowArt
    @KnowArt 7 ปีที่แล้ว +693

    If one human on earth would be immortal. The average lifespan of everyone would be forever.

    • @KnowArt
      @KnowArt 7 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      Unless you only count the ages of people when they die. Hmm... Maybe more complex than I thought.

    • @muralin239
      @muralin239 7 ปีที่แล้ว +97

      That's why you should consider at median not mean(average).

    • @RrockCj
      @RrockCj 7 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      If that was a pun towards the stupif believing in staristics, then it's a damn clever comment

    • @nielshoogeveen3767
      @nielshoogeveen3767 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      You have read The Black Swan :D ?

    • @simonvv1002
      @simonvv1002 5 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      That's an outlier though, they may not be representable for the whole population

  • @vertex1933
    @vertex1933 7 ปีที่แล้ว +295

    Accordion to statistics, most people do not notice when you replace random words with musical instruments...

    • @jsal7666
      @jsal7666 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      I really really really like your profile pic.

    • @lukelehman3576
      @lukelehman3576 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Yo I laughed out loud

    • @alecfalicki4583
      @alecfalicki4583 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I hate you. ❤️

    • @dannyblaze3853
      @dannyblaze3853 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jsal7666 why?

    • @broadbandtogod
      @broadbandtogod 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Whistleblower 🤣

  • @atreyakoirala2951
    @atreyakoirala2951 4 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    This guy deserves massive respect, the way he put that together and the effort I saw was mad.

  • @ImLeoIsing
    @ImLeoIsing 3 ปีที่แล้ว +36

    Who else is watching this with their introduction to statistics college course lol

  • @polliv7691
    @polliv7691 7 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Loved the talk! I also noted that this was by far one of the most clean and well thought out presentations in a long time. (Clear, but well supporting slides, getting the message across, etc..)

  • @_dadas
    @_dadas 6 ปีที่แล้ว +209

    This makes me feel so much better about having to learn Stats as part of a psychology course :) Helpful

    • @boburzod
      @boburzod 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      lol absolutely

    • @yoo69
      @yoo69 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Hello, can you please tell me about your course?

    • @6kbps
      @6kbps ปีที่แล้ว

      why would you study a useless major 😭😭

    • @notofuse8549
      @notofuse8549 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@6kbps I'm not sure what part of psychology you think is useless, but you're a fool for believing any of it is.

    • @amyx.2626
      @amyx.2626 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@6kbps psychology isn't a useless major lol what makes you say that?

  • @ireneontiveros3611
    @ireneontiveros3611 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    Takeaways: 1) there is great misconception by the public 2) the disjoint between what people perceive and what is reality shows that statistics is a very important subject

  • @vulcanfeline
    @vulcanfeline 7 ปีที่แล้ว +300

    there are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who don't

    • @lucyseverine9907
      @lucyseverine9907 7 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      vulcanfeline And those who didn't expect this to be a ternary joke.

    • @SuperBhavanishankar
      @SuperBhavanishankar 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      subcomments made sure that he is not making any nonsense. and then i got the joke that i starting laughing in binary

    • @jirony7283
      @jirony7283 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Noice

    • @bellyh2842
      @bellyh2842 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      brilliant

  • @email16v
    @email16v 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I needed a little bit of statistics inspiration as I work on my statistics assignment- thanks!

  • @VK-pd7gd
    @VK-pd7gd 7 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I'm totally inspired! Thank you for the presentation

  • @Weatherman1214
    @Weatherman1214 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I’ve never thought about any part of mathematics like Mr. Smith just did. “Statistics is the silence of us.”

  • @grahampalmer
    @grahampalmer 7 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Just done the quiz for my area. Got 109%. Never knew I was so good with numbers ;-)

  • @Daipeter
    @Daipeter 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Delightful is exactly the right word; lovely talk! Alan, thank you for delivering.

  • @jakepiekarski2075
    @jakepiekarski2075 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    This video was very well informing and communicative. I greatly relate to this video and had taken away so much I really thank you for releasing his video and teaching me he importance, value and meaning of statistics. My favorite example ad eye-opening moment was the u16 video at 9:10 where the survey contents were described. Thank you again!!

  • @user-zb7fm6hj2g
    @user-zb7fm6hj2g 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Watching this to stay motivated for my stats class

  • @geraldmerkowitz4360
    @geraldmerkowitz4360 7 ปีที่แล้ว +91

    There is something wrong with the TED community. Even when a dude talks about an online thingy he made about statistics, the comments get political in a matter of seconds

    • @byduhlusional
      @byduhlusional 7 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Archibald Belanus That's because a majority of people don't have a high IQ so they look to argue right away instead of learning.

    • @LuxiBelle
      @LuxiBelle 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Learning? I thought TED is where self-aggrandized geniuses go to jerk themselves off.

