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Statistics - Maths of Real Life

This collection of resources is designed to introduce key statistical ideas and help students to deepen their understanding.

Introduction

Getting to grips with Statistics header

In the 21st century, more data is collected about us than ever before, and as computers become more powerful, we can process, interpret and analyse large data sets to look for patterns, make predictions, and discover new ideas. Whether you study mathematics, science, social sciences or humanities, it is becoming increasingly important to have a good grasp of statistical ideas and an understanding of the maths underlying statistical methods.

These resources are designed to introduce key statistical ideas needed for advanced study. They also give opportunities to consolidate your understanding by applying it to new and engaging contexts. Try the activities to delve into the concepts of hypothesis testing, sampling, and distributions, and explore some of the fascinating and complex issues surrounding the interpretation and representation of data. Scroll down to find articles which explain key ideas and go more deeply into the concepts.

To complement each resource, there are Teachers' Resources with suggestions for how the tasks can be used in the classroom. 

Try

These resources investigate statistics concepts usually met by students aged 14-16.

  • Data matching
    problem

    Data Matching

    Age
    14 to 18
    Challenge level

    Use your skill and judgement to match the sets of random data.

  • Counting Fish
    problem

    Counting Fish

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level

    I need a figure for the fish population in a lake. How does it help to catch and mark 40 fish?

  • Statistical shorts
    problem
    Favourite

    Statistical Shorts

    Age
    11 to 16
    Challenge level

    Can you decide whether these short statistical statements are always, sometimes or never true?

  • Which spinners?
    problem
    Favourite

    Which Spinners?

    Age
    14 to 18
    Challenge level

    Can you work out which spinners were used to generate the frequency charts?

  • Sleep: the silent killer
    problem

    Sleep: The Silent Killer

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    "Too much sleep is deadly" proclaimed the newspaper headline. Is this true?

  • Thousands of people
    problem

    Thousands of People

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level

    How many thousand people does each dot represent?

  • Where are you flying?
    problem

    Where Are You Flying?

    Age
    14 to 18
    Challenge level

    Where do people fly to from London? What is good and bad about these representations?

  • A population survey
    problem

    A Population Survey

    Age
    14 to 18
    Challenge level

    A geographical survey: answer the tiny questionnaire and then analyse all the collected responses...

Try more

These resources explore statistics concepts usually met by students aged 16-18.

  • Robin's hypothesis testing
    problem

    Robin's Hypothesis Testing

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    How many trials should we do in order to accept or reject our null hypothesis?

  • Stats statements
    problem
    Favourite

    Stats Statements

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    Are these statistical statements sometimes, always or never true? Or it is impossible to say?

  • Hypothetical shorts
    problem

    Hypothetical Shorts

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    Some short statements about hypothesis testing: are they true, false, or somewhere in between?

  • Powerful hypothesis testing
    problem

    Powerful Hypothesis Testing

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    How effective are hypothesis tests at showing that our null hypothesis is wrong?

  • Binomial or not?
    problem

    Binomial or Not?

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    Are these scenarios described by the binomial distribution?

  • Binomial conditions
    problem

    Binomial Conditions

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    When is an experiment described by the binomial distribution? Why do we need both the condition about independence and the one about constant probability?

  • A well-stirred sample
    problem

    A Well-Stirred Sample

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level

    Typical survey sample sizes are about 1000 people. Why is this?

Read

These articles provide some background on key ideas in statistics and probability.

Read more

These articles invite you to explore statistical ideas in more depth.

The development of these resources was made possible by donations co-ordinated by PSI from Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK, PHASTAR and Roche. We would like to thank all contributors for their generous support.