Guides ยท Math
Basic Statistics for Everyday Decisions Basics
Use simple stats to avoid bad conclusions
This guide builds everyday statistics intuition: mean vs median, variability, outliers, correlation vs causation, and how sample size affects reliability of conclusions.
- statistics
- mean
- median
- variance
- sample size
Mean vs median
Median is more robust to outliers; mean can be pulled by extreme values.
Variability matters
Two averages can be identical but spread can differ; look for ranges and standard deviation.
Correlation is not causation
A relationship between variables does not prove one causes the other.
Sample size and noise
Small samples swing more; treat strong claims from tiny samples cautiously.