Gaussian Curves

From A to Z

De: Bishnu Goswami

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

There are five (basic, for more precise uses, there are many more) sense organs and they all collect data. Their organization, analysis and presentation, when combined is called statistics. One of the most important successes of statistics lies in predicting the outcomes of random events, events which have outcomes that are not predetermined. This prediction, in the applied world, is often the sculpting block which is chiseled away into a fine statue with more real-world data. One of such widely used sculpting block is the ‘particular distribution’, also called the Bell or Gaussian curve. This creates a graph which models binomial distributions (such as the outcomes of a coin toss) when the number of ‘turns’ approaches infinity. Although very important in the theoretical foundations of statistics (especially when considered with the central limit theorem), it is widely used in our day-to-day life, albeit in less mathematically precise way. From snap judgments about on whether to trust an astrological prediction (only for believers in astrology), to corporate boardrooms decisions to hire a candidate based upon standardized tests, the curve and the position of the point sought is often used. These Gaussian curves look like a hill and have their “hilliness” quantified in according to the statistical variance and the mean of the underlying set of data, technically with two main assumptions which prohibits infinite variance and mean. Of course, in many cases these means depend on subjectivity, as in the case of astrological predictions, and in other cases they are very objective (when normed diligently with quantitative data). In this book we delve into the interesting manifestations of Gaussian curves in various arenas of day to day life. This book is not for budding statisticians looking for formal treatments or number crunching, however. This book rather aims to show how the means are distributed along both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of our life, and how they deviate, and what that means for the rest of us. A touch of humor is also in the cards, according to our in-house readers! Some of the topics are discussed relatively simply, for the younger readers and some go into a little more detail. In the experience of the author, this makes reading more interesting and can often motivate the readers for further exploration on the related topics.