    • @61shirley
      @61shirley 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Archibald Belanus what's wrong with that?

    • @vaibhavgupta20
      @vaibhavgupta20 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      made*

    • @geraldmerkowitz4360
      @geraldmerkowitz4360 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Vaibhav Gupta
      Jesus Christ this must be the 100th time I make that mistake and I still can't correct it !!

  • @christinevakas92
    @christinevakas92 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thank you - inspiring. Goes to show, anyone can do anything, if they want to and if they find it has a purpose in their lives and in the lives of others

  • @FranoKiso
    @FranoKiso 7 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Great talk!

  • @trevorpope1913
    @trevorpope1913 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Great talk. What program is used to show the percentage graphic?

  • @ADDodger
    @ADDodger 7 ปีที่แล้ว +41

    Jesus this comment section is a cesspool
    Great presentation!

  • @mcough
    @mcough 7 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Studying for my Stats mock tomorrow... watching this because it's 'relevant' (yeah procrastination ok) and it's in my town too! What are the odds...

    • @josephmargaryan
      @josephmargaryan 7 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Do some statistics and find out what the odds are :P

  • @muhammad5132
    @muhammad5132 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm becoming a Statistician. You made me love it all over again.

  • @qwerty11111122
    @qwerty11111122 7 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    The first few stats in the lecture, where were their median counterparts? He said they were averages, and those things can be skewed. I'm curious to see what those graphs would tell

  • @jsrathi17
    @jsrathi17 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Such an insightful talk. Thank you :)

  • @JosefFurg1611
    @JosefFurg1611 7 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    I've always loved statistics.

  • @CiranoTondi
    @CiranoTondi 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    What's the software used for the creation of the quiz? it looks amazing. Does anyone know the name of it?

  • @mattiasblomberg5109
    @mattiasblomberg5109 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Is the site back up? If so, can anyone link it? Thanks😄

  • @cinnsuamongar
    @cinnsuamongar 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Wow. Great talk.

  • @Paul_LV
    @Paul_LV 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    amazing, very inspiring talk!

  • @gasser5001
    @gasser5001 7 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    was this posted to the TED channel by accident and not the TEDx channel?

  • @Iojan85
    @Iojan85 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Great presentation.

  • @MrCattlehunter
    @MrCattlehunter 7 ปีที่แล้ว +57

    This didn't have much with people's ability to "understand and work with numbers", though, at least not as he presented it. People weren't wrong about the stats because they didn't understand the stats. They were wrong about the stats because... they didn't know them. They were just guessing based on observations they had made in every day life. That's not being bad at stats, that's lacking information or making poor observations.

    • @brendarua01
      @brendarua01 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I agree with you here. The talk is mislabeled. More accurate would be something like "How the average of peoples' uninformed guesses about things compare to undocumented surveys." There probably are several interesting things about that, but numeric literacy isn't one of them.

  • @edsgerdijkstra2335
    @edsgerdijkstra2335 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great talk, thanks.

  • @piubnuh4395
    @piubnuh4395 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    A wonderful speech!
    Succinct but unforgettable!

  • @TenzDenz
    @TenzDenz ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Beautifully explained

  • @lisettefigueroa7668
    @lisettefigueroa7668 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    this was great!!! ive been avoiding starting my statistics homework but this is encouraging me to do it! heh

  • @ariah5093
    @ariah5093 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    As an individual who only then realized I was good at numbers AFTER I got out of highschool. I believe it to be an educational issue.

  • @himangiagarwal9266
    @himangiagarwal9266 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was very refreshing!!

  • @lantern0483
    @lantern0483 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I am studying Geoinformatics but I've never been a fan of statistics. This might help me get started, thanks!

  • @teacul
    @teacul 7 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    4:36 lol "what could possibly be causing that misperception?" *ahem* media *ahem*

  • @jmfriedman7
    @jmfriedman7 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    In the Japanese survey, urban versus rural is a vague distinction. In the US, I once moved from New York City to Philadelphia, another large American city. My cousin, who lived in New York City his whole life, asked if you needed to boil the water out of the tap in order to drink it, apparently thinking that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania must be a back-woods area with unreliable public utilities. Some people in NYC tend to look at the densely populated areas of New Jersey (one of the most densely populated US states) as being "the countryside" and I think that a similar vague distinction between urban and rural may be true of the people who live in the larger cities of Japan.

  • @ZadieBear
    @ZadieBear 7 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    I have a degree in Math & Economics and I hated statistics in college, so much so I had to take it over. However, one of my favorite books in my 20's was a book on quantifying statistics in a meaningful way. Go figure.

    • @ShahzadHassanBangash
      @ShahzadHassanBangash 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      can you suggedt me a book yo grow my interest in probability, statistics and data science ?

