Statistics and probability let you evaluate risks in your own life (such as the effects of exercise, playing the lottery, or smoking), data analysis helps you make sense of information you find in the media in order to make informed decisions, and most of all, a solid understanding of statistics helps you know how to ask the right questions to avoid being misled by advertisers, taken advantage of or straight up duped by companies who are trying hard to sell you their product.

How will you decide which political candidate you will vote for? How will you interpret stories you have heard or read in the news? How will you make informed decisions that affect you, your family and the rest of society? Do you have a good chance of winning the lottery? To function in our world and to be an informed and contributing citizen, you need to understand the basics of analyzing (or making sense of) data and the basics of statistics (it’s not that scary of a word!). Start cutting out all the charts, graphs, and maps you can find in your local paper or a magazine. Familiarize yourself with how to read them. Research the relative costs of health care and who pays what, learn the differences between mean, median and mode and how to solve for them, understand “cost-benefit” ratios, and know how an “average” describes your data.