    • @doroteakasum3012
      @doroteakasum3012 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Please share the title of this book!

    • @akiraholland457
      @akiraholland457 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Whats the name of the book?

  • @somethingaboutstatistics5537
    @somethingaboutstatistics5537 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Excellent presentaion respected sir. Recive ⚘

  • @melaniearce4390
    @melaniearce4390 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    It’s growing on me! I really like it!

  • @DrewRueDoo
    @DrewRueDoo 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I am watching this to help motivate me to study for my statistics class.

  • @bern2632
    @bern2632 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good presentation, thank you. If you have suggestions for me on other Ted Talks on subjects in the same area, could you please comment under this .

  • @MrC0MPUT3R
    @MrC0MPUT3R 7 ปีที่แล้ว +29

    Given the comments on this video you'd think this was RT's video.

  • @Donovanora
    @Donovanora 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great vid!

  • @sweetjourneyofseason
    @sweetjourneyofseason 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great presentation 😇

  • @Cryenelol
    @Cryenelol 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was a good one.

  • @johnvasko6699
    @johnvasko6699 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Inspirational. Stays was my least favorite class in my entire math degree. Bit now relearning it for fun.

  • @poojaponnuri4811
    @poojaponnuri4811 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Please try to give subtitles

  • @eugenefrancisco8279
    @eugenefrancisco8279 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I relate to this on a whole different level

  • @kirin2999
    @kirin2999 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Using ted app in 2 hour,and that is very good

  • @_About_Life_k
    @_About_Life_k 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    It's wonderful!!!

  • @chacmool2581
    @chacmool2581 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    1:56 First thing you need to do when presenting graphs is to label the axes. What is the Y axis on that graph? Percentage of population or Millions?

  • @NandishPatelV
    @NandishPatelV 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Interesting . Thanks.

  • @zimmermanlandscape9287
    @zimmermanlandscape9287 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    2:58 is this why statistics is my favorite part of math??

  • @ShankarSivarajan
    @ShankarSivarajan 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    2:01 Which Korea are you referring to?

  • @baslielalene4702
    @baslielalene4702 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you.

  • @safrudinilhami4720
    @safrudinilhami4720 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    feeling need to curiousity is necessity of life!

  • @ciosproductions1919
    @ciosproductions1919 7 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    I start to understand why ted blocks the comment section sommetimes

  • @sadikshabasnet753
    @sadikshabasnet753 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome!

  • @livvielov
    @livvielov ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Perfect! going to send this to my A level statisticians :D

  • @marlynsanchezh.2019
    @marlynsanchezh.2019 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I want to replicate that gamification of data in my own country! Statistics is definitely fascinating

  • @thestrayanstatistician7861
    @thestrayanstatistician7861 6 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Statistics give life to numbers and meaning to life

  • @mdromiz776
    @mdromiz776 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Yeah new lesson i have learned, thanks

  • @wangilaemmanuel1531
    @wangilaemmanuel1531 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    awesome.....

  • @shreyasharma7210
    @shreyasharma7210 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What possibly could I write an article on statistics? I got this assignment and I'm struggling with the topic

    • @TheMicnpark
      @TheMicnpark 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      How dangerous and missleading statistics can be, if not using it right or using it to lie. There are serious cases about statistics, like putting an innocent woman to jail because of "statistical proof" (which was wrong information).

  • @rohi9594
    @rohi9594 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Proud being a Korean:)

  • @bryantdelacruz6125
    @bryantdelacruz6125 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Hands down. Great spokesmen! But I still hate stats!! :)

  • @dhajder9606
    @dhajder9606 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great.

  • @maxman97pm
    @maxman97pm 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    why do we need to know the percentage of households with mortgage? is that really matter?

  • @cherryrachael4801
    @cherryrachael4801 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I JUST watched a Ted talk in my stats class today

  • @melissamybubbles6139
    @melissamybubbles6139 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    What about people who know the area they came from better than the area in which they currently reside, or people who know an area relevant to their ethnic or religious culture better than they know their own residential areas?

  • @arihdee
    @arihdee ปีที่แล้ว +2

    1- 3:20
    2- 6:28
    3- 7:05

  • @cinnsuamongar
    @cinnsuamongar 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    I like that people started sending it to their politicians.

  • @mariameatouani6995
    @mariameatouani6995 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Unfortunately, the quizz is not available for the Arabic world

  • @grahammcdonald
    @grahammcdonald 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    IMO people in London get generally more media airtime/representation than the rest of the UK. So I think that swings what we see as average. London is extreme.

  • @Treblaine
    @Treblaine 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Saudi figures may be somewhat skewed by how a high proportion of the residents are "guest workers" who aren't counted as really being there. "Officially".

  • @yulianaepianingsih
    @yulianaepianingsih 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    interesting!

  • @chacmool2581
    @chacmool2581 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    3:41 Statistics comes from the German word 'stadt" which means not "state" or "community" in English but rather "city". It refers to the data taking of data about city populations in Germany.

    • @NeurosesGamer
      @NeurosesGamer ปีที่แล้ว

      It's originally latin.

    • @chacmool2581
      @chacmool2581 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@NeurosesGamer If so, please provide the etymology.

    • @NeurosesGamer
      @NeurosesGamer ปีที่แล้ว

      @@chacmool2581 You can't Google?

    • @chacmool2581
      @chacmool2581 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@NeurosesGamer You asserted something, it is not up to me to verify it or prove it. It is incumbent on you, not me.

    • @NeurosesGamer
      @NeurosesGamer ปีที่แล้ว

      @@chacmool2581 it's not like your comment here is peer reviewed and verified either. just Google it and stop being weird or don't 😂

  • @LuxiBelle
    @LuxiBelle 7 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Statistics only work when you didn't set out to prove your conclusion.

  • @dezaraefreise6499
    @dezaraefreise6499 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Does anyone else get static at 7:20 and through the video?

  • @rickypbro3743
    @rickypbro3743 7 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    My Stats Dont Lie
    Shakira

  • @SendPie94
    @SendPie94 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I have an obsession now, thanks alot 2020 🤪

  • @bragtime1052
    @bragtime1052 7 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    Wait... *adjusts glasses* this guy isn't Vsauce!

    • @oliverkhoo
      @oliverkhoo 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      your right, it is Vsauce

    • @lucasmironne3578
      @lucasmironne3578 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Had the same thing happening to me

  • @phy29
    @phy29 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    What do you do to get the feve in a pie you learn where the patissier put it....

  • @AmanyEzzat
    @AmanyEzzat 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Interesting

  • @ruedaarthurr
    @ruedaarthurr 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good

  • @LeonidasGGG
    @LeonidasGGG 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Our perception is skew by the media which is influenced by politics... And vice-versa. Ence the problem is not the data, the problem is the way the World is presented to us.

  • @jamesthomas1244
    @jamesthomas1244 7 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    1:45 = The US is #1 yet again!

    • @iisabzii9444
      @iisabzii9444 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      JamesThomas *facepalm

  • @mrmyorky5634
    @mrmyorky5634 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I was on holiday in a shopping mall in Denver and was asked if I would like to answer a few statistical questions? My answer was no thank you, can't be bothered, but more importantly, as an English tourist, my knowledge of American products and services is negligible.
    Doesn't matter, replied the beautiful young lady with the big smile and the pen, you get 10 dollars and it takes about 10 minutes. So I came away 10 dollars richer and the interviewer added one more successful set of statistics to her tally that day.
    Alan Smith describes statistics as a Science. 'The 'Science' of dealing with data' is what he calls it, and attempts to give it some credibility by aligning it with Mathematics.
    It mostly depends what you ask, and who you choose to ask, which makes it about as credible as astrology is to an astronomer.
    Come to think of it your daily Horoscope is probably more scientific.

    • @jackmaison4209
      @jackmaison4209 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Must be a rich interviewer 😱

  • @Legomaster719
    @Legomaster719 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I used to call Bingo at an assisted living facility where I worked. The game of Bingo is a statisticians nightmare. Watching the same number come up in 15 different games while another number never gets called, rows of numbers and sections where none get called, having 12 "B"s but only 2 "O"s. Random chance be damned, there are definitely patterns no matter how much you shuffle the balls.

  • @BeyondTheBath1
    @BeyondTheBath1 7 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    'Love' Statistics? How about UNDERSTANDING and ACCURATELY applying Statistics instead?

  • @kartikkamboj295
    @kartikkamboj295 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Statistics is not about uncertainty- In fact what most of the people fail to understand is that Statistics and Probability give us the 'MEASURE' of uncertainty, and hence giving a MEASURE of certainty. It quantifies the level of certainty and hesnce gives us a measure. It is one of the most important forms of Applied Mathematics.
    Especially useful in this age of data and artificial intelligence. #Beuatiful#MathematicsandStatistics

  • @chacmool2581
    @chacmool2581 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This video is not about Statistics. It's about data collected and the public's ignorance.

  • @brendarua01
    @brendarua01 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Yet another reason to move to Netherlands.

    • @the1exnay
      @the1exnay 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      if people with high numeracy move to the netherlands than the problem will be exacerbated.
      let's see how high we can get the innumerate percentage >:)

  • @vai_-cn9br
    @vai_-cn9br 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    He looks a bit like Robin Williams. RIP Robin😢
    Edit: Robin played a character called Alan in Jumanji too😅

  • @dubussi1815
    @dubussi1815 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    12:49